How do you tell if your horse is interested in the essential oil you are offering?

Horses are intuitive and private creatures and do not appreciate being forced to do things. When offering your horse essential oils, don’t walk up and stuff the oil under their nose. Give them a chance to come to you and decide if they would like essential oils or not.

Horses can detect thousands of chemicals in an essential oil and if given the chance, they do have the ability to choose the one THEY think is best for them.

How to Offer an Essential Oil to Your Horse

Offer the oil just under their nose  – approximately 6 inches away. Keep the bottle well hidden in your hand (if you have it in ‘exposed’ you may lose the bottle!).

1. If the horse is interested and accepting they will look for the bottle and stay over the bottle and dilate their nostril. The horse may just simply stand and smell or it may try to ‘eat’ the bottle.
2. If the horse is uninterested they will look away and not come back to the scent. In some cases I have seen a horse turn totally away from the bottle.

Watch for the horse’s nostril to dilate. It may seem as though nothing is happening but they may be dilating their nostril to get full effect of the oil.

Remember when we think of oils we think of FRAGRANCE but their power is in their

chemical composition. When your horse is smelling the oils they are getting full benefit of the oil. Also remember the magnitude of the horse’s respiratory system. It is HUGE. This means the oil is being expedited to all areas of the body through the horse’s massive lungs.

What to Expect

When offering aromatically watch to see which nostril the horse inhales with first this is a key to your horses emotions. Your horse may move one nostril over the bottle, then the other.

The horse’s right nostril is controlled by the left hand side of the brain – which govern’s the horses functions, the way it does ‘stuff’.

The left hand nostril is governed by the right hand side of the brain – which is the intuitive, creative side.  Much like in people.

Your horse may product the Flehmen reaction – curling the top lip back toward the nostrils. This traps the oil’s smell in the special receptor cells in the front of the horse’s nostrils and nasal cavity.

Keep in mind each horse is different and what ‘works’ for one horse may not work for another.

Some horse’s need grounding, some horses need confidence, some horse’s need manners and training. Sometimes these different sources show as the same symptoms so we have to use a little investigation to determine what to do. All the lavender in the world will not help if your horse is just plane rude and unmanageable. here the key is key is the correct and systematic training.

I would love to know how you use essential oils with your horse. Please put in a response below. If you would like to get additional information regarding using essential oils and your horse please email me.