Scent H now in Australia

The December January 22/23 feature on ‘Sniffer Horses’ - the powerful scenting ability of horses - created mixed reactions from readers, from those who thought this was an opportunity to introduce something new into their equestrian training to those who laughed and felt it was something for the ‘eccentric horse owner’ only.

While the initial contacts for the article were in the USA, it is interesting to note that Australia is now hosting clinics so people can gain a better understanding of this new equestrian activity.

It is interesting to note that those bringing the first clinics to Australia have a wealth of experience in both mounted police work and dog handling and have actually been involved with the Air Scenting activity and training scent horses for many years.

The facebook site for Scent Horses Australia shows not only horses but a cow, a sheep and other animals being trained to follow a scent.

Top and centre: Horses finding the scent trail.

successfully trained a Morgan horse by the name of the Red Bluff Andre, to find an odour amongst articles, open areas and on people. Fast forward to February 2023, when Heather Swan, at Dark Horse Farm, Yackandandah, Victoria, provided Cortney and Dee with the opportunity to run the first two Scent Horses Australia Clinics on her 100-acre farm.

Dee Horwood and Cortney McCarthy first met 20 yers ago when they joined the Northern Territory Police Force. Dee eventually took a position in the Dog Operations Unit (DOU), which involved her competing a three month drug detection course in Canberra, with Australian Border Force. Dee’s passion for training dogs continued to grow, which saw her complete Patrol Dog courses with both the Northern Territory and New Zealand Police Forces and a Therapy Dog training course. Dee is currently the only female Police dog handler to serve in the history of the Northern Territory Police Force’s Dog Operations Unit.

Cortney’s career involved the Northern Territory Police Force’s Mounted Unit, and it was only a matter of time before she became the Officer in Charge of the unit. In 2011, Cortney travelled to Canada to spend two weeks riding with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride. During her time there, Texan Border Patrol members introduced her to ‘Sniffer Horses’. After ensuring that the Texans weren’t just making fun of the laid-back Aussie, she soon realised the true potential of what she had just been taught.

Upon returning to Australia Dee and Cortney combined their skillsets and soon realised that they complemented one another throughout the development of this pilot project where they

The workshops taught the participants how to tap into the horse’s wonderful sense of smell and teach them to locate scented articles. There is a long list of benefits for doing scent detection with horses, which includes (but not limited to), developing environmental enrichment, decreasing fear and aggression in response to new and unknown stimuli, decreasing overacting and sensitivity, decrease frustration, decreasing in the chance of developing shutdown, learned helplessness, depression and lethargy, overcome boredom, increase concentration and/or simply to have another way to communicate and have fun with your horse.

Deb and Cortney found it fantastic to see the course participants learning to activate and identify their horse’s seeking system (the system which is strongly connected to the release of the feel-good chemical called dopamine). As the handler engages the horse’s seeking system, by conducting scent detection exercises, the horse’s dopamine levels rise as too do handler’s.

It is an exciting opportunity to participate in a different equine activity; to be in on the ground floor and to see what the future holds for the future of Scent Horses Australia.

To submit expressions of interest for Scent Horses Australia Clinics in a region near you, email scenthorsesaustralia@gmail.com

totilAs Froz

Paul Schockemöhle has won won his case against Kees Visser, the previous owner of dressage stallion Totilas, to hold exclusive breeding rights with any frozen semen from the stallion. The case hinged on whether buying Totilas in 2010 for €9.5m (approx AU$15.1million) – in a verbal agreement – included exclusive breeding rights. Paul Schockemöhle had been standing Totilas at stud since 2011. It was reported in Eurodressage that when he bought the stallion he charged 8,000 euro (approx $12,800) per covering. In 2020 the stud fee was 2,800 euro, Totilas dying from colic in December 2020. Kees Visser retained frozen semen in the sales transaction for Totilas and announced the sale of the semen he held via a third party after the stallion’s death.

Schockemöhle believed he owned the exclusive breeding rights to the stallion, and therefore also the 244 semen straws which Visser had in storage. A Dutch court ruled in favour of Schockemöhle in March, considering him the rightful owner of Totilas with the exclusive right to sell the semen.

HorsE FoUnD AlivE 21 DAys AFtEr EArtHqUAkE

Twenty-one days after a devastating earthquake rocked Turkey in February a horse was found alive in the rubble of a building in the city of Adiyaman, an area located near the Syrian border and one that suffered considerable damage. In clips shared to social media volunteers were shown teaming up to rescue the horse, eventually freeing it after several hours and leading it to safety. The earthquake killed more than 55,500 people in Turkey and Syria and displaced millions, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in history.

AUstrAliA 6tH in nAtions CUp

Australia has finished in sixth place at the Wellington International Nations Cup CSIO4. Eleven nations came forward to contest the prestigious event, which took place in Wellington, Florida. Australia was represented by Lauren Balcomb riding Verdini d’Houtveld, David Cameron riding Oaks Come By Chance, Thaisa Erwin riding Vanturo and Matt Williams riding ABC Quantum Cruise.

The Australian team started the competition strong, qualifying for round two in promising form. Matt Williams and ABC Quantum Cruise had a challenging first round, retiring from the first round, which made them Australia’s drop score. However, Lauren Balcomb and Verdini d’Houtveld delivered a sensational clear round and under time boosting Australia up the leaderboard. Many nations, including Australia, faced challenges in round two as the competition was jumped under floodlights in front of a full house and an electric atmosphere.

EA High Performance Jumping Manager, Todd Hinde, said:“It was two rounds of tough competition tonight and our team showed some great performances with new young horses that are stepping up to this Nations Cup level.”

The final Nations Cup standings were as follows: 1st - Canada; 2nd - Brazil; 3rd – Ireland; 4th - Mexico; 5th – United States of America; 6th – Australia; 7th – Great Britain.

FinEs AFtEr DEAtH oF polo poniEs

The operator of the Spirit of Tasmania ferry has been ordered to pay a $75,000 fine after 16 polo ponies were found dead in their trailer after travelling on the ferry in January 2018.

Former Australian Polo captain Andrew Williams, who pleaded guilty to 17 counts of breaching animal welfare laws in July 2022, was also fined $15,000 in Burnie Magistrates Court in March. Magistrate Leanne Topfer said TT-Line was strictly liable for checking on the welfare of the ponies and “it simply did nothing to comply with that requirement”. Commenting upon Williams’s early guilty plea, she noted the lengthy delays in the case were not his doing, however she found the trailer the 49-year-old was using to transport the ponies had “inadequate size, allocation and placement of ventilation” and that he failed in his duty to the horses. This outcome is not the end of this long running case with further court action pending, with TTLine lodging an appeal against the guilty finding in the Supreme Court of Tasmania before being sentenced for it, while Williams has launched a civil action against TT-Line in the Supreme Court of Victoria.