BELLISSIMO!

I have always loved the smells of my animals so much. You know how aroma-therapy can bring you back to a happy place in your memory? That is what happens for me. Have you ever smelled a puppy? They have such a sweet smell. Horses have a sweet aroma for me, too. There is always that earthy, deep smell of their sweaty bodies after a good work, or the tantalizing smell of the hay they eat. At my house, the horses usually have carrots on their breath, too Lovely!


When I last visited the feed store (a plethora of great smells!) the wonderful woman who works there, well-seasoned with the practical day-in, day-out lives of real horses, gave me some great advice. I was fretting about the reports, or maybe they were rumors, about the up-coming fly season. Because of the nature of our last winter, the fly population will be ENORMOUS. I simply hate applying those toxic fly-repellents to my horses' skin. But the torture that flies and other bugs can inflict on horses is brutal. What to do?

As my eyes searched, almost pleadingly, over and over the shelves for something that wasn't lethal but got rid of those annoying flies, I spotted a container of...could it be? GARLIC??!! It was in the "fly repellent" section of the store, but really didn't make any promises about its effectiveness on the container. I needed some help.

I found Carol, an older woman that I have come to trust for her "hard boots" kind of advice. She has lived through most things with her animals (she has almost every kind of animal on her acreage) and provides real answers for real problems. Just who I was looking for! I shoved the container of "100% pure garlic" towards her and asked, "Does this really work?"

Now my feed room has an Italian kitchen kind of smell. I am brought back to the cobblestone side streets of Rome where we wandered between little store-front restaurants that offered the best pasta and sauce that I have ever tasted. The food really is a perfectly legitimate reason to visit Italy. Constantly cooking their tasty treats, the warm, welcoming smells were dominated by the pervasive smell of garlic. I swear they even put it in the gelatto!

Now, every morning and evening, I am not only reminded of my wonderful experiences with horses, but of the great memories of the friendly Italian people luring us into their restaurants with the welcoming aroma of all of the food they make. The horses were not so sure at first, but have now decided that they, too, are at least a little Italian. Bellissimo!