During the playing of tape (1), Kerry Mist maintained the relax stance and stayed alert to the tape music, as evidenced by orienting her ears toward the sound from the headphones. At this point, it was noted that it was getting uncomfortably hot (all members of the human team and the horses were sweating profusely). Neither horse exhibited a startle response to the thunder and did not attempt to move to the shelter in the lower pasture. Also, they maintained their posture while tape (1) was unloaded and tape (2) was inserted. While listening to tape (2), Kerry Mist maintained her “ears alert” position. She became progressively more relaxed, as evidenced by her head position moving lower until it was no more than twelve inches from the ground. During this period, her manner changed to calmer and “looser,” i.e., more detached from the surroundings, as evidenced by her not swatting the numerous flies that landed on her. Her legs were no longer directly under her trunk and she was no longer standing straight. She did not tug on her rope to signal that she would prefer to move elsewhere, as she usually would during a rapidly approaching storm. Discussion Horses become recumbent only about three hours out of each twenty-four. Horses only exhibit REM sleep during recumbency. Recumbency usually is exhibited during the night and is preceded by relaxation and head lowering until the head touches the ground. Since the subject
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Hemi-Sync® Journal 1992-4 (Fall) · 2 Behavioral Effects of Hemi-Sync® - Embedded Meditation Music on a Horse.pdf
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horse in this study never before approached this almost recumbent state during a hot, humid day with an electrical storm rapidly approaching, it is probable that it was induced by the combination of a powerful meditation music tape plus the embedded Theta-Delta Hemi-Sync program. This evoking of behavioral change in an equine suggests the potential for numerous uses for various Hemi-Sync-embedded tapes with nonhuman animal species, including relaxing animals during transportation (transportation usually is stressful); inducing “relax-alert” before tasks; using concentration tapes for training animals that are hyperactive and have difficulties learning new tasks, etc. The observation that Kerry Mist’s stable mate maintained his position behind her during the entire tape portion of this study suggests that it would be interesting to follow the EEG output of close pairs (“friends”) of animals, including humans, to determine whether the EEG output in the member of the pair not receiving direct audio stimulation changes to resemble the EEG output of the subject who has received the audio stimulation. In addition, future experiments now in the planning stage will investigate interspecies relationships, for example, those between Border collies and the sheep they herd. Hemi-Sync® is a registered trademark of Interstate Industries, Inc. © 1992 The Monroe Institute