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Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Mary and I having a conversation It’s the end of fall quarter already?! I feel like just yesterday I was loading the mini horses and donkeys off the trailer for the first time into their new home. They’ve really settled in and shown what I believe to be their true personalities now, having gotten comfortable for quite some time. Although they continue to surprise me each and every day, I feel so fulfilled knowing they trust me enough to be their authentic, silly, unique selves.
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Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Mary and Memphis showing how well-behaved they are with little kids grooming them. At the beginning of fall quarter, the various groups in our lab were assigned specific tasks to complete pertaining to our particular projects, interests, and goals. Amidst these blog posts, presentations, and research designs, the Horse and Pig Whisperers have been assigned the ongoing responsibility of training our animals, which has definitely kept all of us very busy. For myself, that means continuing to work with the unique and exciting personalities of our four mini equines, Mary, Memphis, Olivia, and Randy.
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Randy and Memphis playing with their inflatable ball This week, I had the fun yet daunting task of analyzing a primary research paper and presenting the findings to the lab, while utilizing the methods section to act out the experimental design with my fellow Green Care coworkers. The paper, linked here, titled “Post-Operative Benefits of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Pediatric Surgery,” presents information regarding the physiological benefits of animal-assisted therapy for children in hospitals directly following a surgical operation. The researchers ultimately found lower pain scales and greater alertness following anesthesia awakening in the experimental group which received animal-assisted sessions following surgery, compared to the control group which received standard care post-operation. So basically, animal therapy rocks!
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Daisy enjoying her extra pellets and carrots. Earlier in the summer, at the beginning of my working with the minis, I wrote a blog post detailing all the things they have individually taught me thus far. Of course, since that last blog post, they have shown me so many more things, as well as taught me quite a bit more about myself. For this week’s blog post, I present to you, an updated version of what the minis have taught me (so far!).
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Randy showing us his Flehman response after getting some water in his nose. Throughout my time working as an undergraduate researcher, I have been hard at work creating an experimental design regarding the psychological effects of therapeutic horses (and now donkeys!) on humans. While it has been a long process of reading, writing, rereading, rewriting, creating presentations and discussions, and did I mention more rereading and rewriting, it seems that the direction I had been headed was a bit too complicated. While I could sense this as I was creating it, I struggled to either completely start over, or edit it in a way that results in the changing of a significant portion. Both options seemed daunting, so I trucked along with my own idea and tried to simplify it the best that I could, but after a presentation and discussion with Becca and the fellow researchers, it seems the design is a bit too complicated.
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Nora, sweet and silly Memphis, and me Since the beginning of this program, Becca has been quietly honing her plan on what specific investigations her historically stress and reproductive physiology lab would center on. Today, she finally let us all in on that plan. The study of Green Care, or using natural experiences for therapeutic benefits, has recently been gaining momentum in the scientific community. Studies published thus far have been tailored mainly towards investigating the effects of Green Care on individuals with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and autism. While any of these groups would (and most likely will) benefit highly from our program, Becca had something more unique in mind - something more personal, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Daisy and I practicing our camera and media skills with a photoshoot for the website This week, our lab meeting consisted of discussing social media, where we can further showcase our respective projects and encourage community interest and involvement. Nora and I decided we would like to take on the challenge of creating a TikTok account, uploading funny and educational videos of the many wonderful animals in our program. Though neither of us have a ton of experience making videos on the platform, we both find our animals in the lab silly and entertaining, and felt like we could work together to make some quality content.
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Memphis having a little nap under the watch of auntie Daisy It has officially been two weeks since the minis arrived, and their personalities have certainly shone through. Not only are they the cutest little creatures on the planet, but they each have their own personal idiosyncratic quirks and unique tendencies that make them beyond special and sweet.
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Leading the new minis to their enclosure! On Monday afternoon, I received a call from a very excited Becca, announcing that we will officially be getting the donkeys! I was ecstatic- I had done weeks of research to find the right minis to add to our program, and could not wait to see how well they would work amidst my experimental design. “When are they coming?!” I quickly asked. This is where things got interesting…
Jessie Ostrove UC Davis undergraduate, 4th year Major: Environmental Science and Management  Becca with Mary and Memphis While I have loved every second of my online research and experimental design set up, I craved the tangible gratification similar to that of Nora and Claire’s work with the piglets, or Dalia and Elizabeth’s with the garden construction. Therefore, with the creative freedom and trust given to each of us by Becca, I took it upon myself to find some animals that would be not only a productive extension of my project, but work as an addition to our research program as a whole.
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