Hello, my name is Elizabeth Rose, creator of the Healthy Traveler’s Guide. My journey with essential oils began when I was six years old, living on a horse ranch in Arizona with my parents and two younger brothers. As you can imagine, our adventures often ended with cuts, scratches, sunburns, or twisted ankles. We quickly learned that a visit to Mom meant being directed to a shelf in the pantry filled with essential oils. From there, she would go to work fixing us up.

One day, when I was nine years old, my mother and I rode horses to a neighbor’s house for a visit. My pony was spooked by a four-wheeler and bolted at a full gallop. I fell, but my foot became caught in the stirrup, and I was dragged for several hundred feet before finally hitting the ground, winded and in pain. A rock or branch struck my leg, leaving a wound in the back of my calf about an inch wide and an inch deep.

We immediately applied essential oils known for supporting clean, healthy skin. After a few days, my mom decided it would be wise to have a doctor check the injury. He quickly wrote a prescription for plastic surgery, as if it were no big deal, and sent us on our way. I begged my mother to continue using the oils for a few more days to see what would happen.

Three weeks later, after consistent use of essential oils, the wound had completely filled in. It remained clean, healed well, and to this day shows only minimal scarring. I went on to ride competitively and earned the title of Arizona Grand Champion in several hunter-jumper competitions. Fellow riders knew me as “the oil girl,” and before long, everyone in our barn—horses included—benefited from the stash of essential oils kept in the tack room.