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Gentle reader, there are times when this column is less a TV column than it is an advice column. It is less a matter of expertise in the matter of television content than it is directing you to a soothing balm. It cannot be a shoulder to cry on, but it can be a source of information about how to distract yourself from the awfulness of the everyday news and the indignities of mundane living.

Animals. That’s the ticket. Yep, critters are a blessing when you’re feeling wan. Whether you have a pet in your home or you just take pleasure and solace in observing their antics, you’re on the right path.

Equus: Story of the Horse (CBC NN, Saturday, 7 p.m. and Sunday, 6 p.m. on The Nature of Things) is a very glossy, upmarket nature-documentary series that started recently on CBC and is repeated on the CBC News Network on the weekends. A three-part series, it’s made by Edmonton anthropologist/filmmaker Niobe Thompson, who has a childlike wonder about horses of today, yesterday and way back in the millions of years ago. If anything, it is sometimes too wide-eyed and innocent in tone but it has an engaging perspective and it sure is eye-popping.

Open this photo in gallery:

Mongolia's Kazakh nomads in a still from Equus: Story of the Horse that airs on The Nature of Things.CBC

The entire thing amounts to a journey across 11 countries on three continents in search of fascinating and fun facts about horses. It is asserted that horses, not dogs, are man’s best friend. Also that the horse allowed people to survive where humans couldn’t endure alone and are, therefore, the most important factor in the story of civilization. If you haven’t thought of that before, your host and guide has guessed that and sets out to convince you.

While some of the assertions are a tad fanciful, the technology employed to make convincing arguments is even more dazzling. We are taken to a place in Germany where a science chap has a fossil of the ancient ancestor of the modern horse, a wee thing called the “Dawn Horse,” and then it is brought to life through the magic of imaging technology. Listen, Star Wars has nothing on the showboating feats of illusion done here.

If the visuals exemplify the filmmaker’s cheeky dash, there are also elements of more relatable storytelling here. In later episodes it is put to us that horses are, you know, rather like us. Or your cat or dog. The viewer is informed that horses are social creatures and “recent research shows that they use up to 17 different facial expressions to communicate with each other.” Yes, they wink and nod to connect with each other and us. Advice is given on how to be on good terms with our average horse and the matter of the legendary “horse whisperer” person is analyzed and explained.

A good deal of time is spent in Kazakhstan and Mongolia, if you want a jaunty travel element to your nature documentary. Kazakhstan is featured because, we’re told, there is a village in that neck of the woods that was home to the first people to tame horses. Mongolia not only has extremely comely horses particular to the region, but Mongol horses were a key aspect of the conquering work of one Genghis Khan. In the end, mind you, and with a natural logic, a lot of the story ends up being about things learned at the Calgary Stampede.

The making of the series (new episodes continue Sunday, CBC main network, 8 p.m.) was clearly a life-consuming work for the filmmaker. The devotion and sheer energy comes through. While the stunning visuals are at times distracting from the arc of the story, the production is anchored in the kind of devotion to animals which is a charming and necessary diversion away from the dismaying peculiarities of human beings. A recommended balm.

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