00:03Animals have been part of our culture for thousands and thousands of years.
00:11If you look at the definition of the human-animal bond, it's a bond that benefits both parties,
00:16the human and the animal, and the animal towards the human.
00:24Some of the things that you do when you're deployed to stay alive,
00:29don't translate directly to the civilian world, right?
00:33Living in an environment where any day could be the last day,
00:39it messes with the chemicals in your brain.
00:43High school was really when I started seeking out people that were broken
00:48and experimenting with different sorts of substances.
00:53I'd forgotten who I was. I'd forgotten that little girl on the farm that loved animals.
01:00I've had animals all my life, and she was special.
01:04It's not in the horse's nature to be alone, giving themselves to you in a ring.
01:12She would have walked through fire for me.
01:16Research shows that just simply the proximity of many animals,
01:21while choosing to be next to you, have these unique therapeutic implications.
01:27For some people, that is the antidote for a sense of isolation and loneliness.
01:33I always say thank God for my horses.
01:36They formed these connections with me, and I didn't have to speak.
01:39I could take a breath and just be who I was and have these incredible relationships
01:45with these beings that didn't owe me anything.
01:48Yes.
01:50They call it the gotcha day, is when you find out which dog you're going to be paired with.
01:55Woodrow goes everywhere I go.
01:57There's a very clear, visible connection.
02:00So I would just sit there and contemplate life.
02:04And the foxes would sit there and stare, probably thinking I'm crazy.
02:10That fox giving me validation from that day forward, I was her person.
02:15She was my fox.
02:17All right, handsome, let's go to work.
02:19You don't have to be riding at my level to understand how therapeutic it is to have a bond with
02:27a horse.
02:28To have them welcome you into their world is an incredible thing.
02:33There's a power in petting the dog.
02:35He will come and sit between my legs and clean them, and I'll just love on it.
02:40And it's just, hey, I'm here, right?
02:41Calm down.
02:42I'm here.
02:43Someone reached out to me and said, you know, a fur farmer is getting ready to give up 20 foxes.
02:49Are you ready?
02:51I was like, come here.
02:55There's a lot of different types of human-animal bonds.
02:57You have the owner with their puppy or their kitten.
03:00You also have service animals, horse athletes.
03:04Those bonds are just as strong and just as real.
03:06Come say hi.
03:07He likes to be pet back here.
03:09Oh, that's so long.
03:11Yeah.
03:11He doesn't judge.
03:14He just loves.
03:17It's like that Courtney saying, I don't know who rescued who.
03:20But, you know, sometimes it's valid.
03:23Do you have a permit for that?
03:24Huh?
03:25Do you have a permit for this?
03:26There it is.
03:28There's no spot right there.
03:30They're magical little creatures.
03:32It's humbling to be around them because everything is on their terms.
03:37I would hope that everybody gets a chance to have even just a glimpse of this amazing thing that animals
03:43can give us.
03:45There is an innate DNA level connection.
03:49And you can see it.
03:51I can feel it.
03:52There is.
04:05Human性.
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