A trailer of The Healing documentary about the Kangaroo Valley charity Horse Aid. The program partners traumatised ex-race horses with veterans and first responders. Video supplied
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NewsTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:03 - I joined as an infantry soldier,
00:04 so basically, you're training to kill the enemy.
00:07 You're the front line soldier.
00:09 Steady, steady, good boy, good boy.
00:12 - The main problems for X-ray sources
00:13 when they come off the track are not that different
00:15 to the PTSD suffered by some of the soldiers.
00:19 - I was discharged from the Navy in February last year,
00:22 and then I had nowhere to live.
00:24 - Just gotta move those feet.
00:26 - When they come out of the service,
00:27 they can't walk out onto the street
00:29 and just be normal people anymore
00:30 because they've been highly trained
00:31 and they're over-alert and angry and aggressive
00:34 and they struggle with real life in the real world,
00:37 and they just fall into screaming heat.
00:39 - I found it really hard to see
00:42 that it's still worth living for something.
00:45 - I was down in the dumps pretty bad.
00:47 I ended up overdosing on pills, you know,
00:50 and I tried to kill myself, so.
00:52 - People don't understand that they can both be fixed.
00:58 - You've got the right vibe about you, you know,
01:00 that nice quiet vibe that always goes well with horses.
01:02 Very good, good job.
01:04 - I like your moving concrete.
01:05 (laughing)
01:07 - The feeling you get with this majestic animal,
01:11 you know, it's so strong, it's so powerful,
01:14 and it trusts you, and you can lead it
01:17 and get it to do anything you need it to do
01:20 is the most amazing feeling ever.
01:22 - Working with horses had more impact on me
01:27 than any counselling or any medication
01:29 or any other treatment.
01:30 - It's sort of given me a second chance at life, really.
01:36 - I wanna help as many horses as I can.
01:40 I wanna give back to them what they've given me,
01:43 and that is my life back.
01:45 - I can't tell you how many people have told me
01:48 that horses have saved their lives.
01:50 Almost every veteran I've dealt with
01:52 has made that comment at some stage.
01:54 - I forgot how to be happy,
01:56 and if that's the only gift I got out of this,
01:58 and it wasn't, what more can you ask for?
02:01 (upbeat music)
02:03 (upbeat music)
02:06 (upbeat music)
02:08 (upbeat music)
02:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]