San Antonio — The horse-to-human connection is one of the oldest and most honest relationships in civilization. Some zoologists believe humans first domesticated horses more than 10,000 years ago.
Part of the appeal is clearly how horses can help humans, on a ranch or a farm, and some say horses can even heal people.
"First of all,” says horse-trainer Susan Donavan, “the horses are going to give you instant and honest feedback."
"They know when you're stressed,” says Stephanie Gattas, scratching a horse’s nose, “they know when you're angry, they just know when you're having an emotional battle, so to speak.”
She would know.
Several years ago, they helped Gattas recover from PTSD-like symptoms after serving in the U.S. Navy.
“They're very good at helping you through your trauma,” she says, “through your emotions."
She served on the USS Simon Lake, a submarine tender, in the Mediterranean. She came home with a tremendous amount of anger and despair.
“It took me years to realize that there was an inner struggle,” she says, “that I wasn’t really addressing." She believes the horses helped her identify the problem and solve it.
Then she realized other female vets need help, too.
“PTSD was not really associated with women at the time that I started developing this concept,” she adds.
So in 2015, she founded 'The Pink Berets' as a 501C-3 to help female veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress, sexual trauma and other invisible disabilities.
The organization offers counseling, culinary training and exercise classes, but the flagship treatment program's equine therapy in Boerne.
"So our mission is to be able to help these women find their outlet,” she says, “to help these women be able to get back to their sense of normalcy as it applies to their lives.”
Women like Tina Casanova.
“It's been an amazing experience,” she says, strolling through the paddock at Double Diamond Ranch, where The Pink Berets conduct the equine therapy.
“I got self-control back, and self-confidence.”
As an electronics tech in the U-S Navy, she survived a sexual assault while on active duty, but never really healed. Even in civilian life, she struggled. Until she met a four-legged therapist.
“You find something,” she says, describing how the horses helping her work through her trauma like no human therapist had. “There's something about their story, that connects with you, and then they respond to you. You're just naturally drawn to them.”
The horse therapy all happens at the Double Diamond Equestrian Center southwest of Boerne. The Pink Berets’ five other programs are conducted at a variety of locations.
Donovan leads Casanova and the horse around an open-air arena, encouraging Casanova to take control of the exercise.
“They read us,” she says, “it's impossible to lie to a horse because they get the information from us - from the inside out. So we may present one way, but if we're not congruent, presenting the same on the inside as the outside, then the horse, goes... yeah, that's not real."
Donovan has worked with horses almost all her life and believes horses often force people to face themselves.. and their issues.
“And so these women quickly see, that if I want that horse to connect with me, I've gotta make some changes,” she says.
So far, the Pink Berets have helped about a hundred women make life-altering changes. All of them former active duty military or former first-responders from the San Antonio area.
“It's military city USA,” says Gattas, “what better place to launch an initiative like this? Right? What better place to say listen, we care and because I grew up here, this is my way of giving back."
She’s giving back by giving fighting women... a fighting chance. That's why Stephanie Gattas is another one of the people who make San Antonio great.