It has been a challenging year for all of us, but it has been especially hard for first responders and frontline workers who were struggling even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now these heroes on the front lines of community service are finding help through a new equine therapy program in Tucson healing with horses.
Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids (TRAK) launched its “Heroes First” program in 2020 with grant funding from the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.
Erik Lindmark, a ranch hand at the Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids, says the non-profit changed his life.
"I talk, I have almost conversations with the horses and I go stall to stall and if I am having a bad day and I will talk to these animals and they listen if you look in their eyes they listen and they're responding to you,” said Erik Lindmark, former New York Police Officer and volunteer at TRAK.
Erik didn’t always know his way around horses.