I have four dogs, seven cats and three horses – and I’ve never been more content

I like people. I do. Some of my friends are people. If I had to choose between spending time with people or with animals, I would choose animals. I find them easier to be around.

I have made up for my lack of time and freedom to keep my pets by adding four dogs and three horses, as well as seven stray cats, to my list.

Over the past 16 years, my home has been rough-housed by a pack of rescue dogs that have peed on, ripped up and eaten my furniture. The horses have given me a couple of broken fingers, and the cats don't even pretend to show gratitude, even though they left me on the edge of bankruptcy. I can't remember being more content.

I was happy in my previous life with humans. I have been happy at times. I didn't feel that calm and sense of grounding until I gave my time to animals.

I have lived alone for the past 10 years, and it is no surprise given my life of dust and dog hair. I have never felt lonely. I have been made healthy by animals. I stopped drinking when I got my horses. In order to become a better equestrian, I do gym and ballet. I stopped smoking because I thought I might die before my pets. I adopted a plant-based diet because I didn't want to eat the things that had given my life purpose. Sarah Urwin, a counsellor who works with animal-assisted therapy, says that my ability to self-regulate has increased sharply and that it is due to the autonomic nervous system.

Animals live in the here and now and help us do the same

To understand and manage strong emotions, people need to be able to self-regulate. If we are lucky, we are helped in this endeavor by co-regulation, whereby our autonomic nervous system interacts with another in a way that facilitates greater emotional balance and physical health. It's easier with animals.

If we can't attach to our fellow humans easily, we can turn to an animal, which will help us self-regulate.

I have seen plenty of adults act irrationally, and sometimes with unnecessary violence, when frustrated. I have been known to scream in anger, but not as much these days.

Nothing is more important to me than security, health and happiness. The baubles of life are the rest. The horses have expanded my horizon, but it isn't always about me.

The relationship with animals teaches us about trust and outward focus. It's more comfortable to be with them because they don't live in yesterday and they don't live in tomorrow. The Buddhists say living in the moment is where you will find contentment.

Spending more time away from people has resulted in me becoming a zen master of self-regulation, and I also find myself wrapped in a blanket of familiarity in the company of animals, something that might be explained by a primordial need.

The tendency of humans to associate with nature and other life forms has a genetic basis according to Edward O Wilson. There is evidence for this from studies of biophobia. Humans needed to maintain a close relationship with their environment because fear was a fundamental connection with nature that enabled survival. Increased dependence on technology is thought to have weakened the human drive to connect with nature, leading to less appreciation of the diversity of life forms.

It's part of the attraction of being around animals. We have an affinity for and an innate need to attend to.

While heeding the call of our ancestors might be one reason for flocking towards animals, there is another theme prevalent in many of my conversations with like-minded souls. One of my friends admits she is Team Animal because she blames the menopause for her growing intolerance of bollocks.

She told me that when her husband tried to shag her, she knew her marriage was over. She was not very happy.

I find myself less willing to navigate the politics and moods of people I am not close to as I get older. People are tiresome to me.

I was told by another friend that animals don't disappoint you in the way people do. There is no sense of expectation. They give you friendship in its most pure form.

There is no better example of the non-judgmental quality of animal friendship than in rehabilitation programmes for prisoners. The Tails programme in the US is about helping at-risk dogs with institutionalised men. The positive effects of such initiatives include enhanced empathy, emotional intelligence, communication, patience, self-control and trust according to a professor at the University of North Florida.

In the UK, prison officers took their own dogs to work in prisons last summer in order to help inmates during the Pandemic when visits were temporarily suspended.

They can separate how they act from how they feel. What people get from animals is genuine. Positive regard from animals is what they get. They get their feelings from animals.

It's quite a big deal that vulnerable groups who aren't accepted easily by mainstream society or who have suffered individual trauma have learned not to trust people.

Someone might trust an animal in a way that they perhaps might not trust a human being

Animals don't project through verbal communication. They don't try to understand what you're saying. What's actually happening is what they take on board. There are a lot of reasons why someone might trust an animal in a way that they might not trust a human being.

There are benefits to the body. Over the years, many studies have shown that being in the presence of animals can lower blood pressure and heart rates, but modern research has found a link between the two.

When we attach to animals, the bonding chemical oxytocin goes up. The most recent research focuses on prolactin and phenylalanine, which are anti- inflammatory.

There is also the field of thought. My standing heart rate is between 50 and 60, while my horses have an average standing heart rate of 38 beats per minute. If we are all calm, their presence will bring my heart rate down as part of the mirroring process.

Some people have that kind of magic about them, but there are things happening in the body that make that magic happen.

I have come to understand that the secret to happiness is contentment, and whether it is wrapped up in biology, psychology, chemistry or magic, the reason. I hope they have found the same contentment with me that I did.

Armida Books published Untethered by Busfield.