Erin Andrews bonded with a miniature horse during her latest hosting gig

• Fox Sports NFL sideline reporter Erin Andrews is co-hosting "World Pet Games" on Thanksgiving Day.
• The prominent television journalist bonded with a miniature horse while filming the special.

Erin Andrews has been privy to some of the greatest action in professional sports throughout her illustrious career as a sideline reporter.

But she's never seen anything like this.

The 43-year-old sports media superstar is co-hosting "World Pet Games," a two-hour multi-species competition set to air on FOX at 8 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Day. Though the special will feature more standard events such as a cat obstacle course and a dog high jump, Andrews insists that the show features "a lot more animals than just dogs and cats."

"We're talking miniature horses, we're talking a cow, we're talking a lizard, we're talking an anteater, an Armadillo, a monkey," Andrews told Insider. "There were all sorts [of animals]. And you get to learn the stories with the trainers and the people that are raising the animals."

"I had never learned so many fun facts about something that wasn't a dog or a cat in my entire life," she added.

Andrews said she was particularly drawn to a miniature horse, who was somehow even smaller than whatever you're picturing right now. At the time Peabody competed in the inner-species race on "World Pet Games," he clocked in at just 16.5 inches tall and roughly 20 pounds.

"There was this miniature horse that was so sweet," Andrews said, referring to Peabody. "And the story behind him was really, really sweet too."

Peabody wasn't just a miniature horse — he's also a "dwarf horse," according to caretaker Faith San Severino. She rescued the little guy when he was just three days old after his mother abandoned him for his inability to walk or reach her udder for feeding.

"Peabody has a spirit like a warrior," Severino said on the show. "He's beaten the odds."

Fans can watch Peabody and countless other animals compete Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, but in the meantime, check out Peabody's training video below: