PROVIDING quality therapy services for the wider Riverland community, Mel Sargent’s breeding of an Arabian herd is hoping to make lasting change for those struggling with mental health and disability.
Born from a childhood love of horses and a deep passion for helping others, Ms Sargent said that Berri therapy service of Miracle Park Stables had been her “dream for 20 years”.
With extensive experience as a registered nurse, Ms Sargent and her husband began the initiative in 2021, the Berri charity now a stable equine team that helps build self-esteem, resilience, and emotional regulation skills for those struggling with their mental health and/or have a disability.
Built from a team of 28 ponies and horses, 13 are part of an Arabian herd Ms Sargent has spent a life-time researching, tracing the bloodlines, and breeding herself.
“I have loved Arabian horses since I was quite young, maybe since I was 12 or so,” she said.
“When I was old enough, I bought an Anglo-Arabian and learnt a lot with him.
“However, it was when I was married with my first child that I was finally able to buy my first pure-bred Arabian, Tunamara Tysheen, also known as Sheena.
“From there, I have methodically collected Arabinan horse news magazines that date back to the 1970s, and, focused on temperament and type, and built my herd around my favourites.”
Ms Sargent said that horses operate in the present, respond immediately and honestly to what is happening in the moment, and are experts at reading non-verbal signals and body language, making them the perfect assistant to therapeutic programs.
“Horses have a really similar social structure to people — they experience the same emotions as people,” Ms Sargent said.
“They are amazing mirrors… and will reflect back what the person is feeling. Even if someone is saying they’re calm, if they’re in the herd and dysregulated, the horses will be very wary because they can feel that incongruence.
“So, when we do breath and grounding work the horses will come back because you become a safe space — ultimately you learn to self-regulate, because if you want the horses near you, you have to do the work.”
With an inherent, gentle nature, curiosity, and a drive to work in a herd which causes horses to seek connection, even with people, Ms Sargent said such feedback enables a deepening in awareness of self and can encourage confidence and improve personal strengths.
“You can just imagine how healing it can be when a horse is choosing to interact with someone,” she said.
“Of course, being around the horses can help the person regulate, but healing can also come from the interaction with the horse and the connection that can be built.”
Ms Sargent said she has chosen to continue breeding from Arabian bloodlines because they are the “smartest kind of horse”, and the “most intuitive”.
“I have used a few different stallions over the years, but my mares have remained and they all trace back the Arabian bloodline Silver Fire. However, we also have other lines in the herd such as Royal Domino, Spindrift, Crystal Fire, and Chip Chase Sadaqa,” she said.
“I look for thinkers, a calm demeanour, and a horse that understands what is going on around them,” she said.
“They can’t be reactive when dealing with dysregulated children.
“I also look for a certain physical type — solid bone, strong back, short back, and has a weight carrying capacity.
“Essentially, a big body with a quiet mind that will work and partner which definitely shows with the bloodlines I have.
“Our current Stallion, Kalody Park Phayte, also known as Freckles, is not only one of the calmest stallions I’ve encountered, but horses in general — he even engages in the therapy team.”
“I don’t line breed, so I don’t use the same bloodlines together to enhance a particular trait, I will use an out-cross bloodline to instead improve a characteristic.
“So, Freckles compliments and produces to the mares — we replicate the (appearance of) the mother while still getting his calm temperament coming through.”
Breeding more than 30 foals over her lifetime, Ms Sargent said the task can be fraught with complications.
“The (pregnancies) take up to twelve months, or occasionally longer,” she said.
“They can miscarry early, and even have phantom pregnancies which happened to one of our mares once — it’s not very common, but extremely disappointing.
“The births themselves can also be tricky.
“We have had a couple touch-and-go experiences where the bag hasn’t broken on presentation, or a foal has been stuck, in which I have had to come to the rescue and do some resuscitation and revival work when they have been born.”
Ms Sargent said she is currently breeding two mares, with one foal due in November. Breeding four foals last year, she said the schedule operates to produce a foal from an individual mare every second year at the most, while also accounting for the horse’s status in the Miracle Park Stables therapy team.
Looking forward, Ms Sargent said she was looking to provide the Riverland with “quality bloodlines, which are also affordable”.
“One of Sheena’s first foals I bred was exported to the United Arab Emirates to compete in desert racing,” she said.
“I have also had another foal that I bred complete Australia’s national endurance ride, Tom Quilty, which many of the horses in their pedigree have also achieved.
“These blood-lines are world-class.”
For more information on Miracle Parks and their programs, visit the website (www.miraclepark.com.au).