Who we are
Our Team
Melissa Yardley dip.couns.
For many years I worked in Disability and Mental Health, from a desk in a stuffy room, a white board on one wall, a broken clock on the other, venetian blinds covering a window that didn’t open. It was’nt ever going to be a place of hope or healing, I knew it could be done better. So I quit, I had a dream for ‘doing it better’.
I knew the power of connecting to and being with horses. After a freak accident in 2014 my recovery from physical trauma was the easy bit, the PTSD was the real challenge. My connection to horses and the calm of ‘Yarraman Homestead’ was a game changer for me.
I wanted to share the healing qualities of horses. I wanted people to experience the sense of calm when they drive down the long driveway and seeing it open up into green horse paddocks, ducks and geese waddling around, sausage dogs bounding to greet you, and two chairs beckoning from the shade of the Jacarandas. It’s a stark contrast to a clinical stuffy room, and I’m so proud that Xena, my darling horse and I can introduce you to a new way of being, a new way of healing.
Maddie Wilson - Coach
I was bought up around horses and started riding from the age of 4. Competing in both Pony Club and open events in various disciplines. My passion is eventing and I have competed up to 2* level in the New South Wales eventing squad. Over the years I have worked with many horses of all experience levels, and coached beginner and intermediate level riders of all abilities. I thoroughly enjoy passing my knowledge onto others to help them reach their goals.
Therapy Horse ‘Xena’
Xena has a dual role here at Yarraman Homestead. She is the star of our mounted and unmounted programs. My precious girl is a sweet natured thoroughbred mare who stands at just a nudge over 16HH. Xena has an inate ability to know what is needed from her, she is so willing to connect with people, no words needed she can read us like a book. She steps up and gives of herself unconditionally, with no judgement.