On a peaceful Miranda property, retired racehorses have a new lease of life where they’re not just horses, but also healers at the equine rehabilitation and therapy centre Annarehab. At the heart of it all are Anna Baigent and her mum Maria, who together turned the trauma of a serious brain injury into a safe haven for horses and humans.
A freak accident that changed everything
It all started in 2014 when Anna, a vet tech working in the racing industry, was unexpectedly injured at work.
“People assume I must have been kicked or fallen off,” explains Anna, 32, still in disbelief.
“But I was standing in the safe zone, clipping a horse up.She had itchy ears, and shook her head from side to side and conked me in the occipital arch behind my eye, and broke it.“I have a head injury because a horse had an itchy ear! It was such a small thing but sometimes really big injuries come from small things.”
Later that night, Anna drove herself to an after-hours medical clinic and quickly learned how serious it was.
Living with the aftermath
“I had a bleed in the back of my brain that had been bleeding slowly for 12 hours with the pressure on my brain building up.”
After multiple scans, X-rays and a lumbar puncture, it stabilised. But life was dramatically different as Anna struggled with unpredictable mood swings, memory loss, seizures and migraines.
“I was really angry in the first years after my head injury,” she admits.
“I couldn’t put into words what was wrong with me and that’s where a lot of the frustration came from. You don’t know which symptoms you’re going to get or how your head injury is going to manifest long-term.”
One horse, one lifeline
In her darkest days, it was the powerful presence of a thoroughbred at work called Sexabeel that brought comfort, connection and a path to healing.
“That one horse got me out of bed every day and just that simple act of getting up is huge when the brain you used to have is gone,” says Anna, wiping away tears.
“He wasn’t scared of my anger. He was patient and there for me, and I didn’t have to say anything to him – he just knew.”
Anna’s parents, Maria, 66, and seventh-generation dairy farmer Gary, 61, saw what a difference Sexabeel was making. When the big horse retired from racing, they vowed to bring him home for Anna.
“He was pivotal to her recovery,” insists Maria.
From healing to helping others
Then Anna began collecting other retired racehorses, using her vet tech experience to rehabilitate them in her parents’ paddocks, learning vital lessons from each one. Maria, a former teacher of 30 years, saw the potential for others to benefit from the horses too.
“I started to think if this could happen with Anna, if it could save her, then it could happen with others,” she says.
“As parents, we blew very gently on this flame, not to overwhelm her but to support her. We could see this was her pathway to some joy in her brain.”
That gentle support led to the creation of AnnaRehab in 2017. Now the centre is home to eight retired thoroughbreds and each week, they run a range of sessions for children struggling in school. Maria, who’s trained as an equine-assisted learning facilitator, works with primary school pupils, guiding them to experience non-verbal communication with the horses. These hands-on sessions help kids regulate emotions, build confidence and feel understood.
Helping teens find their strength
Anna teaches a gateway programme to high school students, building on the resilience skills while also focusing on horse first aid, care and welfare. The horses, all off-the-track thoroughbreds, are thriving in their new roles.
“People said you can’t do that with thoroughbreds [the breed can be stereotyped as temperamental and needing experienced handlers] but they come into the arena every time wide awake and ready,” says Maria, adding that each horse has found their own niche.
“They’re up for the job and love working with kids. “Our horses Honey and Passing Shot really love pre-adolescent teens. Luke likes the babies and Sexabeel loves the littlies – the smaller the child the better. You look at it and think, ‘How does he work with them so gently?’ But he does.”
A new story for retired racers
Anna adds, “I love it when I can go back to the racing industry and tell them all the work they put into these horses doesn’t go unnoticed and they’re appreciated for what they are.”
And the final results speak for themselves.
“I have a folder full of notes and letters from parents saying things like, ‘This was our last hope’ and ‘I’ve never seen my son smile this much,’” shares Maria.
“Kids who wouldn’t normally say a word can’t stop talking about ‘their horse’.”
