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Of all the career paths open to Queensland Police Service (QPS) officers, being a member of the Mounted Police Unit must be one of the most unique.

Mounted Police are essentially frontline operational police officers, except they carry out their duties from above crowd level astride an animal weighing several hundred kilograms.

There’s a few extra duties as well…training, grooming, brushing, feeding, exercising, mucking out stables and picking up poo, just to mention a few.

According to Mounted Police Unit’s Sergeant Teala Muller, it’s a labour of love.

Sergeant Muller studied medical science at university, but said a passion for justice steered her into the QPS in 1999 at age 21.

“I really wanted a job where I could make a difference. I like people and I actually wanted to pursue something I felt would contribute to our society in a positive way,” Sergeant Muller said.

“Policing is a job like no other. You see people at their most vulnerable who need your help and you can really make a difference in their lives.

“And then you also see people at their worst who also need help but from a different perspective. Both sides go hand in hand.”

Driven to be a general duties police officer, Sergeant Muller performed this role for 10 years before exploring some of the other career pathways available.

“I looked at a few of the options such as the detective stream or other specialist area, but my love of horses was always there.

“Being a Mountie was always in the back of my mind but I never thought it would be an attainable goal.

“Once I decided to start trying for a Mounted Police career however, the doors just started opening and I transitioned across very quickly and easily.

“I started by volunteering in my own time to get a bit of an understanding about what the unit did.

“Then a secondment opportunity arose and I applied, followed by a senior constable position, and then within about six months the sergeant position came up.”

Sergeant Muller was in the right place at the right time to take up the opportunities, but fundamental to her success was her existing ability to ride horses.

Having moved to the country town of Nanango as a teenager, riding and caring for horses became second nature for her, much as it did for Senior Constable Simon Shilton.

A full-time Mounted Police officer for the past 18 years, Senior Constable Shilton estimates he has accumulated 49 years of riding experience.

“I first got on a horse when I was five years old. I did dressage and events and showing when I was younger and then went mustering,” Senior Constable Shilton said.

“Later I tried farming, ran my own earth moving business and managed my own and other properties in the Gold Coast hinterland, western Queensland and northern New South Wales.

“Policing was a job I’d always wanted to do, but because I was doing a lot of contract work, the opportunity didn’t arise until I was about 32. Then I thought, ‘it’s now or never’.”

Senior Constable Shilton said he wasn’t aware policing on horseback was an option until after he had joined up.

“I didn’t have a plan to come here initially. I worked in Logan Central, which is a very busy area, then I heard they were calling for Mounted Police.

“I worked one day a week as a Mountie for four years, then applied for a full time position 18 years ago and have never looked back.

“We’ve got a great crew, and currently nine horses on a nice property here at Moggill with good facilities.”

With only 10 Mounted Police officers in the QPS, he agreed that it could be competitive securing a position.

“Yes, there are more than 10,000 police officers in the Service, but most of them don’t ride or want to ride,” Senior Constable Shilton said.

“Having a higher skill level with horses and working in the unit part-time definitely gave me a leg up.

“My advice to anyone planning to become a mounted police officer is to practice your riding if you haven’t done a lot.

“You don’t have to be a world champion at anything. You just have to be able to ride a horse, train a horse and be a good police officer. That’s basically all you need to be.”

Aside from operational police duties and caring for the horses, training forms a significant part of what Mounted Police do on a day-to-day basis.

Sergeant Muller said while all the horses were able to be ridden by any staff member, they predominantly worked with two horses, forming strong bonds with them.

“We have a troop of horses all our staff can ride. They have to be horses that are happy to be ridden by other people. Some horses can get very particular about having a certain rider, so we can’t have horses like that here,” Sergeant Muller said.

“In saying that, we generally work with two horses predominantly-one fully operational and another one under development, assessment, or training.

“My special horse is Idol. We’ve been working together for 10 years and I trust him with my life. I’m so grateful for him because he makes my job easy. He’s a beautiful animal.

“My training horse is Alfie. Alfie is new to the unit and is showing really good potential. For me it’s about the horse’s personality and their willingness to work for you.”

Fully operational horses are trained for any situation from suburban patrols to ceremonial events, from community engagement to Safe Night Precincts at 2am in Fortitude Valley.

Not all horses are suitable for a policing environment, and Sergeant Muller said careful selection, training and assessment ensured safety for the horses, the officers and the community.

“We put them in unnatural situations for horses and we need them to be sensible and brave,” she said.

“We start horses off in low intensity duties, such as a suburban patrol, and then when they are coping with that we’ll increase the intensity to the end product.

“The most intense operational environment we work in is our night club precincts. You’ve got lots of people, lots of energy and people affected by drugs and alcohol.”

Taking horses into such a dynamic environment may seem counterintuitive, but according to Sergeant Muller, they can bring a calming influence.

“Their personality and presence bring a special factor to an operational environment. People love to pat them and engage with them, and studies have shown this can decrease a person’s heart rate.

“If people are stressed out or emotional, horses can bring a different kind of presence into that situation.

“In practical terms, they are such big, majestic animals and if you bring them into a situation, people are going to notice and pay attention.

“If I’m on the ground in a crowd of people, I can see-and be seen-maybe two people in. If I’m six feet up on a 700kg animal, people can easily see that police are there.”

By far, the hardest part of being a Mounted Police officer is accepting that horses must eventually retire.

It’s a bittersweet moment after devoting many years training, working and caring for their every need, and most are adopted by current or former Mounted Unit officers or stablehands to live out their retirement years.

The adventures continue for the police officers though. Sergeant Muller said policing offered a diverse range of career opportunities.

“There are a few officers who’ve been here 10 years or more, but other officers come in, do their tenure, have these amazing experiences and then move on to somewhere else,” she said.

“They might go to public safety or traffic or Water Police or back to general duties and they will have more unique experiences in those roles as well.

“It’s up to individual officers and what works with their families and their passion.

“It’s like anything in policing. You decide what your next challenge is and you position yourself to go there.”

The Queensland Police Service is seeking applicants who seek purpose, direction and meaning from their careers in a different way from what they have before.

Great police officers are not born-they are made, with strong personal values shaped from life, growth and career experience.

Visit policerecruit.com.au to take the eligibility quiz and see if you’ve got what it takes to become a police officer.