Author: Fiona Carruthers
Publisher: Black Inc.
ISBN:9781863959674
Imprint: Black Inc.
Format: Hardback
Size: 230 x 170mm
Pages: 352pp
Release date: 16 May 2023
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A beautifully illustrated history of an iconic Australia object – the stock saddle.
Piecing together the evolution of the Australian stock saddle is like retrieving leather off-cuts from the workshop floor …
The Australian stock saddle is a triumph of simple, honest bushcraft. Developed in the 1800s in response to the challenges of riding vast distances – often through thick virgin bush and scrub country – the national saddle has proven its durability and comfort for more than two centuries.
The hardy stock saddle is a much-loved outback symbol but its story has never been written – until now. Wild Ride captures this colourful tale, involving colonial pioneers and Aboriginal stockmen and women; bushrangers and young horsemen sent to the Boer War. It catalogues the earliest models produced by amateurs sewing kneepads onto traditional English saddles, through to the development of the modern stock fender.
The work of both contemporary and early masters is carefully documented – from the likes of Jack Wieneke, J.P. Talty, John Brush, Syd Hill and R.M. Williams, whose brand remains a household name, through to those continuing to practise the trade today, including a growing number of women. All of them adapters and inventors, with an eye for beauty, detail, precision and practicality.
Fully illustrated with sumptuous photography of Australia’s largest saddle collection, the Drapac Collection, Wild Ride will appeal to lovers of horses, leathercraft, the outback and Australian history.
About the author
Fiona Carruthers has loved and ridden horses all her life, still fitting in a trail ride whenever she can around her job as a features writer and travel editor for the Australian Financial Review. Fiona is the author of The Horse in Australia and has previously held senior roles with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age‘s Traveller section, ABC Radio National, Deutsche Welle Radio, TIME Magazine and The Australian.
