A debut novel, a memoir, and the history of stock saddles: Three books the Graziher team are reading

Wild Ride: The Story of the Australian Stock Saddle by Fiona Carruthers

I learnt to ride in an old Australian stock saddle, where I felt very safe and secure, before I progressed into an English-style ‘self emptier’ as the lovely jackaroo who taught me a lot about horses used to call it. The cobalt blue serge of the underneath of the saddle flashing above me as we saddled up is one of my earliest riding memories.

Recently, my mother gave me some of my old horse gear so I had been thinking about saddles, and their history, when Wild Ride landed on my desk. So there’s no doubt about it, I’m the ideal reader for this book. And it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Meticulously researched, its 352 pages are filled with everything you would want to know about the ‘armchair of the bush’. From how it was developed in the 1800s to cope with Australian riding conditions to the stories of the saddlers themselves, it’s a very comprehensive reference.

And, as is often the way, there’s a story behind the story here. In this case, it’s businessman Michael Drapac and the saddle collection he began as a passion project almost a decade ago. Part 3 of the book documents the Drapac Collection. It includes a 1947 R.M. Williams ‘one-owner’ saddle and the last saddle made by Denis Jackson in 2018. (Denis, regarded by many as Australian saddle royalty, made the saddles used in the movie Australia.) As Michael writes in the foreword, every saddle has a story and he hopes this book “will inspire people to take another look at the saddles in their garages or sheds, and perhaps even inspire young saddlers to take up the tools of the trade”. As I head out to my shed to take another look at that pile of old tack, I’m pretty sure it will.

The Flying Vet by Dr Ameliah Scott

Named after Amelia Earhart, this Ameliah also loves flying. “I don’t like borrowing other people’s cars, let alone their aeroplanes,” she says in the opening pages of this memoir. Based in western New South Wales, with White Cliffs as the closest town, her family property covers 60,000 hectares and there’s always something happening on it, somewhere. She also has a busy and interesting job which makes this an enjoyable read.