23 May, 2012 1:25PM AEST

Saddling up a career

Bede Aldridge combined a skill for leatherwork and a love of horses into a career as a saddler.

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Bede Aldridge's introduction to leatherwork was plaiting belts as a teenager. His father did leatherwork as a hobby, but soon young Bede's skill outpaced his father's, and today he works as a professional saddler based in Dubbo.

"I really liked horses, and saddler was the cross point between leather and horses, something you could make a living out of," Bede remembers.

"I searched around for an apprenticeship, and I was very fortunate to be able to find one because not many saddlers will give you an apprenticeship. That was in 2003, I started a four year apprenticeship and learned the trade.

"Saddlers are shy creatures, they hide in their garage most of the time making saddles or strapping. I guess they're behind the scenes sorts of people; everyone in the horse world knows who they are and where they are, but they are not someone you generally bump into in the general public."

Bede says long, lonely hours can be a part of the saddler's trade, but there's more call for this old-fashioned craft than you might expect.

"In times past there has been perhaps a diminishing call for it. After the horse and cart days, with the coming of cars and machines there was a dip in demand.

"A previous employer of mine, his father was a saddler and just burnt all his patterns. It caused my boss great grief that his father had done that.

"But these days, there is a lot more going on. A lot of people who love horses are going into leisure activities, whether it be just riding through the paddocks, whether it be campdrafting, polocrosse, team penning, dressage, there's a whole raft of things. A lot of people are getting back into it, and because of that there is a lot more demand for saddlery. And there are fewer saddlers, because they're all getting older."

Bede says there's a crossover in customers wanting saddles and bridles for recreation or competition, and those wanting gear for working horses.

"A lot of people who do campdrafting for example, or polocrosse, work on the farm during the week and they're good at what they do because of that.

"There are farmers who have their saddle they've used for a long time, and they just keep on repairing it and repairing it because it they love it. Other people who are competitive in sports want the next newest thing. They hear that so-and-so has this better saddle, so they want to get the next new thing, the next better thing."

Before making a start on a saddle, the first step is to track down suitable leather.

"Some people deal directly with tanneries. There are tanneries in Sydney, Brisbane and other states," Bede says. "But a lot of the leather comes from England and America these days. England has been doing it for hundreds of years and makes really good products.

"It's all cut by hand, shaped by hand, and a lot of it's done by eye as well.

"There are different ways of making it, whether you use pre-cut patterns or whether you actually cut it after it's on the particular tree, the frame of the saddle.

"The trick is fitting a saddle to horse, which can't talk. So just like a vet will take signs from a horse, the saddler will observe the horse, without any instruments. They all have their own ideas, and there is not a lot of teaching so you come up with your own ideas that work.

"There are so many variables: different breeds, the horse's body changing over time, and the materials you have to work with are changing. Now you have synthetics, different types of glues, different edge dyes, all those things that you have to search out."