WORKING ON SADDLES & A COACH FOR THE KING

Today there are more women in the trade “but it’s still a bit of a boys’ club”, remarks 55-year-old Sonja Giesekam, who was initially attracted to saddle-making and leather work about 20 years ago. She was inspired by two horses she found in the NSW Hills District.

“I came upon a mare and her little companion who had been neglected. Apparently the couple had split up, left the property and abandoned the animals. They were skin and bone.” She negotiated for their release – she had to pay the negligent owners $2500 – and drove them to the Hunter Valley.

“The mare was a beautifully bred, straight Egyptian, I named her ‘Anika’. Little ‘Bob’ became a superstar and taught children how to ride, and on one occasion both horses attended a local wedding where they were a huge hit.”

Sonja, who lives in Wollombi, did a lot of trail riding with the mare plus a few 20km endurance events. “On the trails I’d pick up feathers, empty bird nests and other natural treasures and one day I thought I should make something to carry them in.”

She created her first saddle bag out of an old pair of chaps. Then she made more for Christmas for all her riding friends. “It snowballed from there. I took some courses, went to a major convention in Brisbane and later over to Texas.”  

She was learning that leather was both an artistic and functional medium. She bought a heavy-duty sewing machine and all the tools, becoming a quality craftswoman whose work was commercially appealing. Sonja was doing well but she was keen to add saddle-making to her skill set.

The opportunity arose when she was delivering some of her secateur holders for sale at a nursery in Mt White on the NSW Central Coast.  “I was told there was a local saddler I should see,” she recounts.

She ended up learning from and working with the late Heath Harris who taught her the art and age-old traditions of saddlery. How to cut, stitch, shape and flock a saddle; about different trees and styles of harness.

A CAREER WITH GEAR

Today she works out of Wollombi (Laguna Leather) and Mangrove Mountain (Hawkesbury River Saddle Company).

“The first piece of horse gear I ever made was an extended Barcoo bridle,” she recalls, “I can make all of them now.”

She sometimes has to repair riders’ expensive imported saddles and is often appalled when pulling them apart. “Believe it or not many are actually panelled together mostly by staples – there are very few screws.”

The riders coming to her workshops bring their damaged top boots with faulty zippers, mangled harness, broken saddles and other leather items in dire need of repair. 

“I’m told some of them are famous, but I don’t know much about equestrian celebrities. An international showjumper and a first-year pony clubber are all the same to me – I just make or fix their saddlery.”

For the record, she just made a breaking saddle for Queensland Olympian Peter McMahon, recently mended Tom McDermott’s roller, did some repairs for World Cup winning showjumper Sarah McMillan, and there are more works-in-progress for many others.

TEAM PENNING TO ROYAL COACHES

“The people I meet from my equestrian sport aren’t Olympians but they’re great people. I ride Big Bob, and we potter around doing team penning and arena sorting with the Valley Team. It’s about chasing cows and popping them in a pen in one minute thirty,” she briefly explains.

Saddler Rose Harris would have enjoyed it too, but the sport wasn’t around when she was alive. But it is documented that she was an accomplished boxer, tennis player, swimmer and rider; and she could play the mandolin! 

But she never worked on a coach for a king. Unlike Sonja who has been collaborating with Jim Frecklington, the Australian coach maker presently creating his third horse-drawn vehicle for the British Royal Family.

The 76-year-old, originally from Peak Hill in the NSW Central West, was always a horse lover. In his younger years he was engaged at Windsor Castle and later moved to the Royal Mews in London where he cared for the Cleveland Bays and the Windsor Greys and drove the ceremonial carriages.

“This coach represents the Commonwealth and features something from each country. The steps and undercarriage contain steel from the Harbour Bridge, which was donated following recent renovations; and all the different flowers on the cabin are pure gold,” explains Sonja, whose contribution was fashioning the handles behind the cabin. “They came from concert hall doors at the Sydney Opera House and they’re to keep the footman or brakeman steady. I moulded, covered and sewed them by hand.”

“I moulded, covered and
sewed them by hand.”