ALL IN A DAY’S WORK
The Repair Shop’s master saddle maker Suzie Fletcher on what to do with your horse during a tornado and making harnesses for wild boars
I got my love of horses from my grandmother.
She didn’t have horses, but she adored them and her house was full of horse-related items that I’ve inherited. My dad joked that horse was my first word. My grandparents encouraged my love of horses, much to my parents’ dismay.
I remember my grandpa taking me to meet the hounds when they met in our home town. I was about three years old and the hounds were as big as I was. I was captivated by horses.
When I was a bit older I used to make saddles and bridles for my Sindy horse. I inherited a design flair from my mother and practical skills from my father, who was a watchmaker.
I went to a riding school for several years and then I exercised a Welsh pony called Jester for somebody who’d gone to college.
Jes came up for sale and I was heartbroken that the love of my life was going to be sold. My grandpa felt so bad he went off and gazumped the buyers and bought Jes for me.
I cycled two miles there and back before school to see him and then the same afterwards. My dad said: “If you miss a day, the pony goes.” I never missed a day.
Jes was an amazing pony, I wish I could have cloned him.
On weekends I rode him all day. I knew all the bridlepaths across Oxfordshire. In 1976 we had an incredible drought and the whole of England was burning up. I remember hacking him down to a ford to go swimming in just a halter and no helmet because it was too hot. If my dad had seen me he would have stopped me from riding.
That summer we went swimming every day. I’d also take him over bridges across rivers and motorways and thought nothing of it. He just did whatever I asked. He did bolt and I remember thinking, “Hang on, you’ll be fine, he’ll get tired,” and he did.
Horses are still my favourite thing to do, I’m still riding and intend to ride until the end.
Life’s busy so I share a horse and it works well. The horse is on livery so I let the owner know when I’m going to be around and if it’s convenient then I ride and clean the tack. I love getting my horse fix without all of the responsibility.
I went to the USA in the 1990s as a master saddle maker – I only intended to stay for a few years but I met a fella and got married.
We bought an old dairy farm in Colorado. The management side of horses was different there and I felt completely out of my depth.
It’s very dry and arid – sand colic is commonplace. The ground’s much harder so there were lots of lameness issues. We had four small paddocks that had to be carefully maintained and rotated. There was also lots of wildlife to deal with like prairie dogs, rattlesnakes and black widows.
The ranch was exposed to weather
