THE AMMO SADDLE

FEATURE

A legend, a legacy, and Australia’s own Ammo saddle

Who can ever forget the sight of the lone rider at the Sydney Olympic Opening Ceremony galloping into the stadium to signal the start of the Games? Not us, for sure. JANE CAMENS talks to Steve Jefferys about the saddle he named for his horse.

You could hear a pin drop in that massive stadium. The spotlight on the rider, the galloping horse that reared, before SteveJefferys cracked his whip and 120 horses (including Steve’s partner at the time Sandy Langsford), charged into the arena on their Australian Stock Horses.

A few weekends ago, Saddleworld came to do a showing of saddles for several horses at the property where I keep my horse. I’d expected stock saddles, but instead, it was a slightly different looking saddle that came out of the truck. I got talking to the saddle-fitter, who told me that Steve Jefferys had designed this saddle, and that it was called the Ammo. I casually asked how the saddle got its name, and yes, that’s right, readers, I quickly realised he was talking about that rider – the legendary figure who had named the saddle after the horse the world fell in love with that night.

After the demonstration I was assured the Ammo was ideal for Working Equitation, so I contacted Steve to talk to him further about it. He told me: “Working Equitation didn’t exist in Australia when the Ammo was created, but the saddle was designed to be extremely versatile, and so yes, it is ideal for Working Equitation – as it is for most disciplines because of the fact that it holds you in a great position.” So let’s rein back, so to speak. Steve was a renowned horse trainer long before he had the idea for the Ammo saddle. “I was riding 10 horses a day – everything from a two-year-old starting out to a Grand Prix dressage horse that needed some help. I was riding green horses, maybe some that needed re-schooling, and of course some that I was breaking in,” he says. “I wanted a saddle I could put on any horse that would put me in a balanced position for riding whilst giving me adequate support for all these different kinds of horses.”

A trip to the USA and time spent in an American cutting saddle changed the way he thought about Australian stock saddles and Western saddles with a horn. “I liked the fenders on Western saddles because they don’t pinch your leg like a conventional stirrup leather, and they keep the sweat off your leg - unlike a dressage saddle for example,” he says. “So I took my cutting saddle to the saddle-maker Marsh Carney in Scone and told him I wanted a stock saddle that sat on a horse in the same way as the Western saddle, but I wanted the stock saddle knee pads, which would give me the support that the Western saddle doesn’t have.”

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A: The Ammo saddle, so comfy even the dog can’t resist. B: Steve Jefferys on Ammo the horse showing off his Sydney Olympic Games move.

Steve and Marsh worked on the design, and changed the angles of the pads so a rider could effectively rise to the trot. When Steve rode in the saddle he was amazed. “I’d had a bad back for years until I started to ride in this new design – it literally fixed my back due to supporting me in the correct posture!”

Steve suggests that the Ammo can work for most horses. “When it was made originally the tree was narrower than I wanted - it’s much better for a tree to be a bit too wide because you can pad them, but if they are too narrow they pinch. So we worked on that, and we had, to my mind, the perfect saddle. It can work for most of them them as long as you get the right padding underneath and allow the horse’s shoulder to move. ”

Steve didn’t intend to make the saddle commercially but when Saddleworld suggested they wanted to make it and that they would like to bring out a synthetic version to make it more affordable for everyday riders, Steve was happy to work with them. That was back in 2000 and since then the saddle has become a constant top seller, particularly in endurance where it’s been a top-seller around the world. The key, according to Steve, is to get the balance 100% right. “We’ve had top dressage riders use the saddle when schooling their young horses because it allows you to ride correctly but also gives them more security than a dressage saddle,” he says.

Steve still uses his Ammo everyday, although the legendary horse it was named after passed away two years ago at the age of 18, after he developed a kidney problem. In a terrible twist of fate, he also lost Drummer, (the horse pictured on stage in Carmen) when he was only 16.

“Years of education go into creating a working relationship with these horses,” he says. “They go into buildings, they work on stage, they do charity events. We think Drummer was bitten by something, his heart shut down, and it was probably a snake. I didn’t want him to have an autopsy, I couldn’t bear the thought of it, so we will never know for sure. We still have Jamieson, the black stallion – he’s now 30, and he’s been a wonderful partner.”

Images of Jamieson are also deep in the Australian psyche – galloping along beside the Jeep in the Cherokee ad, for example, demonstrating at the Olympic Games, and at the Royal Easter Show, to name but a few.

Since the loss of Ammo and Drummer, Steve has spent a considerable amount of time overseas working on large, worldwide events, still riding in his Ammo. “I ride with the original timber tree,” he says. “It was an idea created just for me, but I think that in the long run it has revolutionised stock saddles.”

A quiet revolution from a quiet achiever.

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C: Steve and Drummer performing in ‘Carmen’ at the Sydney Opera House.