Matthews Saddlery

On a rural property at Luddenham, on Sydney's western fringe, a saddler's workshop turns out stock and fender saddles built to fit both horse and rider rather than off a standard last. Renee Matthews works entirely to commission, building up each saddle tree and its leatherwork in layers that account for the particular conformation of the horse it is made for, a discipline that has made her one of the most decorated saddlers competing at the Sydney Royal Show, where her work has taken first prize five times and the Standard of Excellence award on four occasions, alongside four wins for best equine exhibit from the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. Beyond saddles, the workshop produces stock and western bridles, breastplates, spur straps and belts, all finished with the same attention that goes into her competition work. It is a genuinely working saddlery rather than a boutique leather label, the kind of practical, skill-based craft that rural Australia has always depended on and that increasingly few makers still practise at this standard.