Saddler just keeps enjoying life

He's worn out more vehicles than he'd care to remember in his work, but popular country Victorian saddlery manufacturer and repairman Graham Eeles wouldn't have it any other way.

"I've been at it for over 40 years now and I'd hate to try and estimate the number of miles I've clocked up. I'm not complaining though because it just goes with the job," Eeles said.

"The first vehicle I had was an old Holden and I towed a caravan all over the place. There have been numerous other cars and wagons, and there was a truck as well."

Eeles, who lives with his wife Pam on the Murray River at Murrabit, 50 kms north of Bendigo, is the on-course saddlery supplier at Maryborough, Cobram, Echuca, Swan Hill, Boort, Wangaratta, Wedderburn and St Arnaud.

"It works out to at least two meetings a week. Back in the day I would do a lot more. I'd travel up to Mildura and other places," Eeles said.

"But sales increased, and more people were wanting their gear repaired and I needed to stay at home more," he said.

Eeles worked in a bank for 14 years before deciding there was an opportunity in saddlery sales and repairs.

"I took a month of long service leave and travelled around to some of the bigger stables to find out first-hand for myself if it would be a goer," he said.

"It was really an easy decision for me. Everyone I spoke with was positive.

"But I couldn't have done it without Pam's support. While I was off chasing trots meetings all around the State, she was raising four kids virtually on her own."

Eeles went into making horse rugs, then progressed to harness including saddles, hopples, breastplates, boots and leads.

"I had four people working for me at one stage just doing horse rugs. We taught ourselves along the way and I believe our success was because we got the rugs to sit properly," he said.

Eeles is a passionate tinkerer and inventor and loves nothing better than helping a trainer who's been struggling with a problem of gait or behaviour.

"I'm always mucking around with ideas I've got, and I've got a great little group of very well-respected trainers who know their stuff and who'll try out my ideas and the prototypes and give me feedback," he said.

"I have had huge response to our one-legged and double spreaders. I had to modify them a few times, but now they are sold all over the place in Australia as well as New Zealand. I'm excited they work so well, and trainers are very happy with the results they get.

"I invented bar reins which would sit either side and straighten up the horses and there was an anti-choking device I made up about 25 years ago. It fitted to the back of the headcheck and worked a treat by pulling their head out and stopping them from cutting off the airways.

"One of my latest is bungy leads which include a safety strap underneath and they're pretty popular at the moment."

Eeles has been battling ill health in recent years but says his weight has now increased and he's feeling much stronger and healthier.

"I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow) and every few months had to travel to Melbourne for doses of chemo," he said.

"Some people who've been diagnosed with it have lasted only a couple of weeks, but others have kept going for five or 10 years.

"Initially I was always tired and had a walker to get me around and think I originally gave myself 12 months – that was nearly three and a half years ago. I can't complain because I'm 72 now and I've got to soldier on…what else can you do?"

Eeles said he dabbled with training horses in his early years, but found it challenging trying to combine racing and doing gear sales at the same meetings.

"I did drive two winners – one was my last drive. He was a little chestnut called Bando Boy and cost $300," he said.

"We got the money at Boort in June, 1988. We gave them 50m at the start and then later I couldn't restrain him, so we zipped to the front.

"He then went onto win by three lengths. It was his only racestart because I got busy and he sort of got forgotten in the paddock.

"So we both went out on our laurels you could say!"

Despite the advent of cheap imports, the quality of his work means there's rarely a quiet moment for the cheerful saddler beside the trusty Commodore station wagon at race meetings.

"I still love going to the trots. There's been such a lot of lovely people I've met over the years and a lot of characters. Harness racing is full of them. I had one guy back in the day who was an out-and-out millionaire, but he used to bring in the most battered, tattered old rugs for me to repair! Harness racing is full of characters.

"There's not too many people doing the repairs now so I get jobs from all over Victoria, and there's nothing better than spending three or four days at home in the shed catching up on orders.

"Making new gear isn't work, it's a pleasure. You can look back and think 'gee I've had a good day'."

Terry Gange

NewsAlert PR Mildura