The Rocking Horse Shop

I’ve always loved horses and rode when I was young. Understanding them helps me to create their likeness.

I’m a leatherworker and have done all sorts here. The store has designed, made and restored rocking horses since 1976. Tacking up is my favourite part. Once the horse is finished, you put the tack and hair on and bring it to life.

I came from a crafty background — I was always wrapping fabric around things, making extra bits for dolls and sewing curtains for the doll’s house.

Most of the new horses go out at Christmas; we’re taking a few last orders now. We’ve had horses arrive in pieces in polybags to be made right again. The challenge is that they’re all different. A lot were made in factories of carvers, but each maker did something slightly differently — either with the tack, the shape of the horse, or the stand brackets.

You have to be careful when restoring. You can take the paint away and suddenly the leg will fall off. We like to know whether the horse has a name, so we can call it that when it joins the rest of our horses. We like to know where it’s come from and how many generations of the family have enjoyed it — that makes it personal.

One horse belonged to a lady whose father had restored it when she was young. It wasn’t in its original state, and we didn’t want to lose what her dad had done. We approached it sympathetically: gave it a wash, made the stand safe, sealed the horse so nothing would fall off, and added new hair and leatherwork. It made the owner’s day seeing her back in good condition and ready to be enjoyed by one of her grandchildren.

Some of the older horses look a wee bit scary — especially when their eyes are clear glass, whereas most are amber now — we give those ones extra pats and call them “old girls”.

On a painted or dappled horse, we can dapple around the eye to give a smoky, soft look. For clients who prefer a stained horse that showcases the wood, we create definition around the eye using a darker stain to bring it to life. You can be clever with paint and stains and create a muzzle that looks like it would be soft to touch.

We also make a lot of memorial horses. When someone has had a much-loved real horse that has died, we create a rocking horse model in its likeness. We can use some of its hair in the tail, and sometimes people send their horse’s stirrups — or even the horse’s ashes — to be placed in the hollow inside the body, creating a permanent memory box.

The leather has to be vegetable-tanned, not chrome-tanned. A child’s shoe can be chrome-tanned, but not a rocking horse saddle — children might lick it. The swing irons — the part that goes over the stand and makes the horse rock — had to change shape a few years ago to leave a gap between the swing iron and the wood, so a child couldn’t get their fingers trapped.

The paint on old horses would have been acrylic or oil-based, but now it must comply with toy safety regulations, so it has to be water-based. Getting the exact colour can take some doing.

We also sell plans and timber packs, and offer videos, books and carving courses. You can spend three days with us gaining confidence. We’ve had people make horses who’ve never done woodwork before — you just need lots of time and patience. You do a bit, stand back, do a little bit more. Chipping away gently. It’s really special.