Rocking Horse Studio

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Rocking Horse Studio

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Everything to do with antique and vintage rocking horses! Australia's first and only dedicated importer and restorer of fine antique rocking horses.

The BEST selection of antique and vintage rocking horses from English and Australian makers in Australia if not the world is right here online!

12/07/2026

Gridlock is easing around here and as horses are being delivered space is opening up! A few horses have gone in the past couple of months, and once another few go I will finally have room to work on something for myself... after 16 years!!
This is Smoke, who went home today.
Smoke is an early No 4 Roebuck. I was asked to get her as close as possible to the horse on page 300 of Patricia's book. I did my very best, although I used other images for dappling reference. I had planned to dye then wash out the ribbon rosettes (see caption on page 299 of the book, the reference horse originally had cloth rosettes) to simulate faded ribbon, but the dusty rose worked and I didn't want to risk the slippery ribbon coming loose. I also spent a ridiculously long time looking for the cross rosettes seen on the original, but there's only so much time you can spend going down rabbit holes!

This horse was a rare one (for me) that didn't need any remedial work, once the red paint was off the stand - which took AGES. Her owner was a sheer joy to work with and for. Thank you for entrusting me with your dream of a rocking horse and giving me freedom to interpret how to translate the image from the book into reality. This has been a particularly rewarding project.

Tartan chosen and arranged by owner, I can't take credit for that part. 😊

PS... of late, my policy has become not to share pictures of completed horses until owners meet their horses in the flesh. This is so that responses to the real thing are fresh and real and not pre-programmed expectations from images, comments etc. There's a special private magic in people really seeing their horse for the first time that deserves to stay magic 🤩. More are coming and will be shared once owners have met their horses :-)

11/07/2026

Why do I do this to myself?
It is definitely not about money!!!
Next time I have the bright idea to make pleated rosettes out of fine, slippery silk satin ribbon, someone please send me a “don’t do it Sasha!” rescue party - or at least message.
This stuff is s.l.i.p.p.e.r.y and a right pain in the… everything.
It took 3 hours to wrestle it into 3 pleated rosettes. They’re okay.
Now, one of the first things I did when I resumed part time ”normal” salaried work in a heritage consultancy was to hire a cleaner to clean the house. She comes for 2-3 hours and charges me $230 and I have to finish what she misses, which is a LOT. Would anyone pay $230 for 2-3 custom handmade silk rosettes, even if they were perfect? (Rhetorical question 😂).
The thing is, there’s no other way to get the colour I want. (Next comes dyeing it red and washing most of the dye out to emulate faded red ribbon, and probably nobody will ever notice except me).
Meanwhile, cooking brass rosettes in reagents has turned my stainless steel pan black… but the brass is infuriatingly bright, which would seem to be a chemical impossibility but there you go.
Every conservation, restoration and refurbishment I do is bespoke to the smallest detail. Each horse is one of a kind when it comes to me, after a long and usually hard life, and each is one of a kind when it leaves. This takes time, on top of the Time it took to figure out what can be done and what to try.

25/03/2026

One of my favourites, and the biggest I've worked on so far. (He's been ridden by grown men!)
Mandrake went to a new home but unfortunately his buyer found he didn't quite have all of the look she had been picturing. Mandrake's lower loping stance and arched over neck just couldn't be altered to give it that particular look and Mandrake came home. I have since given him royal blue velvet saddle cloths to my liking, had planned to give him deep antiquing and change his hair but the black had grown on me so it's staying.
It took a temporary "studio" in the garage set up with carpet and curtains to get photos as he was simply too big to get far away from to take a picture of in our house! (Including a photo from our long but cluttered living room)
Photos include one with little Trinket, the smallest rocking horse I've worked on (there's a cart horse that's smaller), a tiny little 27" Ayres.
He stands 53" tall but with a 33" body is as big as they come, if he'd been more upright he might have been 58" or more. His early 1990s restoration by APES was failing so he got a fresh new restoration.
My hydraulic hoist had worn out and I made do with a little stool to sit on for low bits and stand on for high bits, and stood the rest of the time.
Mandrake is a "special" extra carved Lines, an early one, with tongue, extra detail on legs, rump, wither and stifles. This has become my all-time favourite model, and is now the fourth of these horses I've worked on, which is a very lovely privilege. One day perhaps I will have one that's fully complete - one of them had original paint but nothing else, Mandrake's paint was long gone but he still had loads of original brass rosettes, bit, thistle badges and a patent stamp.

18/03/2026

Something quite different about this bloke. Who can guess what it is?
(Weird golden patches on cheek and shoulder are late afternoon last rays of sun, it’s not that)

27/02/2026

This lovely and unusual early Roebuck has joined the herd this week.
He has been named Hector, and is closest to what’s commonly called a No 4, but an extra tall one with a few differences.
Hector appears to have original paint under the Granddad gloss, and the almost unavoidable red paint on the stand seems to be an older, less-stubborn type, similar to what the 1930s stands were painted with. Time will tell! A break from spending days getting red paint out of grain would be nice.
So pleased to have him arrive.

23/10/2025

To borrow from Crocodile Dundee, "that's not a challenge. THIS is a challenge!"
Very large, early and extra carved bow. Not sure how big he'll be, between 56-58"

He was originally brown, darker than the chestnut base still remaining. Should I recreate the brown or bay or turn him into a dapple grey?

(No this isn't the one coming up... again trying to make everything else seem easy by comparison 😉)

23/10/2025

From the archive...
I was looking through photos to get fired up about a challenging bow horse restoration that's coming up soon... (and to egg myself on to put finishing touches on the batch that are almost done so I can get cracking on something new).
Jake arrived legless and with a shattered body.
Here are pictures of him before, during and after extensive repair and restoration. I hope Jake is still giving great pleasure so many years later :-)

Jake wasn't even one of the hard ones!

12/06/2025

Watch this space...

About 10 years ago I started to suffer from pain and inflammation in my hands. It was stable for a long time but has now progressed.

I have 35+ rocking horses not yet spoken for, and it's a sad and painful realisation that I won't be able to do them all without doctor's warnings coming true.

If you're waiting for a horse from me, please be reassured that it is being done. I'm not stopping, I just have to scale back on the restorations that are most taxing on my hands.

I'll be keeping the favourites of my "babies", but over the coming weeks and months I'll be putting others up for sale in as-is condition. Most were imported from the UK but there are a few wonderful Aussie horses too.

It's not doing them any good standing around waiting for a restoration that I won't be able to do!

(Pictured are a lovely extra carved Lines Bros for restoration and a pretty Ayres with all-original finish that doesn't need any work but it may be preferred with repaired saddle and saddle cloths. It has had a conservation to museum definition of conservation)

07/05/2025

Antique rocking horse on spring stand by Ayres, 43"

The lovely Jessie has had a makeover that is up to finishing touches and is offered for sale with the option to finish to your specifications.

Jessie was previously advertised for $14,500 and is now available at WITH a fresh restoration at no extra cost that can be customised with your choice of trims.

Ayres spring stands are fairly rare and highly prized as such. It is VERY rare for us to have a rocking horse that is ready to go let alone one of this quality. She is terrific all-rounder: beautiful, rare, newly restored, can be ridden and available now.

Sasha’s previous restoration of Jessie was in perfect condition when she came back to us last year aside from faded rosettes. After 10 years there was not a single chip or crack (amazingly!) but I felt she would benefit from a fresh paint job, so she now has new paint in a more familiar Ayres dapple style.

The mane, tail and saddle with oxblood top and vintage piping are in great condition and will be refitted, as will surviving original rosettes. The rest can be customised:
The medium antiquing can be distressed and/or deepened before final varnish.
Hair colour can be changed (subject to availability).
Saddle cloths and ribbon rosettes can be made in your choice of colour.
A card with a record of Jessie’s previous life that was tucked under the saddle will be put back along with an updated record. Your ownership or message to future owners can be added to that record.

If she is not spoken for by the time I next sew tack in a few weeks, she’ll get new blue saddlecloths in heavy cotton velvet trimmed with top quality European gold bullion fringe and blue silk ribbon rosettes. When that's done Jessie will be available for immediate delilvery, however without options to personalise.

Additional photos on request, viewing is welcome by appointment via video call or in person in Hunters Hill (Sydney).

There is a full description and previous history of Jessie that her owner prepared in the earlier listing. Link in comment.

23/04/2025

Pic from a while ago now, just realised that they might be interesting.
A bit of a production line happening! Although it's not the most horses in the workshop at one time, it is perhaps the most unique horses in the workshop around here.
Some have gone home, Some are in the "tack shop"
For one thing, the biggest and smallest horses ... here all at the same time!
From back to front:
Mandrake, gigantic special extra carved Lines.
Extra-carved Ayres, previously hide covered.
Trinket, the smallest rocking horse we have met. Ayres, 26" - and I will post about this at another time.
Then Jessie, an Ayres spring stand getting new paint.
And the wee littlie? A beaut little cart horse how believed to be by Ayres. It's too little to warrant dapples, but I simply couldn't resist. Watch this space for what happens with the cart...

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Sydney, NSW
2111

Website

http://www.rockinghorsestudio.com.au/

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