about us

In 1982 we were entranced by the movie The Man From Snowy River. Like most avid horsemen we watched it many times. I was very interested in the unusual saddles that were used. At the time I was riding endurance on a very high withered Thoroughbred. Nothing quite fit Rose’s back. The Australian Stock saddle looked like it would. After some research (pre Internet), Joan and I found two Syd Hill stock saddles. After riding it three times I rode mine on Rose at the 1983 Western States 100 mile ride (Tevis Ride) and received my first completion. For the next two years we rode our Aussie saddles, fielding numerous questions.
It was late 1985 when we had the opportunity to sell Syd Hill Saddles. So in January 1986 the partnership of Janet and Joan formed The Australian Connection for that purpose. Soon we saw a need for other trail and distance riding gear. We found and tested products before we put them in our catalog. We also enlisted the help of my husband, Ray, to do some of the testing. Starting with a small 16 page catalog we have grown to 56 pages and an Internet catalog .

Over the years we have expanded our line of products, introducing Biothane and Zilco tack, Snugpax, Equilon saddle pads and many new Syd Hill Saddles.
The Australian Connection has changed too. After a 14 year partnership, Joan decided to retire from the business. So Janet, with the help of Ray is now “running the show”.