WHEN Richard Kemp helped mend a zip, he had no idea it would lead to him stitching up a horse.
Richard runs The Tilehurst Cobbler in School Road and is used to customers coming in looking for repairs to shoes, cutting keys and replacing zips.
But he also has a mantra of attempting any job, as long as it is possible.
Indeed, he has just helped make 16 straps for clapper mufflers, just in time for the Queen’s Platinum jubilee later this year.
But it was a woman’s zip that led to a very extraordinary request… could he mend a mare?
Richard does some saddlery work, and travelled to Equibreed in Padworth so he could help.
They have a fake mare, called Dolly, used in its breeding programme.
A bit battered after many years service, Richard was called on to make a new panel for her neck, a new ear and also five hours of patching and hand stitching to make the make as good as new, just in time for this year’s breeding season.
“I have done this job for over 20 years,” he said. “I try and do every possible job I can think of. No job is too big or too small.”
He added, smiling: “Dolly was a bit of a pain. It took six hours to do and by the time I’d finished, my legs were completely numb.”
He might have been walking like a cowboy, but you can be sure, this was no cowboy job.
