A Lifetime in the Saddle | 80 Years on Outback Stations
Kent Saddlery
16,392 views
Spinni Monahan has been a drover, a jockey, a trainer of race-winning horses, a truck driver, a contractor living out of a truck with his wife, a packhorse rider on charity rides that raised tens of thousands…
He left school at thirteen and went straight to work on Outback Cattle Stations. At eighty he's still in the saddle, still mustering, and still racing the young ones at the gymkhana.
In this conversation with Lyle Kent, Spinni looks back on a lifetime of station work from Windorah to Birdsville: droving with his old uncle, learning to ride the hard way, beating the main trainer with a horse nobody thought could win, and the long days before trucks, helicopters and two-way radios.
0:00 Seventy years on the stations
0:46 "I've worked every station from here to Windorah"
2:37 Still beating the young ones at the gymkhana
3:13 Horse versus motorbike, and a photo finish
4:31 He left school at thirteen to go droving
5:53 Thrown in as a jockey with no idea how to ride
7:41 Racing at Birdsville
9:52 1968
11:35 "That'd kick you up every morning"
12:42 Before trucks, helicopters and UHF
13:51 The ride that raised thirty grand
15:18 The night the truck nearly finished him
📍 Location: Adria Downs Station, Far Western Queensland
🎥 Series: Australian Outback Stories
🎙️ Presented by: Lyle & Helen Kent - https://www.kentsaddlery.com.au
🐎 Featuring: Spinni Monahan
🔔 Subscribe for more real-life stories from the Australian Outback: @kentsaddlery
👍 Please like this video to support our journey.
#OutbackAustralia #AdriaDowns #KentSaddlery #ChannelCountry #OutbackStories #AustralianHistory #stockman #birdsville
5 Comments
A Lifetime in the Saddle | 80 Years on Outback Stations
Kent Saddlery
16,392 views
Spinni Monahan has been a drover, a jockey, a trainer of race-winning horses, a truck driver, a contractor living out of a truck with his wife, a packhorse rider on charity rides that raised tens of thousands…
He left school at thirteen and went straight to work on Outback Cattle Stations. At eighty he's still in the saddle, still mustering, and still racing the young ones at the gymkhana.
In this conversation with Lyle Kent, Spinni looks back on a lifetime of station work from Windorah to Birdsville: droving with his old uncle, learning to ride the hard way, beating the main trainer with a horse nobody thought could win, and the long days before trucks, helicopters and two-way radios.
0:00 Seventy years on the stations
0:46 "I've worked every station from here to Windorah"
2:37 Still beating the young ones at the gymkhana
3:13 Horse versus motorbike, and a photo finish
4:31 He left school at thirteen to go droving
5:53 Thrown in as a jockey with no idea how to ride
7:41 Racing at Birdsville
9:52 1968
11:35 "That'd kick you up every morning"
12:42 Before trucks, helicopters and UHF
13:51 The ride that raised thirty grand
15:18 The night the truck nearly finished him
📍 Location: Adria Downs Station, Far Western Queensland
🎥 Series: Australian Outback Stories
🎙️ Presented by: Lyle & Helen Kent - https://www.kentsaddlery.com.au
🐎 Featuring: Spinni Monahan
🔔 Subscribe for more real-life stories from the Australian Outback: @kentsaddlery
👍 Please like this video to support our journey.
#OutbackAustralia #AdriaDowns #KentSaddlery #ChannelCountry #OutbackStories #AustralianHistory #stockman #birdsville