Former SC local wins Baird award

Kiwi ingenuity has seen Timaru-raised Tracey Ward take out a prestigious Scottish innovation award.

Mrs Ward (nee Weaver) designed a saddle that distributes the weight of the rider along the length of the horse allowing the horse more freedom of movement.

The 29-year-old's design earned her the young innovator award in Glasgow on Friday night at the annual John Logie Baird Awards.

The Mountainview High School graduate's saddle design was developed on the set of the The Last Samurai in Taranaki where she worked as a horse trainer. She upgraded the 2000-year-old saddle design, using a material 15 times stronger than steel to recreate it.

Now based in Scotland, she is the managing director of About Tack in East Lothian.

The awards are named in honour of John Logie Baird who transmitted the first flickering TV images in 1924.

- © Fairfax NZ News