Jocelyn and Robbins Island Wagyu owner and manager John Hammond gallop through the shallows.

© John Wiseman Photography

Jocelyn Flint’s pictorial chronicles of her daily routine as a cowgirl and mail-contractor in remote north-west Tasmania has enchanted fans around the world. With her recent epic ride through Mongolia, she has extended her lens further afield.

STORY BY CHLOE CHADWICK//PHOTOS BY JOCELYN FLINT

JOCELYN FLINT GREW up surrounded by horses, living and breathing them both as a passion and as an essential element of rural life. “When I was a little girl, Dad loved horses, and one year rushed out and got my sister and I a horse to share for Christmas. I think I was about nine years old,” Jocelyn tells me, laughing, as her earliest introduction was far from conventional. “Away we went; Dad just said to us, ‘there’s the horse, go and ride it’, and we had to climb up on our cow trough to climb on, no saddles. My sister and I would take turns and we’d ride this horse way down the back of the paddock, and when we turned around we’d bring him home full force. We went to pony club for a little while, but it was a bit too tame for us, there wasn’t enough action. The way my dad taught, he only knew one speed and I know many times I’d be terrified riding with him; I’d just grab the mane and shut my eyes a lot of the time, you know, and just hope I’d survive. You just sat up and hoped for the best,” she laughs.

Jocelyn’s visit to Mongolia has only heightened her longing to see more of the beautiful country.

It is a race against time and tide at Robbins Island.

Jocelyn hails from Mengha, Tasmania, where she works from the Smithton Post Office on her daily mail run, a job she wishes she could do from horseback. Through her Facebook page, Mengha’s Back Paddock, Jocelyn shares snapshots from her day-to-day life in the close-knit community, a place drenched in natural beauty, featuring horses, dogs, cattle, and her adventures often showcase her husband Steven, an experienced horseman better known as “The Flint”. She has developed a significant following both nationally and internationally by enchanting fans, with the wild Tasmanian beauty of her home far removed from the urban reality in which many of us live.

A mother of four sons, Jocelyn tells me she had a break from riding while their kids were young until she naturally fell back in to riding regularly again after she accidentally “went to a garage sale and bought a horse for $30”. She says that being in a rural area of Tasmania means a lack of competitions, and so riding for fun - trail and beach rides - is a logical pastime, especially when there are so many beautiful places to explore.

The scenery surrounding the Tsagaannuur Mountains makes for beautiful riding.

Jocelyn and her husband are part of a droving community that participate in what must be one of the most spectacular and unusual movements of cattle on earth. They are part of the long tradition of droving cattle across the tidal shallows from Robbins Island for grazing, where the highly regarded Robbins Island Wagyu beef, long run by the Hammond family, is based. The iconic droving season attracts a host of local horsemen and women who swim the cattle through the channels at low tide to better pasture.

Jocelyn, an old hand on the droves, says it’s still an exhilarating experience. “The tide is only out for so long, so we’ve got four hours. It takes three hours to take them off the island and to drive them to Montague Farm and sometimes the tide is already coming in. I can’t swim so it’s very nerve-racking for me. The water comes right up to your saddle, and once I was riding and a great stingray came up straight in front of us!”

 Hardy and strong, the Mongolian Horse is also very comfortable to ride.

Jocelyn tells me that when they end up in deeper water it’s incredible how well the cattle swim. “Even the little calves swim well. We bring them over to Walker’s Island to calf and when we go over and bring them back, it’s quite deep and the little calves swim their little hearts out, they do. They’re tough little animals. We call them wildebeests.” Jocelyn notes how the rugged environment allows the cattle to develop in a natural way. “They’re handled mainly with horses so they haven’t got much stress in them, and they live on an island, you know, they’ve got a perfect life.”

Until last August Jocelyn had never been out of Australia while all the time she was wowing horse lovers around the world with her incredible photos of her home. That changed when she was given the chance to take photos further afield after winning a trip on a 19-day horse trek in Mongolia. For Jocelyn this was fulfilling a dream she had always held. “Oh, what a country! When I won that trip, I couldn’t believe it. And I’ve always had a passion for Mongolia. The horses, the scenery - mountains and rivers - and beautiful people and food, it was all incredible.”

Horses are an integral part of life in the Tsagaannuur Mountains, northern Mongolia.

Instantly at home with the long and tough days in the saddle, Jocelyn found the different culture of horses in Mongolia fascinating. “They say the Mongolians are the great horse people and they really are. They love their horses. It’s their culture and the way they’re brought up and the way they live their life. And man! They’re the greatest riders. They can just do anything. And those little Mongolian horses; you can trot for miles on them and you hardly move in the saddle!”

Jocelyn tells me a bit more about the horses they were riding, the native breed drawn from local stock. “There were just horses everywhere. You would be riding along and all of a sudden - there’s no people or anything really - but then you’ll come upon a mare leading this great mob of 30 horses, all beautiful colours. Most of their horses are around 14 hands, but they’re not called ponies, they are horses.” Horses are so much a part of the culture that mare’s milk is the major ingredient in the traditional beverage, kumis, which Jocelyn had the chance to try. “I got to drink the mare’s milk. The locals just love it.”

Riding over 300 kilometres as part of a group of four travellers and local guides, Jocelyn traversed areas of the Tsagaannuur Mountains in northern Mongolia, following the path of a different kind of droving. “We rode right up into these mountains with just a reindeer herd; that’s the local trade. They look after these reindeer. They milk them and feed them and take care of them and oh, they’re incredible.”

Capturing beautiful photos on her travels both on the ground and from “between the ears” of her trusty Mongolian horse, Jocelyn’s passion for photography stems from a love of capturing the beauty around her, but she only started taking it seriously following a knee injury. “I’ve always taken photos but about three years ago I did my knee in and I had to rest it before they operated. So I was sitting around, and I thought I’ll start learning how to take a real photo.” She’s come a long way from there, having amassed a large following on her Facebook photography page that features numerous beautiful snaps every week. A testament to her passion for photos: “I took five cameras with me to Mongolia,” Jocelyn says.

A local reindeer herd.

Following her trip to Mongolia, Jocelyn can’t wait for her next overseas ride, and also wants to see more of Mongolia. “I definitely will be going back one day, because of the people and because of the horses.” And yet for now, she will simply enjoy riding and photographing her own home, which has charmed so many, and boasts the title of the cleanest air in the world.

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