18 horses

[llasso]

hope you like these

[Beaverslayer]

Beautiful as always Larry. I tell you, you have to send your work to the "Calgary Stampede" you will not only make a fortune, but you'll most likely become extremely famous. All the world class rodeo stars are there for the largest rodeo in the world (excepting out the NFR in Vegas). They have each year a compitition for western artwork and stuff, that you should enter.

Ken

[ericluther]

wow!! those are gorgeous man

[Don101]

Outstanding Larry i do love your spur straps, so clean and original, Don

[megabit]

Larry,

As always they look great. I do have a question for you. I started riding about a year ago and have noticed that some people strap on spurs with the big side of the strap on the outside and other strap it to the inside of the foot. I have mine on the outside because intuitively that seemed the way to do it. Any reason for one way over the other?

Mike

[llasso]

Larry,As always they look great. I do have a question for you. I started riding about a year ago and have noticed that some people strap on spurs with the big side of the strap on the outside and other strap it to the inside of the foot. I have mine on the outside because intuitively that seemed the way to do it. Any reason for one way over the other? Mike

Thanks Mike, I do not know why some have the large size on the inside or outside. I perfer the large size on the outside as there is less damage to the large conchos from walking and the possibility of clicking the conchos together. As you know some sterling silver conchos are very expensive and it would be a pitty to damage them. ... Larry

Beautiful as always Larry. I tell you, you have to send your work to the "Calgary Stampede" you will not only make a fortune, but you'll most likely become extremely famous. All the world class rodeo stars are there for the largest rodeo in the world (excepting out the NFR in Vegas). They have each year a compitition for western artwork and stuff, that you should enter.Ken

Thanks Ken, perhaps now that I am retired from my regular job I might just do that. Do you konw if you sell in Calgary if you would need a tax license ?

Outstanding Larry i do love your spur straps, so clean and original, Don

Thanks for your nice words Don, I have sold my straps in Germany to a fellow and his wife that have a western store in Germany and in France.

wow!! those are gorgeous man

Thanks for the nice words...Larry

[Beaverslayer]

Larry, here's a link to the Calgary Stampede Western Art Show.

Ken

[ptanks56]

As far as the side of the foot you face the larger side of the spur strap... As a Horseman I think I like to keep the least of the clutter toward my saddle and tack so if the smoother less cluttered side is larger (and it usually is) that is were I put it. Saves my foot from tangling in my saddle fenders and stirrup hardware, especially if I have to bail off in a hurry. My $00.02 worth.

Tank

[timjtodd]

I always go buckle to the outside, and if no buckle then I would put the large side out mainly because that is the side that would have the ornamental tooling on it and if it was to the inside it wouldn't be as visible. Also I always felt that the large side out helped protect that part of my boot while riding through brush where as the inside of my boot is up against the stirrup and already protected.

[Yonatan]

In California there's a tradition that says the old time California vaqueros

wore their spurs buckled on the inside of their legs, and Texas cowboys wore

theirs buckled toward the outer side. That's what I used to hear, maybe others

can verify that claim, or debunk it.

Y

[grumpyguy]

Larry,

Beautiful Job! Too nice to get scuffed! I bet you would do well at a doin's like the Stampede.

Yonatan,

I have heard the same. In packer and cow camps I have been around this has been atopic of much discussion. Several guys I know use the buckle inward sets which are popular in the Sierra Nevada foothills and up to the Sierra crest. (I see almost as many buckle outward sets though too.) They pointed out the buckles and conchos could catch on brush, but I countered if yer feet stay in the stirrups where they belong the the buckle won't be able to catch. (I illustrated the point by mounting back up so they could see.) I usually build the buckle outward just cause I like it that way. The other complaint they had was after a long day of riding and your sore and stiff, it's easier to reach the buckle in the inside. (A point I was painfully aware of, but I was younger and folded in half better then.) The thing about both areas are similar, the country is generally rugged with lots of thick and thorny brush. (Usually what's not covered in leather comes back shredded, so protecting expensive boots is a valid point.) I have yet to see anyone caught by the buckle of thier spur strap. (Not so with the spurs themselves though.) If anyone out there has, I'd like to hear about it.

Truth is cowboys and buckaroos follow their traditions just because that is the way it's always been done. (Myself included) As another example out here no one rides with a quirt! You see plenty of open reins, closed reins with rommels and mecates with poppers though. Point is they serve the same pourpose as the quirt, popular with Texas cowboys. (Don't misunderstand here I never would use these to solve a problem with a horse that can not be solved another way, time and patients, with a dab of wisdom applied here. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast sort of thing!) Quirts, rommels and the like are good tools, not always so much for riding a horse but also a great tool to get stubborn cattle moving along.

Edited May 15, 2008 by grumpyguy