Billy Cook saddle History

[MikePatterson]

GREAT JOB TROY SAVED ME A BUNCH OF ONE FINGER TYPING !!!!!!

YOU ARE RIGHT ON.

[hidepounder]

Reading this thread is interesting to me. In 1968 I had a summer job tooling saddles for Wallace Stevens Saddlery here is Phoenix. Wallace made stout, skirt rigged roping saddles which were very popular at the time and he made Billy Cook saddles as well. Billy Cook would ship six trees and six hides to the shop and Wallace would crank them out using his saddlemakers "in training". About the time those saddles were finished, another order of 6 trees & hides would be delivered. I tooled a lot of them and put the Billy Cook makers stamp on them...however I don't remember exactly what the stamp said...it's been too long. I remember the saddlemakers having races to see who could cover their horn the fastest...they would pre-fab them, soak them, then pull them on and finish stitching them in place.The slowest guy bought the beer on Friday. After seeing how those saddles were constructed, I vowed never to rope in a Billy Cook saddle! We were always being pushed to get them finished so we could get a larger share of the subcontracts. So, in the late sixties, not all Billy Cook saddles were made in his shop or under his supervision. FYI.

Bob

Edited February 9, 2009 by hidepounder

[kfiretwo]

Reading this thread is interesting to me. In 1968 I had a summer job tooling saddles for Wallace Stevens Saddlery here is Phoenix. Wallace made stout, skirt rigged roping saddles which were very popular at the time and he made Billy Cook saddles as well. Billy Cook would ship six trees and six hides to the shop and Wallace would crank them out using his saddlemakers "in training". About the time those saddles were finished, another order of 6 trees & hides would be delivered. I tooled a lot of them and put the Billy Cook makers stamp on them...however I don't remember exactly what the stamp said...it's been too long. I remember the saddlemakers having races to see who could cover their horn the fastest...they would pre-fab them, soak them, then pull them on and finish stitching them in place.The slowest guy bought the beer on Friday. After seeing how those saddles were constructed, I vowed never to rope in a Billy Cook saddle! We were always being pushed to get them finished so we could get a larger share of the subcontracts. So, in the late sixties, not all Billy Cook saddles were made in his shop or under his supervision. FYI.

Bob

bob

If im not mistaken american saddlery of rossville ga is making a lesser quaility saddle with billly cooks name on them, I have rode in one it was like riding a fence post that wasnt debarked

lol it had more high low places in the seat, i have also found many fence post with the billy cook tag on the cantle that was imported also billy cook is no longer an american name saddle buyer be ware ride before u buy this saddle

[hidepounder]

bob

If im not mistaken american saddlery of rossville ga is making a lesser quaility saddle with billly cooks name on them, I have rode in one it was like riding a fence post that wasnt debarked

lol it had more high low places in the seat, i have also found many fence post with the billy cook tag on the cantle that was imported also billy cook is no longer an american name saddle buyer be ware ride before u buy this saddle

That may be true, I have no knowledge about them. My only experience with Billy Cook saddles was from the late sixties.

[HarryB]

Is he out of jail, yet?!

[bruce johnson]

He plead guilty to misdemeaners and recevied fines and 3 years probation.

[Traveller]

wow, that's serious! Was that because he hired illegal immigrants?

(on a side note, I just got bucked off BIG TIME out of my Billy Cook saddle and while the horse is very much to blame for doing a hand stand with me in the saddle -- there were quite a number of little bucks and not so little bucks, which I was very proud of sitting -- and nicely, if I do say so myself -- until the final spurt and HUGE buck catapulted me onto the hard, hard, hard sand arena floor... that final buck was worthy of a rodeo bronc, and I have witnesses to prove it... for what that's worth -- I'm thinking a fair amount of his motivation for doing so had at least something to do with my BC saddle not fitting so well.... I know others have them and love them but right now, I'm not so much one of 'em....

Ok, a little too much Robaxi-watsit and a wee bit of Scotch might have made that story a little less coherent than I would have liked, but suffice to say that I'm on a serious hunt for a new saddle... so far, the horse is safe, though he shouldn't be getting TOO comfortable....)

Jo

[HarryB]

Yes, and got caught TWICE.

wow, that's serious! Was that because he hired illegal immigrants?

(on a side note, I just got bucked off BIG TIME out of my Billy Cook saddle and while the horse is very much to blame for doing a hand stand with me in the saddle -- there were quite a number of little bucks and not so little bucks, which I was very proud of sitting -- and nicely, if I do say so myself -- until the final spurt and HUGE buck catapulted me onto the hard, hard, hard sand arena floor... that final buck was worthy of a rodeo bronc, and I have witnesses to prove it... for what that's worth -- I'm thinking a fair amount of his motivation for doing so had at least something to do with my BC saddle not fitting so well.... I know others have them and love them but right now, I'm not so much one of 'em....

Ok, a little too much Robaxi-watsit and a wee bit of Scotch might have made that story a little less coherent than I would have liked, but suffice to say that I'm on a serious hunt for a new saddle... so far, the horse is safe, though he shouldn't be getting TOO comfortable....)

Jo

[waitinonjoe]

does anyone know how the saddle company in Sulphur is doing now? Did they ever recover from losing 75% of their workforce and their owner being tied up with federal charges? Being from Oklahoma, the newspaper had a few articles about the company and all of their problems, but i haven't heard anything since.

[WAJones]

I'm having to edit this post because I lost the original text when I attached the photos.

Anyway, I was hoping to find out a little bit more about this little barrel saddle. It has the numbers 150 71 stamped on the back of the cantle and the cinch keeper has longhorn 1010 stamped on it. Also, both stirrup fenders has the longhorn stamp. On the top of the horn is a Martha Josey screw in concho. From previous posts and other research I think this saddle would classify as a Billy Cook/Longhorn and made near St. Louis.

Thanks,

Walter Jones

Edited November 19, 2010 by WAJones