Saddlemaker Poll

[Johanna]

I know we kinda did this in another thread...but to serve saddler members better, please take the time to answer the polls and leave your comments. It can't hurt to introduce ourselves again, either!

Johanna

(who is not a saddler and does not play one on TV!)

[barra]

Ok so I haven't worked out how to vote and add comments at the same time. I was trained in English saddlery and Harness making tho we made a few saddles, mostly English and Australian stock saddles. My favourite job of all time was the leather artificial leg for a pet chicken. I am just starting to get back into the trade as a sanity break, mainly making tack but plan on dabbling into western saddles.

To coin the ol master

(The man who never made a mistake, never made anything).

[ClayB]

It was a little difficult to answer the poll questions the way they were written.

I have made 5, more than one but not more than 5.

I have also been making them for more than one year, but not more than 5.

I had wanted to try building a saddle, just to see how it was done and ended up meeting a local saddle maker that was willing to help me out. He also got me involved in an apprenticeship program through the ND Council for the Arts that paid for materials and the teachers time. I built 2 saddles through that program and 3 more mostly on my own, but with his help when I ran into troubles. I dont think I would ever want to be a full time saddlemaker. The carving part of leatherwork is what I like most and most people around here want their saddles pretty plain. But I do think I will make a few more now and then and I like reading about how everyone else does things. There is SO much more to learn.

Clay

[Don101]

i have never made a saddle, i really want to but iam unsure how to do it and where to start and i dont really know where to find the right tree for my needs, i have a saddle that is around 110 or maybe a bit more years old that i have to restore so it will be a good bit of experience for me to get the feel of things. Don

[mulefool]

I have built saddles and related equipment for a living for over 20 years. Due to my own lousy bookkeeping and record keeping skills I actually have managed to lose track of how many but I do know it would be over 100. My special niche is pack saddles and related equipment and I really market to mule people because it can be hard to find those special mule items, and I just plain like mules and mule people. I've tried to develop my pack saddles with the same qualtiy of materials and attention to detail and craftmanship that you would expect in a custom saddle. About 6 or 7 years ago I cut way back on the number of custom saddle orders I took and a few years I didn't take any. I'm just so much more efficient on the pack saddles and other stuff than I am on the saddles. I really fret too much on them and was just getting a little burned out. Now I might take a couple orders a year to do over the winter when the other stuff is slower, and I have been able to just take orders that appeal to me. The rest of the year I love doing fancy chinks and chaps, headstalls and martingales, etc. to satisfy the desire for something on the artistic side.

[bruce johnson]

My daytime job is a veterinarian. I started out in an equine practice. I had grown up showing horses, and have done most things you can do with a western saddle at some point. I switched to small animal practice after I realized I was treating everyone else's horses, and my family and my horses were suffering.

I started seriously doing leatherwork after a pelvic fracture laid me up one winter. Similar fracture to what happened to Don Butler a few years ago - broke my pelvis still in the saddle, and then had to try to get free of that wreck. I had hung out in a saddle shop quite a bit before, and learned a lot there. I was doing my own repairs and making up a few things. After I got hurt, I did a lot more to pass the time, and it kind of evolved. I was doing everything but building new saddles. I had done a lot of repairs, and was making all the little stuff - planners, clocks, checkbooks, etc. that customers buy. Basically a part-time thing that has evolved from there.

Ten years ago, I rebuilt a saddle for a buddy. It worked, word got around, and I started doing more. I have done about 35 or so now. Everything up to this point has been on order. I am looking to get a little stock built up, and have a couple saddles done on spec to sell as well.

[Alan Bell]

I added my votes but my situation doesn't really fit the answers I gave perhaps there should be a "more than" for each item. I drive a semi truck over the road for a living. I raise and train Spanish Barbs and that lead me to rawhide braiding. Basically, I have been braiding rawhide for about 10 yrs or so. Mostly self taught but I did get a scholarship from the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association to study braiding with Nate Wald. The braiding lead me to leather work and in that brief time when Tandy closed their stores ( they were bought by The Leather Factory) I bought one of each stamp for about 30% of regular cost. That lead me to saddle making. I did my first one mostly by myself but had a couple of folks to question it was pretty rough going but I am still riding that saddle! I prefer Wades which makes things difficult here in Texas but I did get another TCAA scholarship that I used to attend the Saddle making Seminar by Dale Harwood and Steve Mecum at the Cowboy Museum in OKC. To date I have built 4 saddles. I like being able to ride a horse I raised and trained sitting on a saddle I made and using a bosal I braided! Apart from family life seldom gets much better!