Horsewright Knives and Leather

[jfk1110]

Howdy guys. Been back a day or two and got finished unpacking, decompressing and just sitting on the couch for a moment. We had a great time. Nichole was competing and I was set to as well but about 10 days prior they asked if I would be one of the three judges, which I agreed to do. Heck I agreed to do it before I even knew it was a paying gig. It also came with a room in the lodge (a very, very, nice room), so no camping for Dave and Nichole this year.

This outfit is just plain organized and I mean down to the very small details. No winging it. So for instance, Nichole was in the Intermediate (L2), Division. I never judged an Intermediate class whether Nichole was in it or not. I judged the Advanced and Novice classes as well as the Junior classes. Each judge had an assigned scribe and these gals were magicians. Not only were they making sure we had coffee but they handled the score sheets as we told them what to write. My scribe Ryan could write in the right box both a numerical score and then comments too and not even be looking at the sheet! I often asked her how she could do that. She didn't know she just did.

Got there on Thursday last week and got set up and unhooked. We did take our living quarters trailer even though we weren't camping. It was handy for making breakfast and lunch and so we kinda circled the wagons with some friends and had a pretty nice place under some huge oaks. The Lodge was about a quarter a mile away so we'd drive back and forth. After getting set up and settling in Nichole's horse Josie to her pen, I went over to help number the cattle. Ray was near me helping out and I noticed he had one of my Ranchero knives in a sheath he'd made himself.

There was a young gal there that was kinda running the number deal as she was assigning the numbers to the cattle and putting the glue on the numbers. The numbers are a strong paper and the glue is an especial stock glue so it doesn't pull the hair off the cattle when the numbers are removed. Most of the events/classes started with an assigned number that the contestant had to work. So that was why we were numbering. This gal was wearing one of my knives a Cowboy Toothpick, with historic oak for the handle. She had it on the back of her belt for a left hand SOB draw. She told me later that her father had given her the knife and it was her favorite. She didn't know the story of the Historic Oak and thought it was pretty cool when I told her the deal. Her grandmother also competes in this deal and also wears one of my knives. Her mom Nichole was in charge of the office and kept us judges lined out.

Nichole and I headed over to the cafe from the Lodge. She'd stopped here to answer a text. Another step on and no service. Parkfield is a little itty bitty town up in the middle of the mountains of California's coastal range. We saw two herds of elk, one of antelope and one of deer while driving in to this metropolis of 18!

Didn't see any pigs but they were very evident as the sign implies. Nichole has her Horsewright belt, sheath, knife and purse on. The cafe there has extremely great food. We'd eaten there (dinner) exclusively last year and this year too. It was quiet Thursday night:

Parkfield is the earthquake capital of the world and sits right on top of the famed San Andreas fault.

Makes a guy wonder about the wisdom of sitting under a bunch of branding irons in the earth quake capital of the world! After dinner we headed back over to the Pavilion next to the Lodge. This was for a meet and greet deal where the contestentants could meet their "Pro" and also we, the judges, were introduced. While a competition, this is also an educational event and so each contestant has a pro that can assist, teach, coach the contestant while they are in competing. In fact each pro is kinda a team member with the contestant and except for the Drywork Pattern ( a series of maneuvers, in a specific order ridden by the contestant), the pro is horseback in the arena with the contestant. As a judge we tried to give the contestant some written comments anytime we scored more than an average. For instance if a deal was scored between 0 and 10 with 5 being just right and they score a 6 or 7 I'd tell them what they did well to get the better score. If they scored a 3 or a 4 I'd tell them what they could do to improve. Lil more later, time to feed.

Pretty cool Dave... Thanx for the ride along......

 

[Horsewright]

Dave, had to search the forum to see what you meant by historic oak. Beautiful character to that wood! Sounds like a fun week.

Yes sir it's a great background story on the wood. Those that don't know it a cowboy friend of mine gave me an oak board from a family barn that had fallen down in MO. The barn was built in the 1800s. Here's a Coyote with "Historic Oak."

Grace the gal that had the knife asked me later about the historic oak and was interested in how many knives I'd made with it which was maybe 10-15. I've still got quite a bit of it. Maybe I should use some more soon. Here's a pic from last year. Grace is the gal in the black jacket. Her grandmother Judy is in the black vest with the blue sleeves leaning forward. Judy also has a knife and wears it in the SOB position for a left hand draw. The gentleman horseback to the right of the line is Dave. He's from Canada and drives down for this event. He too is a small of the back guy but he does a right hand draw.

Dave's without his vest on:

I’ve never been in Parkfield proper but I’ve been a stone’s throw away several times. Parkfield is on a slippery section of the San Andreas. Very frequent small quakes instead of building up to a large one every generation or two. It is my understanding that the Parkfield section is covered with seismometers.

Yeah Parkfield is kind of on the way to nowhere. Well the backroad to Coalinga is the main road through Parkfield, so there ya are. Yes there are signs entering Parkfield about the monitoring from the USGS I believe. We'd leave the room and head over to the rodeo grounds early as we'd needed to feed Nichole's horse and clean her pen. Then Nichole would get going on some breakfast and more coffee. The start of sunrise Friday morning:

There was heavy dew every morning and they had almost two inches of rain a week before we got there. There was a large mud puddle in the arena but we were able to work around it as it's a very large arena. A little bit before 8 each morning I went to work. Friday morning I judged the Advanced and the Novice classes in the Stockhorse dry work pattern. This is a series of maneuvers performed in a specific order. Each maneuver is judged on multiple criteria. If anyone is interested here are the patterns:

Stock Horse - Dry Work Patterns — Californio Bridlehorse Association

www.californiobridlehorseassociation.com

Eleven ish I moved over to the sorting arena to judge there and Chris another judge took my place at the main arena. This was because the Intermediate dry work was coming up and Nichole was in that class. At the Sorting arena I would be judging the advanced and the novice classes. Sorting is a whole separate contest and was not part of the Stockhorse competition. There's another roping competition called Rodear Roping as well. In the Stockhorse there are three classes, the dry work, herd work and roping. All three classes have their individual winners and then the overall Stockhorse champion is the person with the best combined score over the three classes.

Sorting is done in two pens with a gate in-between. There is a herd of 10 cattle in one pen and when time starts the rider and his/her pro goes in and brings them out in consecutive order based on their draw number. So for instance you get #4 you need to work him into the other pen. Then #5 then #6 etc until all cattle are sorted or you sort the wrong number in. Time is kept but the only reason is there is a time limit which varies depending on Advanced or Novice etc. Time is also used to break ties. Interestingly and fittingly for such an event there are more points awarded for how it is done than there are for doing it. There were a surprising amount of ties too. For instance in the Intermediate sorting which I did not judge, Nichole came in 6th place. There were only 2 points between her score and first place. Here I am standing on the flatbed of this old ranch truck judging the sorting. My scribe Ryan is sitting next to me. I too had a chair but would stand sometimes to see better. In the foreground in the red shirt is our friend Tyrin., he's one of the pros. Tyrin use to come and work on our ranch for us back in the day. Known him a long time. We'd been heading down to his house outside of Bakersfield every Thursday evening for a couple of months. We were able to do some roping practice there getting ready for this deal. We were also able to practice sorting there as well. If you look really close Tyrin has a Horizontal sheath on his right hip and you can just make it out, the tip being under the get down rope.

So Friday night was different at the cafe. It was packed. We knew it would be so we headed over a little later. We were with two other couples too so it took a bit to get everybody gathered and lined out and headed over. There was a trading party scheduled for 7:30 so wanted to take that in. Well it was pushing 9 by the time we got there. So trading is a DNA thing in cowboys can't help it. It's gonna happen. So there were items all over several large tables so found a little space and started laying stuff out from our trade bag. We'd also brought our basket of knives. Great knife trading story to tell ya but yet again time to go feed the horses.

 

[echoscout]

Enjoying your telling us about the horse show this weekend amigo

 

[jfk1110]

Thanx for the ride along......

 

[Horsewright]

Enjoying your telling us about the horse show this weekend amigo

Thanx for the ride along......

You bet guys! So we get to the trading party a lil late. There's wine and whiskey set out to help yourself as well as ice chests of beer, the party is going pretty good. A very tall lady with a Canadian accent came up and introduced herself and wanted to look at the knives.She didn't have anything to trade but she did have $$ which we obviously accept. I'd heard she had travelled the furthest to compete. She's been a music professor at a college in Scotland the last ten years. We talked about that a bit too as I lived in Scotland for 3.5 years.We knew some of the same places and as the crow flies where she teaches is not far from where I went to high school. She flew in to CA from Scotland and rented a horse from the ranch where all this takes place to compete on. From that pic above with the unfinished batch she bought the Coyote in elk. Later on, she couldn't help herself she said, but she also bought the Cowboy with elk and turquoise, Sunday afternoon. I had an old pair of leggings in my trade bag and a young man was looking at them. His mom offered to pay for them as they didn't have anything to trade. They actually fit him pretty good and he was wearing them throughout the rest of the show. It was cool to see him get some use out of them as I hadn't worn them in probably 20 plus years. Dang running out of time this morning already......

 

[Horsewright]

So down at the end of the table were several bridle bits. I wandered on down there. I recognized the guy that had these items. He was one of the vendors at the show. That's his business finding good used cowboy stuff and reselling it. Perfect cowboy fodder. We BS for a while and then got down to business. He had a bit I wanted if I could get it reasonable. Now these bits are all handmade and this one was a lil historical. It was a Fields spade bit. The Fields family (multiple generations) have been making California style bits bout as long as there have been such a thing. We've had booths as vendors next to the Fields and have spoken at length but I've never had one of their bridle bits. So we worked a deal and I traded him an old pair of spurs with spur straps, a mohair mecate and a knife. He asked me to pick one and I offered him a Sonoran Belt Knife in rosewood with an ironwood spacer. This guy:

We shook on it and the deal was done. Here's the bridle bit:

I was pretty happy with the deal. Here's the funny part. At the end of the competition on Sunday one of the advanced riders stopped by as I was tossing a jacket into the truck. He asked if I would be interested in trading knives. He had the Belt Knife. He had traded Sunday morning with Ty the guy I'd traded with and now he had the knife. However, it was too long for his specific purpose. His leggings had a sheath built into them and he needed a specific size knife to fit that pouch. So we traded. I took The Sonoran Belt Knife back into the barn and traded him a Mestano with elk for it. Shook on the deal, we were both happy. The Sonoran Belt Knife is still in perfect, brand new condition and the Mestano fits his knife pooch on his leggings.

On Saturday at lunch time Nichole and I wandered around the Vendor's area. We stopped by our friend Bruce Haner's booth. Bruce is the acknowledged master of building this type of bit often referred too as spade. We'd been on his order list for a year and were coming up. He told Nichole he was starting to think about the cheekpieces and he said it was gonna come out very similar to one he had there on display and for sale. So what the heck we bought it. Our friend Tyrin was there with us and Nichole asked him what he thought. He told her if he'd of know it was for sale he'd of bought it on Friday. She was walking by her pro Andy and he stopped her and told her he'd give everything he had to have a Haner spade. So it was kinda adding up. so we did:

It is often said and I have heard it many times no other bit beats the balance of a Haner spade.

 

[echoscout]

Sounds like you had a good bit of trading going on. Glad you got some nice bits amigo

 

[Horsewright]

Sounds like you had a good bit of trading going on. Glad you got some nice bits amigo

Thank you sir! Yes there was. Free whiskey always helps!

 

[mitch13]

Sounds like you had a great time Dave.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Horsewright]

Sounds like you had a great time Dave.
Thanks for sharing.

Ya bet and we did for sure. Saturday night was even busier at the cafe:

That's because Dave Stamey always does a free concert right next door to the cafe Saturday night. This was his 6th year straight doing a free concert at the Skills:

We've seen Dave in concert many times and he never disappoints. It was a great time. So Saturday night during Dave's break there was a Calcutta auction for teams made up of the pros. So we ended up going in on a team with some friends. Funny thing then I find out that I will be judging the pros, oops. It worked out in the end as my team kinda had some problems (and this can happen any time when cattle are involved) and so me judging it wasn't a big deal cause they were kind of out it anyways. Here's a pic of me and the other judge with our scribes and office help judging the pros. I'm in the tan vest towards the center of the trailer.

So then we started packing up as this was the last deal. We had a little bit of time before we had to head over for the awards ceremony. Coolest part? Nichole won the Stockhorse Competition! This kinda a big deal:

Her buckle:

She also won the headwork class in the Stockhorse competition. She won a set of bridle conchos from our friend Casey Hoagg:

And she came in second in the roping class winning a set of rein chains:

And she also won a hatband for a third place in another roping deal.

She won the loot! Here's a pic of our friends too. I call this the Tehachapi Trio from left to right:

On the left with the Horsewright purse is our friend Tammy. She won the Novice StockHorse competition. Next is Kathleen. She won the Novice Bridle Horse Rodear Roping, Tyrin our friend that was a pro and he helped us all get ready for the competition. Finally Nichole winner of the Intermediate Stockhorse Competion. All three ladies are from Tehachapi.

So we got home from the show and it didn't take Nichole very long to get started on a belt for her buckle. This was the first buckle that she's won and that kind of a big deal:

With the pony (Josie) that made it happen.

And her loot:

So we've got some new knives to put on the website. We didn't have time before we left and so they should be on shortly:

Woolcarta

Wild Cherry:

A Paisano with bocote and Blackwood spacer:

Turkish walnut on a Gordo:

A Paisano with elk and jasper:

And more too.

 

[jfk1110]

Ya bet and we did for sure. Saturday night was even busier at the cafe:

That's because Dave Stamey always does a free concert right next door to the cafe Saturday night. This was his 6th year straight doing a free concert at the Skills:

We've seen Dave in concert many times and he never disappoints. It was a great time. So Saturday night during Dave's break there was a Calcutta auction for teams made up of the pros. So we ended up going in on a team with some friends. Funny thing then I find out that I will be judging the pros, oops. It worked out in the end as my team kinda had some problems (and this can happen any time when cattle are involved) and so me judging it wasn't a big deal cause they were kind of out it anyways. Here's a pic of me and the other judge with our scribes and office help judging the pros. I'm in the tan vest towards the center of the trailer.

So then we started packing up as this was the last deal. We had a little bit of time before we had to head over for the awards ceremony. Coolest part? Nichole won the Stockhorse Competition! This kinda a big deal:

Her buckle:

She also won the headwork class in the Stockhorse competition. She won a set of bridle conchos from our friend Casey Hoagg:

And she came in second in the roping class winning a set of rein chains:

And she also won a hatband for a third place in another roping deal.

She won the loot! Here's a pic of our friends too. I call this the Tehachapi Trio from left to right:

On the left with the Horsewright purse is our friend Tammy. She won the Novice StockHorse competition. Next is Kathleen. She won the Novice Bridle Horse Rodear Roping, Tyrin our friend that was a pro and he helped us all get ready for the competition. Finally Nichole winner of the Intermediate Stockhorse Competion. All three ladies are from Tehachapi.

So we got home from the show and it didn't take Nichole very long to get started on a belt for her buckle. This was the first buckle that she's won and that kind of a big deal:

With the pony (Josie) that made it happen.

And her loot:

So we've got some new knives to put on the website. We didn't have time before we left and so they should be on shortly:

Woolcarta

Wild Cherry:

A Paisano with bocote and Blackwood spacer:

Turkish walnut on a Gordo:

A Paisano with elk and jasper:

And more too.

Very cool..... Thank you for the ride along....

 

[RLB0414]

Congratulations to Nichole and Josie.

 

[Horsewright]

Very cool..... Thank you for the ride along....

Congratulations to Nichole and Josie.

You bet and thanks!

 

[echoscout]

Sounds like Nicole did well

 

[Horsewright]

Sounds like Nicole did well

Sounds like Nicole did well

Yes sir she did! Ya get a package yet?

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Ya bet and we did for sure. Saturday night was even busier at the cafe:

That's because Dave Stamey always does a free concert right next door to the cafe Saturday night. This was his 6th year straight doing a free concert at the Skills:

We've seen Dave in concert many times and he never disappoints. It was a great time. So Saturday night during Dave's break there was a Calcutta auction for teams made up of the pros. So we ended up going in on a team with some friends. Funny thing then I find out that I will be judging the pros, oops. It worked out in the end as my team kinda had some problems (and this can happen any time when cattle are involved) and so me judging it wasn't a big deal cause they were kind of out it anyways. Here's a pic of me and the other judge with our scribes and office help judging the pros. I'm in the tan vest towards the center of the trailer.

So then we started packing up as this was the last deal. We had a little bit of time before we had to head over for the awards ceremony. Coolest part? Nichole won the Stockhorse Competition! This kinda a big deal:

Her buckle:

She also won the headwork class in the Stockhorse competition. She won a set of bridle conchos from our friend Casey Hoagg:

And she came in second in the roping class winning a set of rein chains:

And she also won a hatband for a third place in another roping deal.

She won the loot! Here's a pic of our friends too. I call this the Tehachapi Trio from left to right:

On the left with the Horsewright purse is our friend Tammy. She won the Novice StockHorse competition. Next is Kathleen. She won the Novice Bridle Horse Rodear Roping, Tyrin our friend that was a pro and he helped us all get ready for the competition. Finally Nichole winner of the Intermediate Stockhorse Competion. All three ladies are from Tehachapi.

So we got home from the show and it didn't take Nichole very long to get started on a belt for her buckle. This was the first buckle that she's won and that kind of a big deal:

With the pony (Josie) that made it happen.

And her loot:

So we've got some new knives to put on the website. We didn't have time before we left and so they should be on shortly:

Woolcarta

Wild Cherry:

A Paisano with bocote and Blackwood spacer:

Turkish walnut on a Gordo:

A Paisano with elk and jasper:

And more too.

Sounds like a great time ... and congrats to Nichole on her wins!

 

[echoscout]

Yes sir she did! Ya get a package yet?

Suppose to be delivered tomorrow. I'm getting excited amigo

 

[The Zieg]

So down at the end of the table were several bridle bits. I wandered on down there. I recognized the guy that had these items. He was one of the vendors at the show. That's his business finding good used cowboy stuff and reselling it. Perfect cowboy fodder. We BS for a while and then got down to business. He had a bit I wanted if I could get it reasonable. Now these bits are all handmade and this one was a lil historical. It was a Fields spade bit. The Fields family (multiple generations) have been making California style bits bout as long as there have been such a thing. We've had booths as vendors next to the Fields and have spoken at length but I've never had one of their bridle bits. So we worked a deal and I traded him an old pair of spurs with spur straps, a mohair mecate and a knife. He asked me to pick one and I offered him a Sonoran Belt Knife in rosewood with an ironwood spacer. This guy:

We shook on it and the deal was done. Here's the bridle bit:

I was pretty happy with the deal. Here's the funny part. At the end of the competition on Sunday one of the advanced riders stopped by as I was tossing a jacket into the truck. He asked if I would be interested in trading knives. He had the Belt Knife. He had traded Sunday morning with Ty the guy I'd traded with and now he had the knife. However, it was too long for his specific purpose. His leggings had a sheath built into them and he needed a specific size knife to fit that pouch. So we traded. I took The Sonoran Belt Knife back into the barn and traded him a Mestano with elk for it. Shook on the deal, we were both happy. The Sonoran Belt Knife is still in perfect, brand new condition and the Mestano fits his knife pooch on his leggings.

On Saturday at lunch time Nichole and I wandered around the Vendor's area. We stopped by our friend Bruce Haner's booth. Bruce is the acknowledged master of building this type of bit often referred too as spade. We'd been on his order list for a year and were coming up. He told Nichole he was starting to think about the cheekpieces and he said it was gonna come out very similar to one he had there on display and for sale. So what the heck we bought it. Our friend Tyrin was there with us and Nichole asked him what he thought. He told her if he'd of know it was for sale he'd of bought it on Friday. She was walking by her pro Andy and he stopped her and told her he'd give everything he had to have a Haner spade. So it was kinda adding up. so we did:

It is often said and I have heard it many times no other bit beats the balance of a Haner spade.

Amazing work, there! I have students that are just starting to grasp the kind of finesse needed to communicate with their horses
In order to use such a bit (to say nothing of the training the horse needs).

 

[Horsewright]

Sounds like a great time ... and congrats to Nichole on her wins!

Suppose to be delivered tomorrow. I'm getting excited amigo

Amazing work, there! I have students that are just starting to grasp the kind of finesse needed to communicate with their horses
In order to use such a bit (to say nothing of the training the horse needs).

Thanks! It really was. I was already asked too a couple of days ago to come back as a judge next year so I guess I didn’t get fired.

Hmm that seems like a long time. Anyhoo let me know how ya like it when it shows and thanks as always.

Yes its so true. It really is a lifetime deal. This event actually scored extra for being in the spade and or using a reata to rope. Ya know I think so many folks have their ideas about horsemanship, particularly western horsemanship, from Hollywood westerns, and it just ain’t so. To give an example, Josie will just about run backwards literally off the weight of the reins. Not by pulling but literally by how I hold the reins and ask. All our horse stop and can STOP hard by us stopping to ride. Spudnik will stop so hard that he about lawn darts me and no pulling on the reins. Kinda different than the Duke coming to a stop with his horse’s head on upside down and i luv the Duke of course.

 

[echoscout]

Thanks! It really was. I was already asked too a couple of days ago to come back as a judge next year so I guess I didn’t get fired.

Glad to hear you get to be a judge again next year

Hmm that seems like a long time. Anyhoo let me know how ya like it when it shows and thanks as always.

I hear UPS has been fired a lot of employees this year to be replaced by robots and AI. So probably slowed their normal delivery down some.