Leatherwork seen.

Horsewright

Horsewright

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
13,484
As many of you know I was at a ranch roping a couple of weekends ago. Ranch roping is completely different than any roping you might have seen at a rodeo. First we're not running the horses or the cows. Second we're throwing a wide variety of different types of shots. The more difficult the shot the more points it earns. All misses count as a point deduction and there are other deductions too, (getting bucked off will cost ya five). The judges have the discretion of adding points for excellent horsemanship, degree of difficulty, being extra gentle and quiet with the cattle etc. You have 4 minutes to get the job done to get a qualified time. There is a very interesting dynamic at play here in this event that pits smooth and fast against fancy and these are decisions that a team has to make on the hoof so to speak. A run is finished when you have the cow headed and heeled, then laid down. The third man will get down and secure the ropes to the front feet and the back feet, that is time, the run is over. One of the judges was Bob Douglas, a legendary leathercrafter/saddlemaker and tool maker of Douglas Tools fame. This was a Pro Am where you entered with a team of two and were assigned a pro from a drawing out of a hat, (lots and lots of hats in this outfit Ken). There was a pool of 20 pros and each pro was on five different teams. This was the richest ranch roping in history with $50 k paying the top 8 places. It was a three day event with 100 teams involved. The top thirty teams came back on day three for the finals. I was roping with my son and since we missed the finals by 9 points I wandered around a little with my buddy's camera. My son made the finals with his other team and ended up 4th overall. His check was basically a months wages for him as a working cowboy.The amount of custom leatherwork being used at one of these deals is incredible. I though I might share some pics with you. There is a tremedous amount of pride in gear involved in this type of horsemanship, custom leather, handmade silver mounted bits and spurs, custom hats, boots etc About the only thing store bought was shirts and jeans. There was even a custom shirtmaker there as a vendor. This was also an international event. There were ropers there from Canada as well as all over the US and in the on lookers I heard German, French, Italian and another lanquage I was unable to id. I apologise for the B and W pics. My buddy had been experimenting with his high end Canon and it proved smarter than either of us non techy types. We couldn't figure out how to change it back to color.

OWflyPD.jpg


I don't know who made this saddle but look at the carving. Wow. It really doesn't get much better than that.
.
1KYmgKO.jpg


Going to an event like this is referred to as "going to town". The rules even started with "You come to town with a team of two and then are assigend a Pro from a drawing" This is my son's "town" horse Mr. Brown. The card suite continues down the headstall towards the horses mouth in silver. Here you can see the custom concho and then the heart and club followed by the diamond and spade. Mr Brown sure has a quiet eye, he doesn't seem to know there is a lot of $$ on the line.

3HiFSlA.jpg


I felt proud to see several of my knives and sheaths in evidence. This gentleman had a top notch outfit in every way. I kept looking for an oops on his leggings as we talked but I sure couldn't spot one. Notice how evenly spaced the double row of stitching is on the edge near the fringe and how it surrounds the decorative holes. Roughout leggings like these are pretty unusual. They were excellent as was the fully carved saddle. Notice the custom silver cantle plate with his brand on it. That is one of my Gordo knives and Gordo sheaths he was wearing. It had a red mammoth tooth handle and a damascus blade. He'd had it for several years. Man did he smoke nice cigars too. I liked being downwind.

I'll post a few more pics later. Any questions or comments feel free.
 
Last edited:
Dave I composed a huge reply to this thread , but the bugs that seem to be prevalent on this forum swallowed my entire post .
I haven't got time now to type it all again , but will just quickly say " great thread , and great pics " :thumbup:

Ken
 
Thanks Ken I'll try to get some more up soon. Thats actually why I broke it up. Afraid of typing too much and it getting lost.
 
Great photos, Dave. I see someone out there prefers the in skirt rig just like I do. All my cutting saddles were in skirt rigging. Sits nice and close to the horse. In fact every saddle I built personally had the in skirt rigging.

Paul
 
sheathmaker said:
Great photos, Dave. I see someone out there prefers the in skirt rig just like I do. All my cutting saddles were in skirt rigging. Sits nice and close to the horse. In fact every saddle I built personally had the in skirt rigging.

Paul
Click to expand...

I believe that is what is known as a "flat plate rig". At least that is what I have always called it.
 
Thanks for the correction. I've only been at this since 1951, but it's never too late to learn.:D

Paul
 
Yeah all these slick fork "Wade" tress saddles have that flat plate rigging, Paul. Its a separate piece that comes down off the fork in the front and behind the cantle in the rear. It is in between the skirts and the front D will generally hang down below the skirt. So it accomplishes the close contact of the inskirt rigging but is a little stouter for roping heavy stock. That Wade style saddle, while not absouletely universal at this deal was pretty darn close. Maybe saw one or two swell forks.
 
Here's a few more pics. These ones in color. My wife took these. I was riding this day so not manning the camera.

86K3PTk.jpg


This guy getting ready to go is wearing shotgun leggings with multicolor fringe. Looks like his brand is done on the cuff in red but I can't make the brand out in this pic. However doing the brand there is pretty common on these types of leggings. He's got a knife and sheath peeking out from under his vest on the left side there. Might be one of mine hard to tell from this shot.

8igB2b5.jpg


Here is a pic of my firend Kip getting ready to go. He is wearing shotguns too and has his brand inlaid on the cuff.
 
Last edited:
Some awesome pictures and great stuff to immerse yourself in, horses, saddles and tack, knives and sheaths, and great leatherwork that goes with it.
 
Here are a few more pics incorporating sheaths.

DImUjYD.jpg


This is the same saddle from the very first pic in this thread. I use to make a sheath like this one however for several technical reasons I quit some years ago. This is not one of my sheaths. Besides the visible slot there is also a loop on the back side that the belt passes through. I called this a Slot and Loop sheath when I made it. Thsi pic really shows the high relief on the carving on the saddle. The silver concho was made by my friend Todd Hansen and was presented last year at this event for the Horsemanship award. An award separate from the roping that rewarded a team that had displayed excellent horsemanship throughout the event. Winning this award at this event is really saying something because some of the finest horsemen alive were competing.

zRN5Rkw.jpg


This is my friend Todd's (the silversmith) daughter. I asked her if I could take a pic of her sheath. Once we were outside the vendor's tent I realized it wasn't one of mine but I snapped a couple of pics anyway. This shot really shows how the slot and loop arrangement works. Its pretty versatile because it can be worn on the outside of the belt as shown above, or on the inside of the belt as this young lady is doing. That also makes it universal, it is neither left or right handed. I saw quite a few of these types of sheaths at this event including some of my older ones. I might have to rethink not making this sheath if its that popular.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top