My Mexican Saddle

Sitting in one corner of my 'loom room' you will find my saddles, now all covered in dust and needing to be oiled. Also in the photo here you see my Roper boots, the newer style of 'cowboy boot'. The boots still get worn on a regular basis because I don't need to ride to wear these, while the saddles sit unused for some years now. Sadly I don't have a horse to put under the saddles, though I still have the dream, the longing, to have horses in my life. I love the animals and love to ride and work with them.

The saddle that shows most in this photo was (as the story goes) hand made in Mexico, back in the 1960's, then bought and smuggled across both boarders up into Canada. Then the fellow needed money so had to sell the saddle. I don't know how Dad connected with this fellow, but he did, and he bought the saddle. At that time I was the kid that needed a saddle, so it became mine. As long as I had a horse I rode it with this saddle, then when the last of the horses were gone this was the only saddle Dad kept around. One day, as an adult, I said something to Dad about 'my' saddle and he said it was 'his' saddle. "I bought it and I paid for it, so it's mine" or something to that effect, so I replied something like "see this bent bit of silver here, that's when Nipper took the bit in his mouth and ran me through trees, see the damage on this tapedero (don't know how to spell the word right, but it's the cover over the stirrup), that's when... blah blah blah... so it's my saddle." For years we had a fun loving argument over who's saddle it was. One day, in June 1990, I took the saddle to use it on a cattle drive I was doing with 'Larry' the boyfriend of the time. In the 'thick of things' riding at a gallop, my left stirrup broke, so the next day I used Larry's son's saddle for the day. After the weekend, I took the saddle back to Mom & Dad's, knowing Dad had a spare set of stirrups, and as I took the saddle into the house and handed it to Dad I said, "Your saddle broke." "Oh ya, now it's my saddle." he said as he took the saddle and headed to the basement with it. A couple weeks later when I went to visit them, I walked into the house and Dad said, "Your saddle is fixed. Go down and take a look." Eventually the day came when my parents were moving into a condo, so were downsizing their 'stuff'. Dad brought the saddle to me and officially gave it to me.

The other saddle I bought from 'Cowboy Joe' who's horses I rode as if they were my own for around 10 years. Whiplash, the horse I fell in love with, seemed to feel more comfortable bush riding with this saddle, and so did I. With this one I didn't worry about it getting damaged like I had come to with my Mexican saddle. I rode in some parades with my great niece and her maternal grandmother (I'm on her dad's side) so used the Mexican saddle for that while using the other saddle for every day riding.

For me, horse riding apparel is jeans, boots, shirt, jacket if needed, chaps sometimes, even leather gloves at times... and western gear for my horse.