CARNDUFF, Sask. – Kathy Peet’s saddles might be functional items for the cowboys who use them, but they are also works of art.
Peet of Oxbow, Sask., makes saddles for cowboys who use them on the prairie ranges, for rodeos, and may pass them down to their children and grandchildren.
“I started making saddles when Bud Scheersmidt Custom Saddles set up a shop in Oxbow. I was about 19. I started doing leatherwork while working there,” said Peet.
She started with the basics; stamping, carving, tooling and assembling the parts.
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“I did all the basic work. I didn’t start building on trees (the saddle bases) at the time. It was years later before I started building on trees.”
Peet has transformed the garage of the home she shares with Marlin Shain into her workshop.
“It’s a job that a lot of women don’t do because it is fairly physical and you have to be fairly strong. I have found other ways to do things because I don’t have the physical strength that men do. But, I can do most of it.”
Peet said she has always liked horses and had a pony of her own from the time she was two years old.
“I got into horses more when I was 11. I got into 4-H and riding.”
She said saddle making and riding go hand in hand.
“I don’t think you could be a saddle maker if you didn’t ride. You wouldn’t know anything about comfort … and you wouldn’t know anything about fit for horses. It’s a bonus when you actually ride,” she said.
All of the saddles Peet, Shain and their family use on their farm are saddles Peet has made.
“This isn’t a big money maker, but it is a good second income,” she said. “What I really like about it is that it is nice to build our own tack. We would never have the tack we have if we had to go buy it,” she said.
In addition to saddles, Peet makes chaps, all the tack, bridles, breast collars and whatever people want.
Some riders travel hundreds of kilometres to bring their saddles to her for their annual repairs.
“All my business comes to me by word of mouth. I had actually quit at one point and I was working in town. I had people phoning and wanting things repaired. So, I started up again,” she said.
She repairs the straps on bridles, replaces crown straps, and polishes the silver buckles and medallions.
“When I get too old to make saddles, I hope to focus on silversmithing and braiding, all that easier stuff,” she said.
