A Visit to Brian's Saddle Shop

On our road trip last week, we made sure to stop and visit Brian Ironmonger at his saddle shop. That's him on the left, instructing a student. He hosts a saddle making school, one student at a time. They make a belt , chaps, bridle and saddle. He makes and sells various strap goods and repairs saddles and other horse gear. The saddle on the left is one he made years ago and the other one is an Eamor saddle, both in for repairs.
This is the saddle the student is making (supervised by Fluff!) It is being built on a 1590 ralide tree.This is one of Brian's finished saddles, featuring a half seat over roughout. He likes to do sewn down jockeys and skirt rigging, but will make them any way the customer wants.

The walls are full of memorabilia, artwork, and photographs. The shadow box holds the deck of cards that Brian used when he got the perfect 29 hand playing crib. The painting is one I did of Brian in his heyday riding a bronc called Kootenay Gold.

Brian and his wife donated some of their land for building The Arena of Dreams, which is operated by the South Country Cowboy's Association, a charitable organization that supports cowboys and other local people who are in need. They host a rodeo there every year that is sanctioned by the Foothills Cowboy Association. And every winter there is a fundraiser, Cowboy Christmas, a dinner and dance that is a lot of fun and raises thousands of dollars for their fund.

The Ironmongers also raise a few Longhorn cattle, and are retired pony chuckwagon and chariot racers. Brian writes some cowboy poetry and has been invited to the Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Pincher Creek this year. We have a couple of his books of poetry; most of the stuff he writes about really happened, but I'm sure he took poetic licence on a few of the tales!