Saddlemaker’s Craftsmanship Shines

Ryan Carpenter crafts saddles with function and finesse in mind

By Dianna Troyer

Sitting at a table in his brightly illuminated shop, custom saddlemaker Ryan Carpenter carefully sketches a floral pattern on paper, fine-tuning it until he is finally satisfied.

“I draw each pattern myself—floral or leaves—or just whatever a person wants,” says the Owyhee saddlemaker, rancher and ag teacher at Owyhee High School. “Each saddle I make is uniquely hand-tooled and customized for the buyer.”

Most saddles he makes are for practical uses for working cowboys, while others are poignant, like a saddle ordered as a gift for a breast cancer survivor.

“Some rely on my saddles for ranch work, while others order one to ride in shows,” Ryan says. “Whatever their ultimate use is, my goal is to make each saddle durable. I like the challenge of building and putting together a complicated project and the creativity of making it look attractive, too.”

Ryan’s saddles have become highly sought after since he built the first one for himself in 2009. He builds seven or eight a year and has more than 30 clients on a waiting list.

Living in remote northern Nevada has not hindered his handicraft.

“People hear about me by word-of-mouth,” he says. “My saddles are in Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon and Montana. Some people want a matching breast collar or hobbles to go with the saddle, too. My sister, Laura Estes, still builds cinches on a very limited basis.”

A saddle can take two weeks to seven months, depending on the intricacy of the patterns Ryan stamps into the leather or carves with hand tools hanging along the shop wall.

Selecting his saddle components for their longevity, Ryan sources his saddle trees from a custom tree maker in Wyoming, his leather from a tannery in Kentucky and hardware from several different sources.

“From personal experience riding and using what I make, I know what materials last the longest,” he says.

Ryan is usually working on two saddles at a time.

“I like it that way,” he says. “When you’re at one stage in the process with one and have to wait, you can work on another one.”

His love of making saddles evolved from doing leatherwork as a teen. Growing up in Oregon, he worked on ranches and made some items he needed, such as headstalls, chaps or spur straps.

“Then I got busy with college and put it down for a few years until I finally had some spare time,” he says. “I still remember the first saddle I worked on. I tore it apart to make some adjustments but didn’t have enough knowledge, so it didn’t turn out like I thought it would at all. It was a lesson learned.”

When Ryan was hired in 2005 as the Owyhee High School ag instructor, he met local saddlemakers Wilt Blossom and Spider Teller and eventually asked for their expertise.

“They really helped me and gave me a lot of tips,” he says. “Spider emphasized making a saddle functional, comfortable and artistic.”

Ryan built his first saddle in 2009. A few years later, he started a four-year apprenticeship with Elko saddlemaker Andy Stevens.

“I’d get home from my job at school and work several more hours in the shop practicing what Andy had shown me and told me to do,” Ryan says. “Working with Andy helped me tremendously.”

Ryan says juggling all his jobs makes sense because they are intertwined—making saddles, teaching about ag and working with his wife, Cristi, to raise commercial and Corriente cattle.

They also have a small American Quarter Horse Association horse program.

“Living out here, too, we’re so far from a town that if something breaks we fix it ourselves,” he says.

Boise is 140 miles to the north, while Elko is about 100 miles to the south.

Grateful for the advice he received, Ryan shares his leathercraft tips with others. His neighbor and former student, Monte Cummins, received a grant in 2020 from the Idaho Commission on the Arts to do a leatherwork apprenticeship with Ryan and to learn more about the craft. Monte made headstalls, coasters and other leather tack.

“It’s an honor to pass on this knowledge, to keep this art form going,” Ryan says.