Keeping Stories Alive
This week Athens, TX saddlemaker and PRCA steer wrestler Pat Hooper was on site at the State Fair of Texas delivering 14 beautiful trophy saddles for the event champions to be awarded during the upcoming United Pro Rodeo Association (UPRA) finals.
If you started this journey with us and read A Saddle is Born: Part 1, you know we’ve joined Pat Hooper for an inside glimpse of the custom saddle making process. So far, the Texas saddlemaker and PRCA steer wrestler has set the ground seats and is now focusing on the horn, swells and riggings as he moves towards the back housing parts and skirt moldings around the tree.
Have you ever wondered how a custom saddle is built? In partnership with Texas saddle maker and PRCA steer wrestler Pat Hooper of Pat Hooper Leatherwrks, I’m proud to walk you through the process from start to finish.
Pat Hooper may have grown up in east Texas, but he has been a part of rodeo culture all across America. His father James Hooper owned and operated Rawhide Productions and was one of the leading producers in the black rodeo movement of the early 1970s. The rodeos ranged from Memphis to D.C. and attracted greats such as the Bobby Blue Bland and B.B. King to add melody to the magic. These adventures continued at RFK Stadium and even led to a Saudi Arabian sheik calling the elder Hooper and asking him to come produce a rodeo. Pat traveled across the U.S. with his father and followed in his footsteps as a calf roper.
Kyle Underwood has a few friends in the forest. Some are owls, some coyotes, and some are deer or insects. His talent for documenting the subtle glances and intricate behaviors of wild animals has turned into a storytelling business: Kyle Underwood Photography.
His photography is easily recognizable, his trademark darker tones a combination of editing and choosing to shoot on days where rain, fading daylight, or wintry weather prevail. Not only does this represent a part of his personality, but also reflects his desire for his photos to evoke emotion in their viewer and create a bond between the natural world and its observer.
If you’ve stopped scrolling through Facebook because a beautiful pair of spurs caught your eye, there is a good chance you were looking at a picture of Brian Strange’s work. Brian is a true artisan with a focus on metal smithing and producing spurs, buckles, and bits.
Nestled on the main drag of downtown Noble, Oklahoma, down from Tiffany’s breakfast spot and across from the Spurs and Lace boutique is a small shop where heritage is preserved through custom hat making. Schafer’s Hats, owned by Fred Schafer, produces custom, hand-made fine felt hats for men and women all over the country.
Sabrina Kramer has found healing through her ability to create vivid imagery out of air and tell stories without using words. A barrel racer, a soldier in the U.S. Army, a wife, mother, and friend to many, she is the main artist and owner of Wild Cactus Tack.
Kramer grew up unable to speak at the age of 5, an orphan to the drug epidemic, and labeled by doctors as a lost cause.
If you’ve ever wondered what Hollywood stunts, bull riders, team ropers, leather workers, and whiskey have in common, the answer is a California cowboy named Bobby Conwell.
Several years ago, sisters Dana and Tracy Eklund were working at a therapeutic riding program. Like many service-oriented groups, the center was operating with a $400 tack budget, and yet responsible for procuring and maintaining working tack for around twenty horses. Taking into consideration the cost of quality tack, the need for special therapeutic equipment, and the desire to ensure horse comfort and proper fit, it was very difficult to keep things running with the minimal tack budget. In addition, neoprene cinches would sore the horses, the saddles were small children’s saddles, and the horses were large draft crosses.
