At a time through which scores of things are mass-produced in locations far exterior of the USA, Drew Clark’s work stands tall. 

Clark, 54, is a customized saddlemaker in Colcord, Oklahoma, and crafts every creation by hand in his personal store. 

A fourth-generation cowboy and saddlemaker, he owns Drew Clark Saddles at Veach Saddlery. His great-grandfather was the well-known saddlemaker Monroe Veach, whereas his grandfather, Charley Beals, was additionally a famous saddlemaker, as Clark instructed Fox Information Digital in a cellphone interview.

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Monroe Veach started promoting saddles in 1919 in Trenton, Missouri, stated Clark. After Veach’s daughter married Charley Beals, the 2 opened a western retailer in Oklahoma.  

On the retailer, the Beals had been capable of promote the merchandise they every made utilizing their particular person abilities. “He constructed saddles and my grandmother made garments,” Clark stated. “And so they offered garments there on the retailer.”

When the Beals retired in 1985, they offered the shop and moved to a ranch in Colcord, a small city in northeastern Oklahoma, stated Clark.

Within the late Nineteen Eighties, Clark, alongside together with his mother and father, constructed what’s now the present saddle store on the Colcord ranch.

“We now have my mother and pa — they’ve a ranch right here. They run cattle and horses,” he stated. Clark and his spouse, Darbi, have been married for 29 years.

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It was necessary to Clark to focus on his heritage in his new firm. 

Ability throughout the generations

“Veach Saddlery, which is what the unique firm was known as, is now ‘Drew Clark Saddles at Veach Saddlery,’” he stated. “We favored to maintain the title within the enterprise,” he stated.

With over 100 years underneath their belts, Clark stated his household’s enterprise is “one of many longest working family-owned saddleries nonetheless in operation within the U.S.” 

With over 100 years of saddlemaking, Clark stated the enterprise is “one of many longest working family-owned saddleries nonetheless in operation within the U.S.” 
(Drew Clark)

Clark initially labored in building as a younger grownup, he stated, but it surely was not lengthy earlier than he was lured into working within the household commerce. 

“It is simply laborious to not do it,” he stated. “You have bought every little thing there, and all of the instruments and equipment. And I assume it took me till I used to be in my mid-20s to determine that is what I wanted to do.” 

“I realized lots from my grandfather as a child, simply being out and in, working round my store.”

Clark stated that as a result of he had been round saddles his entire life, he roughly realized the commerce from his grandfather and father. 

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“I realized lots from my grandfather as a child, simply being out and in, working round my store. And my dad helped me lots once I began,” he stated.

“My grandpa handed away in ’94,” stated Clark. “My dad, when he and Mother had been first married — he labored for them within the western retailer there, and helped Grandpa make saddles that he knew lots about, too.”

He added, “So if I bought a query, he is the man to go to.”

All customized orders

The method of constructing saddles is totally different for every buyer, as every order is customized, Clark stated.

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“The very first thing I do is name and order a tree, which is what you begin on to make a saddle. It is wooden lined with rawhide,” stated Clark, including that he makes use of a “place out in Utah” that makes them. 

A stack of saddle bushes are proven in Drew Clark’s work house. The saddle bushes are “wooden lined with rawhide,” he stated.
(Drew Clark)

The “tree” has to suit each the rider and the horse, stated Clark. He’ll specifically measure the horse and decide how the saddle wants to suit.

“And once I order bushes, I get these measurements and specs. That is a advantage of customized,” he added. “They match each you and the horse.” 

Every saddle has a singular carving, “like metalwork,” particular to what the customer requests.

That course of takes about two to a few months, he stated — however as soon as the tree arrives, the customized leather-based work begins. 

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“It is laborious to elucidate the precise course of. There’s lots to it, however yeah, you simply hold placing leather-based on there the place you need it,” stated Clark with fun. 

Every saddle has a singular carving, “like metalwork,” particular to what the customer requests, stated Clark. 

Usually, he carves “flowers and stems and leaves all intertwining.” 

Clark stated he believes the leather-based he makes use of is healthier than these of the “assembly-line” saddles from Mexico and South America. Every saddle is made to suit each the horse and rider, he stated. 
(Drew Clark)

“Every part has stream, — the leaves and every little thing in the identical course,” he stated. 

“You are able to do it so some ways and [create] totally different designs with that, but it surely’s often the fundamentals like leaves and vines and flowers.” 

Household legacy

As for the subsequent technology of saddlemakers, Clark stated that he has two sons. 

His eldest, Tyler, is a soccer coach, whereas his youngest, Drake, would be the one who takes up the household reins. Drake “helps me out fairly a bit,” he stated.

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Apart from the customized nature of his merchandise, Clark believes that the leather-based he makes use of is healthier than that of the “assembly-line” saddles from Mexico and South America that may be bought for lower than his customized work.

“I am unable to think about residing in a metropolis with individuals throughout me on a regular basis,” Clark stated — including that he likes “being across the cattle and horses all day.”
(Drew Clark)

“They’re all precisely the identical,” he stated. 

“Mine, each’s totally different. After all, doing it by hand, you are by no means going to have the very same factor each time.” 

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Clark stated he can not think about a life aside from the one he is residing at his ranch. 

“I am unable to think about residing in a metropolis with individuals throughout me on a regular basis,” he stated. 

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“Out right here, you may be by your self if you need. I benefit from the work. And yeah, I like being across the cattle and the horses all day.”