Craven Saddle Shop

04/17/2023

First saddle cal craven built. 1973

02/04/2023

Chaps for a cowgirl

01/15/2023

We need more palm trees in this cold weather. Super cool chaps.

09/06/2021

06/05/2020

1906. Times were much simpler

07/26/2018

Brand spankin' new Saddle for a lucky client ❤️❤️

03/23/2018

This Saddle was shown at the Rodeo Hall of fame for Saddle makers of Colorado.

03/04/2018

FOR SALE‼️

02/28/2018

02/01/2018

Ever wondered what "rough-out" is?

A saddle with the flesh, or rough, side facing out is called a rough-out saddle. A saddle can be completely rough-out or partially rough-out. Fenders, seat jockeys, and seats are the most common rough-out parts.

The appeal of rough-out is that it provides additional grip and stick for the rider, although over time the roughness wears down and the leather can become smooth. For those riding for a job where function takes priority over looks (working cowboys, horse trainers), rough-out saddles are quite common.

01/30/2018

About a hundred years ago saddles were elevated from cowhands' working tools to dream objects that signified the frontier. Thanks to the romantic image of the West created by mythmakers as varied as Teddy Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill Cody, and the railroad magnate Fred Harvey, and also to a spate of pop-culture frontier heroes in books and weekly magazines, cowpunchers began to see themselves -- and their gear -- as the embodiment of freedom, independence, and adventure. Saddle shops, which had grown up throughout the West wherever the cattle business went, issued catalogues showing saddles far more handsome than any working ranch hand needed. The catalogues came to be known in the cowboy fraternity as bunkhouse bibles, and were studied and memorized by men for whom their contents were fantasies.