Message from the Saddlemaker This website is a catalog of some examples of the custom saddles and tack that I can design and create for you. The saddle pictures are examples of what I have made for some of my other customers.  Please call 928-684-2371 today to talk with me about your saddle needs.   Since I started making saddles many years ago, the hand-made saddle has undergone dramatic changes. Today, the hand-made or custom saddle has become a functional  work of art. Materials have improved and tastes in saddles have changed. Saddle makers have improved and indeed changed from simple leather workers who could put a comfortable seat on a horse, to artists in every sense of the word. The work of the highest skilled saddle maker has become as distinct as the brush stroke of a great master. Each maker creates a style as unique as a silversmith or a composer. Students of each art can identify a maker's work as quickly as we would a photograph of the maker - maybe even quicker. Factory-made saddles fill a broad need. They satisfy the consensus of "average" -i.e. meeting the needs of the most people at an affordable price. Many people however, want something different. Some may want a different feel, some ornamentation that is unique to them. Some saddlemakers have come to realize that no one is "average". Certainly the individual is not. Today's rider is very sophisticated realizing that every saddle does not fit every seat nor every horse. From the hand-made tree to the individually designed carving and tooling to the uniquely created silver, if desired, the custom made saddle is truly a functioning work of art. Each artist brings to the job his or her greatest talent. The saddle I will build for you will contain the finest materials made in the United States of America. The hand-made saddle tree will be laminated for you with the finest grade wood and covered with bull rawhide for strength. Each tree itself is a work of art, pliable yet able to withstand the weight of a horse if necessary. My saddle designs are unique to me. My tooling designs are of my own creation. My leather carving, tooling and stamping are also unique and claimed, by those who know it, to be the best anywhere. All of this creative handwork results in a durable, comfortable, and functional saddle. When I put my name on a saddle, it means it's the best. I want your horse to be comfortable. I want you to be comfortable. I want you to take as much pride in owning that saddle as I took in creating it---creating it just for you! Elegant Leathers for the Shooter  For those of you who enjoy shooting sports from mounted shooting to skeet or field trials, be sure to look at our section on leather gun cases and shooting accessories. Happy trails, Bud Shaul   Saddlemaker See an article about Bud Shaul and his saddlemaking in the March, 2004 issue of Western Horseman Magazine, page 115 and in the 2007 Gift Guide.