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Andy Knight
Andy Knight has been building custom saddles for over three decades and since 1991 he's been
building and using his own saddle tress. When asked how many saddles he has built Andy's
reply was, "I am not sure but around the 700 mark." He also says this about his everyday
job as a saddle maker, "I am so blessed to be able to earn a living working in a trade that
I still find enjoyable and challenging. Going to work is still fun".
With his credibility in the world of saddle makers Andy could build, and has built, saddles
for anyone; movie sets, professional horse trainers, clinicians, dignitaries, etc, but he
still says that he enjoys making working cowboy rigs the most. I think this is probably
because he knows that it's these saddles that will be used and appreciated the most.
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Andy was born in England in 1956 and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1968. He
moved to the Calgary area in 1973 where he worked for Tex-Tan Kenways and learned his basic
saddlemaking skills. He built his first custom saddle ... for then Canadian Champion calf
roper Jim Gladstone and spend some time with saddlemaker Ernie Polson. In 1975 Andy moved
to Pink Mountain where he worked on a ranch. He continued to build saddles and work on
different ranches and was married in 1977, to Ruth Roes.
At this time Andy was building saddles under the "Evergreen Saddle Co" name. He got his first
trophy saddle contract in 1982 for the NRA year end saddle awards. 1986 saw the young Knight
family (Andy, Ruth, Tracy, and Tania) move to the Nicola Valley where Knights Saddlery was
officially established. In 1987 the saddle shop expanded to its own space in downtown Merritt
and in 1989 Knights Saddlery bought its own premises.
During this period Andy had the privilege of getting to work with some of North Americas
top horseman ... and continues to do so today. This helped him immensely with both his
horsemanship and saddlemaking.
Having trouble getting quality saddle trees made Andy look into learning to build his own
and in 1990 he went to Oregon to learn how from Todd McGiffin. Since 1991 all "Knight"
saddles have been built on Andy's own trees. 1999 Andy started to get weary of the retail
business as he found that it was taking too much time away from saddlemaking so he moved
the shop to his home.
Andy's drive to improve and hone his skills as a saddlemaker are stronger today than when he
started. He has made saddles for quite a few professional horse trainers, quite a few of his
saddles have gone to Europe, and now it seems about half of his saddles go to the US.
When asked if he considered himself a traditional saddlemaker he replied, "I am not sure what
you mean, however, I believe that everything in saddlemaking needs to be subject to constant
review to consider whether it can be improved."
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John Schnurrenberger
Born in Switzerland in 1941, John Schnurrenberger grew up with an admiration of the cowboy
lifestyle, a love of horses, and the example of his grandfather, one of Switzerland's last
stagecoach drivers. This early influence has resulted in a widely collected and recognizable
style in oils, which captures the heroic images of the working cowboy.
Although Schnurrenberger came to Canada in 1965 to pursue his dream of living and painting
the cowboy life, he first worked as a commercial artist, draftsman and technical illustrator.
He quit his job in a newspaper art department in 1974 to paint full-time, retaining his
disciplined approach to art and extreme attention to detail.
Today the artist cowboys every chance he gets on ranches in BC's Nicola Valley, spending
long days alongside working cowboys. He produces up to 30 pieces a year, including some
watercolours and limited edition etchings, each testimony to his eye for authenticity and
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"My shows include a variety of media and sizes because it's important to me that my work
be accessible to as many people as possible," says the artist. "In fact, most of the people
who buy my work live a life far removed from the cowboy's. They find joy in the idea of
living by your wits out in nature and being around animals."
Schnurrenberger's work is perhaps most appreciated by those who actually live the cowboy
life, evidence he has achieved his goal: to portray the working cowboy as he really is.
For prints and posters check out the Horse Barn in Kamloops.
You can reach John Schnurrenberger by phone at (250) 375-2293
or by mail at: Box 30, Westwold, BC, V0E 3B0
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Hugh McLennan
As a kid Hugh dreamed of becoming a radio DJ
and in 1961 he made that
dream come true when he signed on with CFRY in Portage La Prairie,
Manitoba, for $132 a month. He married Billie on April 13th, 1963
and they had two sons Spencer and Rod. The McLennans ended up in
Kamloops in 1969 where Hugh worked for CFJC and did some part time
cowboying for neighbouring ranches.
In 1992 Hugh spoke with Doug Collins, producer of JC55 radio in
Kamloops with the idea of a grass roots, western, tell it like it
is radio show about ranching. Collins liked the idea and the Spirit
of the West was born! The first show aired June 17th, 1992. In early
1993 Collins suggested that other stations might also be interested
in running the show. Almost instantly CJDC in Dawson Creek wanted
to get on board and today the show can be heard on 18 radio stations,
one cable station, and around the world on the Internet on two
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It wasn't long before Hugh set up his own studio and started building
the complete show at home. It's been a big learning curve for Hugh,
too, as technology has taken him from the old reel to reel tapes to
everything being done on the computer! This new technology also
cost a lot of money and the show is not a big money maker - the
reason he does it? Because it's his first love ... radio and
spreading the positive word about our ranching industry and keeping
our western heritage alive!
Hugh has received numerous awards over the years - awards like;
Best Agricultural Program from the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association
in 1996 and 1999, Western Broadcaster of the Year from the Academy
of Western Artists in 2001, and in 2002 he joined the likes of past
award winners Ian Tyson, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Rex Allen, Gene Autry,
and John Wayne in receiving the Founders Award, at the National Cowboy
Symposium, for contributing significantly to Western Heritage and
Cowboy Culture.
Anyone that reads Canadian Cowboy Country magazine will know Hugh from
his regular columns "Music of the West" and "Spirit of the West". For
those that have been able to watch the Cowboy Country TV series you'll
have heard Hugh doing the "Trail Blazers" section.
Hugh's efforts are endless when it comes to helping preserve our western
ways and it's these efforts that Hugh McLennan has put in over the years,
that make him very deserving of the Joe Marten Memorial Award for the
Preservation of Cowboy Heritage in BC (see www.bcchs.com). He has now
produced well over 800 weekly shows - without ever missing a week, or
repeating a show!
Our western heritage is extremely important to Hugh McLennan, and he has
been doing an incredible job of preserving it - through many different
channels, and especially through his radio show, The Spirit of the West Radio Show,
which can be heard on the Internet at:
www.hugh-mclenann.com
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Paul St Pierre
Born 1923 in Chicago, Paul was raised in Nova Scotia. He
was briefly in the Royal Canadian Air Force as aircrew trainee,
invalided out, and later trained as Merchant Navy radio operator.
He has been a newspaperman in British Columbia since 1945 and
has been a newspaper editor, columnist, politician, diplomat,
police commissioner and playwright.
Paul is renowned for his tales of ranchers and Natives in BC's
Cariboo region. His characters appear in a collection of
books such as "Boss of the Namko Drive, Breaking Smith's Quarter
Horse, Chilcotin Holiday, and Smith and Other Events". His
characters are the everyday legends and cowboys on which the
Canadian West is built.
His "Cariboo Country" CBC TV series launched the career of
Chief Dan George. Here's what Paul tells us:
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Cariboo Country has a way of living on half a century later
and I am quite proud of it. It was the early days of television
and the first of them were shot on what was called Kinescope
which was a three walled set (including pine trees) erected in
the television studios and shot in the hope they would look real.
Later we had real film and, of course, much later, the easy
digital systems of today which Cariboo Country never knew. The
series was unusual, I as the originator and sole author had
considerable power not known to script writers of today. I could
remove my name from any show presented which had been interfered
with unduly by CBC head office, whom we called "The Tittering
Virgins of Toronto". I used the authority once.
We were the first in North America, to my knowledge, to
use native Indians, now called First Nations and soon by
some other name, as actors acting themselves instead of
stereotypes. Tonto of The Lone Ranger was an Indian also
but nobody ever pretended that he was representing real
people as did Dan George, Leonard George, Nancy Sandy and
a score of other natives did on mine. There were two or
three series and I still hold copyright on all of them
except one which was sold to Disney who was unable to do
the job with millions of dollars that CBC actors had done
for $35,000 a copy. I repeat, $35,000 each, the price of
a half decent car. (I never saw the Disney one but mark
my word of it, it was lousy.)
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Cariboo Country was one of the most imaginative, innovative,
and evocative "series" ever broadcast by the CBC.
It appeared on the CBC from 1959-1967, and was among
the first Canadian television dramas to be filmed on location.
Paul St Pierre received the Western Writers of America
Spur Award in 1984, and the BC Gas Lifetime Achievement
Award in 2000.
Married twice with four children and eight grandchildren,
Paul is now partially retired with homes in Fort Langley,
BC, Big Creek in Chilicotin, and Teacapan in Sinaloa, Mexico.
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Anthony "Tony" Parrott
Antony Parrott (Tony) was born in England in 1928, immigrated
to Saskatchewan at the age of 19. He later travelled to
Kamloops with a friend, arriving with two dollars between
them. Tony found temporary work at the stockyards and the
rodeo. He worked for a number of ranches as a cowhand,
including Dog Creek Circle "S: Ranch, and managed the
Bridge Lake Hereford Ranch.
Most people know Tony, though, for his saddle making which
has been doing for over 54 years. Tony learned his craft
from Claude Mills of Kamloops. He set up his first shop
TP Traders, in 1952, in Williams Lake, borrowing money
to buy his first sewing machine (which he still has).
He later (in 1954) returned to Kamloops
where he bought out Bradley's Rocky Mountain Harness Shop.
He remained here for many years and was frequently involved in
organizing and volunteering at the rodeo.
There was a saying in Kamloops in those days, "If the
harness maker can't fix it, throw it out", because people used to
take anything, and everything, to Tony's shop to get fixed.
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Tony will acknowledge that many craftsman are better at
tooling leather than he is, but few are as good at crafting
a comfortable saddle. Tony's "seats" are praised as the
most comfortable there are. Tony says, "We do it the old way".
Tony is credited with a number of inventions and innovations
that have helped the cowboy, rider or cutter stay on and
be comfortable in the saddle. One of the most practical
creations is the three-strap breast collar which allows
horses to pull a hevy load and keep the rider in the saddle.
His original design, in consultation with Red Allison, was
made in 1952.
For about a year Tony wrote regular articles, "Parrott's
Picks" for Saddle Up Magazine - the first in the September
2005 issue. He wrote helpful hints and shared his knowledge
about saddlery, rigging, and more. At the end opf each article
this is what Tony wrote:
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My name is Tony Parrott and I am considered by many to
be a Master Saddlemaker and Harness Maker. My saddle shop
is the oldest shop in BC. It was started by Mr. Bradly in
1941 and I took over in 1954. After two years in my shop
in Williams Lake, a man came in and for my good fortune,
it was Claude B. Mills of Seattle, WA. He taught me the
fine art of making a working saddle or show saddle. Today
I continue the old style of the western cowboy's saddle
and I hope to explain in this column the how's and why's
of saddle making, fitting and use of the tack. My knowledge
and working with horses started in 1939. Special
acknowledgement to W.J. Bradly, Master Harness Maker,
and Claude B. Mills (2nd place Bronc Rider in the 1912
Calgary Stampede) Master Saddlemaker. I thank both of them
for the knowledge and expertise they have taught me.
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At over 79 years of age, Tony continues to craft fine saddles,
harness, and leather goods from his home on the Carlin Hill
Farm in Sorrento, BC.
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Bud Sharpe
was borne in 1927 near Battleford, Saskatchewan. From
the age of 10 he owned his own horses and by 15 had nearly a dozen. His first rodeo he
started with the cow riding and bareback riding and after quite a while he switched to
saddle broncs. He traveled to rodeos all through the US and Canada. In 1950 - 51 he
rode in Cody, Wyoming at the Buffalo Bill Show. "This was after Buffalo Bill ran out of
buffalo." says Bud. In 1958 he won the bronc riding in Coffeeville, Kansas and it
paid $710. $700 of that money bought his five acres in Cawston, BC. He turned from
bronc riding to judging the bucking horses as a PRCA judge. Bud
worked as a cowboy in Alberta for a year when he was 17 or 18 and in 1953 he worked as a
cowboy for the Douglas Lake Ranch. The ranch had a lot of young colts to ride and Bud was
sent out to the Springfield corral to break them. These corrals were a long way out and
there was no one around so Bud and his partner flanked these colts and bucked them out.
He said, "We needed the practice! I don't think management ever did hear about it."
When he was a kid he would find old saddles and overhaul them, not really knowing what
to do. He'd sent to Eaton's for his leather. One year in the US, Bud ordered a tree
because he needed a saddle for the next weekend. A friend owed him some money that
bought him some leather and sheep skin - the saddle was ready in time! |
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He has since
sold it four times and bought it back four times. When he needed money to build his house
he sold the saddle for $500 and bought it back a year later for $500. He then sold it
for $750 and bought
it back for $500. Sold it again for $950 and bought it back for $300. He sold that same
saddle the last time for $1700 and bought it back for $400. One year he made $11,000
on the rodeo circuit using that same saddle, so that saddle has made him good money!
Over the years Bud has made about 1200 saddles. One fellow in Pennsylvania ordered four
saddles. Some of his saddles have been sent to Texas, Colorado, California, and as far
away as Australia. Bud also makes a lot of chaps, panniers, saddle bags for horses and
motorcycles, and rodeo gear, rigging, and spur straps - anything out of leather. Today
rodeo is everywhere around Bud - in the saddle shop, in the horse corrals around the
farm, and in their home. Rodeo photos from Madison Square Gardens, the Los Angeles
Coliseum, and graceful bucking horses, highlight Bud's impressive career as a rodeo
contestant, judge, cowboy, and saddlemaker.
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