In this Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) video, Teresa Kackert will help to explain the Two-point, Half-Seat and Light Seat in riding over fences and flat work.

Read more: Two-point, Half-Seat and Light Seat explained with Teresa Kackert (7:05)

Let’s jump back in time about 150 years. A great fire has turned Chicago into a city of ashes. The James Gang had robbed its first train robbery. Cowboys are driving thousands of cattle up from Texas to the railheads in Kansas. And Charles D. Cheaney has opened up his saddle shop in Gainesville, Texas. 

Five generations later, Bruce Cheaney, 71, is making saddles with the same attention to detail that his leather stitching ancestors did. Today, Bruce Cheaney is doing much more than making great saddles and leather work. He is introducing new generations of craftsmen to the wonders of leather work. Don’t believe me? Try tuning into https://www.youtube.com/cheaneysaddles, Bruce Cheaney’s YouTube channel, which has more than seventy-eight thousand followers. Even if you know nothing about the craft, Bruce will inspire you to pick up a piece of leather and start to work. 

Why is his channel so popular?  

“Leather working is a good way to express yourself through your work,” Bruce says with typical humility. It’s more than the appeal of leather work that makes Bruce Cheaney’s online and real-time work so popular. It’s the grace of his manner, his soft North Texas accent, and the obvious skill that he brings to his craft. 

“Hello. Bruce Cheaney here in the saddle shop in Gainesville, Texas,” Bruce says to introduce one of his YouTube tutorials in his soft North Texas drawl. Bruce is all work but has the easy manner of your neighbor. He’s not Mr. Rogers. He’s not Roy Rogers. He’s the real deal. 

“My most popular products are custom-made saddles and handmade mechanical hackamore bits with a flat leather nose band.” Yup, Bruce is best known for his saddles and tack, just like the Cheaney’s that have worked in Gainesville for a century and a half.

The tradition of saddle making goes way, way back, about 6,000 years back, to the time when horses were first domesticated. People have made saddles for camels, oxen, and even an ostrich or two, but making saddles for horses has always been the core of the saddle making business. 

Eurasian nomads, Alexander the Great, Chinese Emperors, Roman Legionaries, the knights of the Middle Ages all used saddles, not just as tools to improve their horsemanship but also as symbols of power and taste. The modern western style saddle with a solid saddle tree, pommel, and stirrups has been around for hundreds of years. The western style saddle was first introduced into what is now the United States by Spanish conquistadors, who raised cattle and fought bulls on what we would recognize as western saddles. 

A saddle is not as simple as it may appear. Saddles come in a wide variety of styles each designed for a specific equestrian discipline. The most important thing about a saddle is that it must be comfortable for both rider and horse. Making that happen is a challenge. A rule of thumb is that the saddle must not do any damage to the horse’s withers, and it must give a rider the proper balance to perform on horseback, whether he or she is roping, cutting, or trail riding. 

“I use only the best saddle trees made by maker’s who know how to make a saddle tree that fits,” Bruce says. “I also have specs for saddle trees that have worked for me for many years.” 

Bruce makes his saddles by hand featuring vegetable-tanned leather hand-carved and tooled in oak leaf and acorn pattern. He builds a saddle seat with loop-through stirrup leathers, and he makes the fenders, or pieces of leather on the side, with roughout leather to enhance the rider’s grip. 

“Custom roping saddles are my favorite saddles to make,” Bruce says. 

“I love to make heavy duty roping saddles that perform well and are comfortable for both horse and rider.” 

Bruce is also well known for his mechanical hackamores. Decades ago, cutting horse champion Matlock Rose from Gainesville asked Bruce to make him a hackamore bit with long leverage so he wouldn’t have to hurt his horse’s mouth. Matlock Rose liked the tack so much, he became a regular visitor at the Cheaney’s shop.  

Building a hackamore requires working with metal, a skill that Bruce has mastered in addition to his leather work. According to Bruce, “Metal working requires a separate workshop because of the grinding dust and equipment such as a Tig welder and heavy-duty belt sanders.” 

Bruce’s customers include ranchers, working cowboys and well-known horsemen including J.D Yates, Frank G. Merrill, and the late Sam Rose and Robbie Schroeder. 

Many of Bruce’s clients have become life-long customers. How has Bruce managed to develop such a loyal clientele? According to Bruce, “They just like what I make.”

Bruce also enjoys making belts, sheaths for knives, and even coasters. “The most challenging project I have ever worked on was a longhorn skull mount that I tooled and carved and antiqued. I also had to make the mounting brackets for it.” 

No matter what his clients want, Bruce is up to the challenge. “A friend of mine asked me to make him a pair of hunting knives and sheaths. I made the handle with deer stag from the Stark Ranch. I added a concho bead on the end of the handle with the ranch brand. It took me two weeks.” Craftmanship takes time, but his clients appreciate Bruce’s attention to detail which is part of the Cheaney heritage. 

Read more: Back in the Saddle

Julie Goodnight will demonstrate on how to properly adjust the back or rear cinch and the breast collar. This is a educational and safety video brought to you by the Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA).

Read more: Breast Collar and Back Cinch Adjustment with Julie Goodnight (6:46)