Abbie Hunt was born in California and grew up working around horses in San Luis Obispo. Abbie learned blacksmithing from his uncle Tom Hunt and made bits and spurs while also working as a cowboy on area ranches. Abbie perfected the technique of flowing silver inlay into bits and spurs instead of cutting a piece […]
Eddy Hulbert was born to a wealthy family in Chicago but was orphaned at the age of 13. He was sent to a ranch in Hillsboro where he learned the trade of blacksmithing and he ran a blacksmith shop in Hillsboro. He also made bits and spurs that were sold through catalogs and stores, as […]
Larry Hoback was born in Orcutt, California. His father was a blacksmith, jeweler, and watchmaker. Larry learned the skills of bit and spur making from his father and was well known for his ability to match the work of other makers as much of his work was done repairing or replacing broken and missing parts. […]
Tom Hildreth was born on his family’s ranch in California and they moved to San Jose when he was about 10 years old. Tom apprenticed in San Jose as a blacksmith and learned the trade of bit and spur making. He worked producing bits and spurs for saddlery companies and possibly published his own catalog […]
Alsalio Herrera was born in Mexico and learned bit and spur making with his father. He moved around to Hornitos and Visalia, California before he ended up at G.S. Garcia’s shop in Elko, Nevada. Herrera worked for Garcia for 17 years as the master engraver at the shop and Herrera was responsible for training many […]
In San Jose around the 1890s there were five different makers with the last name Hernandez who are assumed to be family members based on the similar style of engraving they used. These men all supplied bits and spurs for California saddleries such as F.M Stern, H. Messing and Son, Visalia, Main and Winchester and […]
Art Harvey was born in Iowa but moved to Wyoming, near Gillette in the late 1800s. He opened a shop that sold bits and spurs which he made, as well as saddles made by others. Harvey and J.B. Mull worked together as a partnership for many years. His work is marked “HARVEY GILLETTE WYO”.
William Hamley was born in Cornwall, England and immigrated to the US where he eventually settled and set up a shop in Ripon, Wisconsin. William Hamley’s sons John James and Henry opened the Hamley Bros. Saddlery, which eventually was renamed Hamley and Company and was located in Kendrick, Idaho before being relocated to Pendleton, Oregon […]
Bob Hall was born in Missouri, but moved to California in his teenage years. He never apprenticed as a bit and spur maker and taught himself while working as a cowboy. He joined the Army and trained cavalry horses in the early 1940s. In 1945 he opened R.M. Hall Saddlery in King City, California where […]
Raphael Gutierrez, nicknamed “Filo”, was born in San Francisco where he apprenticed in bit and spur making. Over time he would also work and train in Sacramento, Elko (working for G.S. Garcia), and Cheyenne before returning to San Francisco and opening his own shop. During this time he also had a partnership with Juan Estrada. […]
