September 12, 2024 • 33 mins
What if we told you that the secret to mastering the rugged Western lifestyle lies in the craftsmanship of a saddle? Join us for an engaging episode of "Harness Up" where we chat with Bo Wagner from Connolly's Saddlery in Billings, Montana. Immerse yourself in the rich history of this family-owned business, which has been perfecting the art of saddle-making since 1912. Bo shares his family's journey since taking over the shop in 1995, emphasizing their dedication to traditional techniques and high-quality gear that caters to rodeo enthusiasts and a diverse range of equestrian needs. We also pause to honor the victims and heroes of 9/11 with a moment of silence, reflecting on that day's profound impact.
Explore the rising popularity of rodeo events and the essential role quality gear plays in the ranching lifestyle as we highlight young bull riding stars like Jacoy Hale and Dakota Lewis. Discover the stark contrasts between ranching in the rugged West and farming in the East, and gain appreciation for the resilience required to succeed in these environments. We also delve into the challenges of preserving multi-generational ranches amidst rising operational costs, and stress the critical role farmers and ranchers play in feeding America. Lastly, we showcase the exceptional craftsmanship of Herman Oak leather saddles and the customization available for various riding disciplines, featuring a stunning tooled barrel saddle made for the YRA. Don't miss the chance to learn more about Connolly's Saddlery's exquisite products and their commitment to quality.
Find us online at DraftHorsesAndMulesForSale.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning everybody.
Stephen here with Haste Draft,horses and Mules, and welcome to
the podcast Harness Up.
I know it's been a while we'vebeen off about a month, we've
been kind of busy but we're gladto be back and we've got a lot
of exciting podcasts coming fory'all.
And the first one I want tostart out with is this young man
sitting right here and we'rehere in Billings, montana this
morning and I'm sitting downhere in downtown at this saddle
(00:22):
shop and I want to let him tellyou who he is and exactly what
they do here, and y'all aregonna be real interested in what
he's got to say.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Perfect, well thanks, steven, for having me.
Yes, sir, I'm glad to be here.
Yeah, oh, this is great.
My name is Bo Wagner.
We're here at Connolly'sSaddlery in Billings, montana.
This is a family-owned storeand actually it's been around
since 1912 and the Connelly'sfamily started it back then.
(00:53):
They progressed through theyears and then our family took
it over and bought it from theConnelly's family in 95.
And so we've owned it foralmost 30 years now and, yeah,
it's been great, and there's notvery many of us small family
(01:17):
owned western stores, salaryshops anymore.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And so there's very few of us.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
But it's it's exciting, so I'm I'm glad that
you guys came in and we got tomeet the reason I'm here.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
A lot of y'all may have seen on the YouTube live.
I know a lot of y'all may watchour YouTube too.
I was driving down the road inLiberty there at home on a team
of horses and my hat flew off.
And I only wear American hatsbecause I like them so much,
they fit right and they're goodfor my head.
And so I was out here inMontana.
I still hadn't got a new hatand I said I've got to find a
(01:53):
new straw hat.
And I got on Google and typedin American hats for sale in
Montana and it showed up thisfella and I said we're going to
go there and find me a new hat,walked in, found my hat.
He shaped it for me.
I was out of here like that andit was great, so I got me a new
hat.
So some people said that I lostthat hat.
It was an excuse to get a newone hey, sometimes you need that
(02:17):
, though I didn't want a new one.
You know how it is when you geta hat and you get it broke in
and it's just your hat.
That's just right, even how itgets dented up here up top and
weak, and you know where to feel.
It's just, it's crazy.
But, I got a new hat and heshaped it.
He looked right at my old,another one I had, and fixed it
(02:38):
right like I like it.
Good, good deal.
But yeah, we're here inBillings this morning and you
know what today is, don't you?
9-11.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yep, so yeah, today's a day to remember when was you
in 9-11?
.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I was actually working in a sports marketing
company in Charlotte, NorthCarolina.
You were back east, Yep YepSitting at the office and went
across the street to a Walgreensand bought a small TV so we
could all watch it.
So yeah, how about?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
you.
I was in ninth grade at PlacidCounty High School in Kentucky.
In history, oh wow, and that'swhen we seen it on TV.
They pulled it up for us.
Let's do a moment of silencejust for the victims and all the
heroes of 9-11.
Let's do that for them.
(03:36):
Yep, that was a shocking day.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Now we can look back on it.
Yeah, I was watching the newsthis morning.
You knowing the videos and boy,just absolutely tragic and yeah
, well, you're here in the heartof western country.
Oh, man, this is the west, yesso you got these saddles.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I'm looking at back here.
I want to know about these.
Let's talk about your saddles,yeah uh.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So, like I said before, the store started in
1912.
It's kind of a leather shop,harness shop.
They started making saddlesthen as well and it progressed
throughout the years.
It was actually Conley'sbrothers that kind of started
this whole thing.
Actually Conley's brothers thatkind of started this whole
(04:26):
thing.
So over the hundred and I guess,12 years of the store there has
there's, there's been fourstamps of the Conley's, and when
we bought the store in 95,conley's was not making saddles
and they hadn't for for severalyears at that point, and so that
(04:48):
was one of the things that wewanted to bring back, and so we
spent several years interviewingand finding the right saddle
maker that would fit our team.
We wanted to ensure that it was, you know, herman Oak, all
leather.
We wanted to make sure, youknow, herman Oak all leather.
We wanted to make sure, youknow, we were hand tooling, it
was nothing by machine.
(05:09):
And so we spent a lot of timeand put that effort in, and so
we've got the fourth stamp ofthe Conleys, you know, official,
handmade uh over since since1912.
So, uh, it's, yeah, it's beenvery good.
(05:30):
We've got several trees, uhthat we put, you know, put the
saddles on.
Um, we do.
You know we try to keep a fairamount of saddles in stock.
Um, I see that, but it we do.
The majority of ours is custom.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Are you building these mainly for the rodeo
industry, or is it just a hugemix?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
It's all over the place because we've got a, you
know, we've got a RanchAssociation.
We've got a Will James, we'vegot a Wade, you know, and then
we do have a Roper.
We've got a light all around.
Know, our barrel saddles.
We've actually we hand designedour barrel tree and so it it's
(06:12):
a, it's an exclusive that thattree can only come from us and
it's been.
It's been great, you know, overhere we've got pictures.
We've been a part of the, theWRA, the Women's Professional
Rodeo Association.
They have a program called theSaddle Rotation Program, and so
what that is is every qualifierthat goes to the NFR gets a
(06:36):
saddle, and so there's only ahandful of saddle makers in the
country that are able toparticipate.
That and we've been fortunateto do that for for several years
and it's a, it's a cool programthat we get sorry about that,
guys.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We had to pause for a minute.
He had a customer come in, so,but we're back, so don't worry
about that.
I don't really remember wherewe was.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Uh, yeah, we were just just finished up on the
thePRA and that saddle program.
But yeah, the saddles are a bigdeal to us and providing that
quality and fit for the horseand for the rider.
Well, the young man that came inwas over there looking at us.
(07:16):
What's going on with that?
Yeah, so it's a summer youthassociation called the YRA.
It's a summer youth associationcalled the YRA and we've been a
partner and sponsor with themfor years.
But we do their trophy saddlesfor their year-end winners.
And he was actually getting apair of boots but realized their
banquet is next week and wefinished up their saddle so he
got a sneak peek at hischampionship saddle.
(07:38):
His dad said he cheated.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
He was actually sitting on it but we won't say
no more than that.
But that's good that yousupport all that stuff with your
saddles and it's really good.
Them young kids are the futureof this industry, completely
completely, and there's severalof them.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
We've been fortunate to be involved with several
different associations andorganizations and and it's and
part of what's neat is a lot ofthem, you know they get to
customize their saddle the waythey want, instead of it just
being a a standard.
Uh, we let them pick.
You know, what tooling do youwant?
What type of seat do you want?
(08:18):
You want your initials on it,do you want your name on it?
And so it's been really neatover the years, and we've got a
couple of books over here ofjust how they design it.
It's cool because some of themI mean some of these kids
that'll be their only saddlethey ever have.
And then we have some.
They've got five, six, seven ofours.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I guess it's the difference in the families how
much money they got.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, so it's cool, we're privileged to be a part,
especially in those youthassociations, because, you're
exactly right, those are ourfuture.
I mean, it starts in the youth,goes to high school, college
and then, whether they go on andget their pro card or not, it
not, it doesn't matter, butthat's still the foundation to
(09:05):
be a part.
And you know, and that'sespecially around here, there's
so many family ranches.
You know that these are fourth,fifth, sixth generation ranches
around here, and to have theirkids come in and oh hey, I know
my dad has that that will Jamessaddle.
You guys made for him and I'dlike one too, and so it's it's
(09:28):
neat to to just continue on andsupport that you've got that
type person.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You've got that customer, the long life
generation generation typecustomer yep.
But in the past four or fiveyears Yep, you know what I'm
getting ready to get into Yep,yep, I've seen it in our
industry major.
Yep, something's going on.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Completely, completely, and you know we've
seen it throughout the decadesof.
You know, the movie UrbanCowboy comes out and then 8
Seconds comes out, and thisseason of time it's the
Yellowstone craze.
Now, good or bad, whether youlike it or you don't like it,
(10:14):
the amount of money that it'screated in the economy,
especially in Montana.
Now, there's been some negativeconnotations to that as well,
don't get me wrong.
But the hype of wanting to be acowboy, to wanting to be a John
(10:35):
Dutton or a Rip or whatever youknow, and we have people walk
through the door like, look, Iknow nothing about anything, but
when I leave here I want tolook like John Dutton.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Like okay, Do you see a lot of rips walking?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
There's a few, there's a few.
So it's interesting to see thatchange.
But here's the deal.
Change.
And but here's the deal.
It's good for the western wayof life.
(11:10):
And to I mean the the rodeo uh,craze right now.
I mean ticket sales for for apbr bull riding or a rodeo.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
They're higher than they've ever been in the last
couple years we went, we jacoyhale, yeah, young rider, yeah,
did a podcast with him.
Yeah, I actually met one of hisrelatives in ganado, arizona.
Oh no kidding.
He kind of turned me on to jacoyand said do a podcast with this
young man oh funny and we wentto louisville, kentucky, stayed
at the height and went to thepbr event and did a podcast.
(11:35):
Yeah, yeah, and I was like thatticket is very expensive
actually going up tomorrow, thenext day, to do one with Dakota
Lewis.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Oh yeah, Up in.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Browning.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It's funny with Hale, so I used to.
I partnered with Ty Murray onhis event in Albuquerque.
Okay, we did that for 25 yearsand every year it was very
important for Ty to do an inviteand Jacoy got invited.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And it launched him.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
We're talking about you, if you're listening.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, so it was very cool to now watch him.
And now he's on.
You know part of the PBR teams.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
He is such a good kid Like that boy is.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I don't know him, so I wasn't able to meet.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
He's my friend but that's texting pizza.
We text back and forth he's a,he's a good kid yeah let's you
ought to listen to his podcaston I will do that where he come
from and where he's at now.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It's, it's really good that's, awesome that's
awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So you got your saddles, you got.
You know we could, we know yougot American hats yep yep.
What else here that?
What's something different here?
You sell that people may want.
So you got your saddles, weknow you got American hats.
Yep what else here.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
What's something different here?
You sell that people may wantto come look at.
You know we carried honchoboots for years.
They got bought out and gotshut down.
So we we became acquaintanceswith, with Randy Watson I say
(13:08):
the boots, yeah, and, and Randy,he was president ran Justin
boots for 40 plus years and thenhe started his, his own, and I
flew down and met with thoseguys and you know we wanted, we
wanted something of quality andso for them to, you know, to
(13:30):
provide an all leather.
It's a handmade, it's got asteel shank in it, it's it's a
great boot and so that fit ouryou know our realm here, because
we we want to try to provideproducts that are going to last.
When products get put to thetest they can be.
(13:51):
When you're four miles from theranch house, out in the hills
moving bulls or finding heifersor whatever it might be, you got
to have something that's gonnawork you know, you don't want
something that's gonna break.
You don't want that that chinstrap break your cinch, you know
, your latigo, whatever it mightbe, and so we want to make sure
(14:14):
that that what goes out of ourstore is is quality.
And so we found that withWatson Boots.
Obviously we found it withAmerican Hats, and that's why we
started creating our ownsaddles again, because we wanted
something of quality.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
It's so crazy, man like being out here.
I come out here a lot.
Yeah, I'm used to this area.
I know the people, I love it.
I love the lifestyle.
I appreciate it more thananything.
Yeah, I'm used to this area, Iknow the people, I love it.
I love the lifestyle.
I appreciate it more thananything.
Yeah, it takes one toughrancher to make it out here.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Oh man.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, you ain't a kiddin'.
I mean, it's so different, likeback home, it still blows my
mind we was driving out.
We drove this time instead offlew.
Okay, I'm going through Wyomingon 90.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And I see all this land on both sides of the road
and I see these cows in themiddle of sagebrush and nothing
but brown grass and I just can'tgrasp my brain.
How is that cow living?
Yeah, but I talked to a guy atWestern Ranch yesterday, yeah,
and he said you wouldn't believeit.
He said that brown grass.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
A few bites of that has so much more protein for
that cow than your pretty greengrass back east.
Yeah, no, it's a wholedifferent.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You know really ecosystem to a certain degree up
here, to a certain degree uphere, you know, and obviously it
takes a heck of a lot moreacreage to run uh, you know your
cow calf versus where you're atducky and you know in any of
those southern, even in texas.
Well, yeah, I mean, but likeback home, you got a hundred
acre farm that this farmer seeback home it's farmers, not
(15:59):
ranchers, sure?
No, no ranches.
That farmer back home it'sfarmers, not ranchers.
You don't have no ranches.
That farmer back home with 100acres has a huge piece of land
and he is a top dog Out here.
100 acres ain't nothing.
No, you're a hobbyist.
I was in Three Forks one timewith a customer of mine.
He's passed away now.
Super good guy, you know wherethe Buffalo Chump is and the
(16:21):
Tobacco Roots One of my favoriteplaces in Montana.
Mark it down.
Those Tobacco Roots mountains.
I love them.
Me and him was riding mulesalong the highway.
He said down there's myhayfield Steven.
I said wow, that's 200 acres ofalfalfa.
I stopped that m at Mule.
I said let's stop for a moment.
That's 200 acres.
(16:44):
He said yeah.
I said dang, no way you cannotlook at 200 acres at once back
home, yeah you can't out hereyou can look at thousands at
once.
Yeah, it's just the differencein the place.
But going back to quality, youranchers and stuff out here you
use cattle, you use horses towork cattle.
(17:06):
Yeah, back home they don't dothat.
Sure, sure, the farmer gets onhis side, beside his forward, on
, goes and gets it done.
Yeah, it's a differentlifestyle.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, the Western stores back home.
Okay, we got a good Westernstore in Nicholasville, kentucky
.
Shout out to Luke at the BootStore.
Thank you, buddy.
They're cool people.
I support them.
It's a whole different world.
Sure, they're selling to thoseweekenders that want to go to
Keeneland and kind of look likea cowboy at the horse race, or
(17:37):
the Yellowstone guy that wantsto be that Out here.
You're selling to a wholedifferent type person.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, it is, and obviously there's some tourists
and there's some folks inBillings that wouldn't know the
front end of a horse, and that'sokay.
Oh yeah, it's fine, and that'spart of it.
And we have some folks come inand aren't knowledgeable in that
(18:05):
, and that's fine.
That's part of why we're hereTo help them, because we want to
help educate, because, I mean,agriculture is our number one
industry in this state and it isby far, and so the way to
continue that is to educate andpromote, and that's what we want
to do in our little niche.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Like we do clinics teach people how to drive horses
.
Sure, we did one here in Marchat Miller's Horse Battle.
Yep, right down the road, I'mgoing to tell you something.
We had like seven people signup to be in the arena with us,
hands-on brought their horses.
We had like seven people signup to be in the arena with us,
(18:46):
hands-on brought their horses, Ithink.
Out of those seven don't quoteme, I'm trying to think If
somebody's listening that wasthere, I'm sorry if I messed it
up Five of those were women.
Oh, yeah, probably under 30.
Sure, sure, I want to tell youone thing If I was going to a
driving event or something tocompete, I would take my wife
and them women.
(19:07):
Now, yeah, over anybody.
Yeah, them women.
There was a young lady therefrom here in Billings.
She come in there with a GypsyVanner stud and a Gypsy Vanner
gilding, never drove much, sherode, she was knowledgeable.
Yeah, yeah, that woman said shewas determined I'm gonna drive
these horses.
Yeah, she dug in these ladiesin today's industry they're
(19:30):
tough, oh man yeah, they're.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
That's the thing is.
You know you, you go out tosome of these ranches and
they're, it's, it's the fullspectrum.
Yeah, but don't, and they're,it's the full spectrum, but
don't underestimate, they'rehandy, it's like my wife.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
If I'm gonna worm horses I say I go straight to
her, go worm them.
She can go right up to them andjust perfect, she just got away
with them.
She's got away with horses thatI don't, don't absolutely, it's
just the way it is.
But yeah, this is a nice story.
I'm glad I found.
(20:06):
I appreciate the opportunity tocome in here, and that's great.
One thing I am noticing, though, here in billings, going back
to agriculture, the sugar beetsyep are beautiful, the corn, but
in the past 10 years I've beencoming out here, those fields
are just going like this,shrinking All out here.
(20:28):
I don't know names, but youcome out of Laurel, I think it's
401.
There's a road that runsthrough Laurel and you go
through town by the cemetery andup and straight out.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh going north there.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, yeah.
And then you can turn right atthat little pavilion to come
into Billings.
Yep, that used to be a lot offarmland, yep, now it's just
houses, houses, houses.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, and that's the the sad part, uh, to a certain
degree I mean.
But yeah, the the west end ofBillings and Laurel are
basically connecting and thatwas all prime irrigated farmland
and you know, unfortunately,how our, our culture and society
(21:13):
goes, is you know it?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
it's not easy being a rancher.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
it's not easy being a farmer, that's true.
I mean, though it's it's razorthin margins and it's only
getting worse, and the cost tooperate these farms and ranches
has increased significantly.
And I mean, right now thecattle prices are good, the
horse market's good, but justthe cost to operate is so much
higher.
And so then when you get a, apretty cash offer, you know it's
(21:45):
hard to sustain that, andthat's the sad part of seeing a
lot of these ranches that havebeen four, fifth, six
generations that aren't able tocontinue, and it's sad.
And now there's those that aregrown and are gonna fight
through it, and it's not likethis is the first time.
(22:05):
It's been difficult, but youknow me as as a, as a group and
as an industry, have to keepcoming together and figuring out
how we can sustain our way oflife, because, whether the, the
people on the coast want tobelieve it or not, we feed
(22:26):
America.
Ain't that the truth?
And so we're that backbone, andso we want to do our part, and
however that looks like to, tokeep them working hard and
supporting them and providingthem with, you know, with
products to to help keep thatway of life alive and thriving,
(22:50):
because at the end of the day,even if you've never been around
a horse, you don't ever been toa ranch or anything like that
there's still something in everylittle boy and girl that wants
to be cowboy.
There is, you know.
It's just there, it's there,it's there, and we just got to
(23:10):
keep pushing that down the road.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
It's awesome really if you sit and think about it.
Yeah, I like that statement youmade.
That's a good one.
That could be a quote from youright there there's still
something in every little boy.
That's good man.
That is true, that's good.
You mentioned something earlierthat I got a question about.
Okay, I know some about saddles.
We drive horses.
(23:34):
We ain't riding horse people.
You said something about HermanOak.
What is that?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
So, it's just a type of leather.
It's a higher quality.
It's been tanned a little bitdifferently.
It's a little thicker.
That we just.
We found that that's the highlevel of leather that really
(23:59):
works well.
It sustains longevity, but it'salso malleable to the horse end
of the rider.
For a little bit more comfort.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I'm glad I asked you, because I thought you were
talking about oak trees.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh yeah, Sorry, no, it's just the type of leather
that's really high quality.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Oh, yeah, let's do this.
This is on video too, but Iwant you to get one of them
saddles, and bring it over here,oh, and kind of show the people
on the YouTube channel andstuff your saddles Absolutely
Beautiful saddles, guys.
I want to just show you all alittle bit and let you see one
of his favorites maybe, or onehe really likes, or something.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I do.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Well, this is a barrel saddle that we did for
the YRA.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Oh, cool.
And so this is a barrel saddle.
This one has a tooled, leatherinlaid seat and you know it's
the barrel saddles said it's ourcustom tree and we spent a lot
of time trying to design that.
(25:04):
The barrel saddles, it's ourcustom tree and we spent a lot
of time trying to design that.
You're not gonna find a saddlethat fits every horse.
It's not possible.
But we spent a lot of timedesigning the bars and the
angles of our tree to try to fitthe majority as best we can.
We try to have that deep seat.
You know, and that's the thing,the saddle depends on what the
(25:26):
rider's doing.
You know, if you're out on theranch for 12 hours a day versus
barrel racing or steer wrestlingor roping or you're cutting,
you know you've got to have theright tree for that process.
Yes, sir, you know.
I mean you don't see a footballplayer wearing basketball shoes
(25:47):
.
You know that's true, there'sdifferent tools.
You know that's true, there'sdifferent uh tools and so you
know we we try to take pride inin what we make and uh in
providing various options.
So you know we we want peopleto to ride the saddle for for
them, the horse.
But they can.
(26:07):
They can get it customized tofit them what's the red on it
here?
Uh, so that is a sponsor logo,okay cool.
Yeah, rodeo rigs, so somebodywill get this yep, yep, they
come in real soon, yep yeah,they're banquets next week, so
we've got uh four of them here.
We're just finishing up thefifth one and we'll uh take them
(26:28):
over to them as the tool.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
You can't see it in person, but if you're ever out
in billings, come by this place.
This tooling is unreal, it'sjust beautiful, thank you.
It's really quality.
You can tell it's top notch.
I like the rawhide stirrups too.
Yeah, that's rawhide.
Right, it is.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yep Exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Looks good.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
That's fun.
Can they get online and seethese?
Yeah, so we try to keep all ofour.
We have our in-stock saddlesonline and then we have we try
to keep a lot of our saddles,just so people can kind of see a
variety of tooling patterns andseat patterns and things like
that from our saddles.
And you know we used to have amap in here and you know we've
shipped saddles to pretty muchevery state.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
So they can order a saddle online?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yep, they can order a saddle online and we've got all
of our hats and boots andeverything else, and we ship a
lot of hats too, checked outyour website last night.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
It's really good.
You all should the blog.
You got some good blogs onthere, yep, yep.
You should really look at thewebsite.
Tell them the website, it'sjust.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Connelly Saddlerycom better spell it out that's C?
O N N O L L Y S A D D L E R Ydot com.
My wife's a connery.
Oh, she was saying thatyesterday.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
North Carolina.
Yeah, yeah, but it's C O N L EY a little spell difference
there.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
So we talked about the Saddles.
Is there anything else you wantto talk about that?
Maybe people need to know aboutthis place.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
You know, like I said , I think we covered a lot.
We're small, we're family owned, but we live the Western
lifestyle and we just want tokeep supporting that.
And what's interesting is folksfrom Kentucky showing up.
We've now become friends, we'vegot your new hat, but you know,
(28:24):
you come out here, you have alot of business out here, you do
a lot out here and that's it'ssuch a tight knit, it's such a
small world and that's what'sfun is to be in here and to hear
the stories and to just to meetpeople like you.
And now I guarantee we'll runinto each other a fair amount
(28:45):
now.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Montana has been so good to us.
I came out of here a littlestory 2015.
Okay, I started.
Really, we used to sell allriding mules.
I pushed them.
I loved riding mules yeah,still do, but unfortunately
they're hard to find and yeah,so we'll talk about that on
another day.
But 2015, I was working at theFord dealer, somerset, kentucky,
(29:10):
okay, and I'm sorry 2017.
17.
And I said to myself I'm goingto take a little trip, I'm going
to just, I was selling so manymules, it was unreal, yeah.
And the manager walked in.
I was selling mules at work, alot.
I was doing a lot of mule stuffat work and really wasn't
(29:34):
worried about the Ford company.
The manager walked in one dayand said are you gonna sell them
, stupid crooked legged donkeys,or you gonna work for me?
It hit me the wrong way and Ijust stood up and said I'm gonna
sell them, darn donkeys, I'mout of here.
And I walked outside andrealized I didn't own a vehicle
(29:55):
Because I drove a demo.
So long I didn't have my ownvehicle.
So I walked back in, bought anew truck, financed it through
Ford, then left.
And that was the start of myjourney, but I've been full-time
at this since 2017.
Wow, but I had a load of mules.
I loaded them up in my stoptrailer 14 of them Come out here
(30:18):
on a wild harry with an Amishfriend of mine and we had
nothing sold, not a single mule,and we started.
We went toward Missoula.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
You ever heard of the Potomac Valley up there?
Yep, yep, it's beautiful, it is.
There's a ranch up there onPetette Turner Turner Ranch.
I pulled in that place and justwent in there.
Howdy, I'm Stephen Haste.
I've got a load of mules I'dlike to show you.
They looked at them all.
They didn't buy none of them.
(30:50):
They said we've got peoplelooking for mules.
Let me give you these names andnumbers.
You call these people and I'llhave some other people come here
and look at them.
We stayed here two weeks and wesold that whole load.
No kidding, yes, that was thekickoff, really.
So been doing it since 2010,.
But that really showed me, man,I can do this.
(31:11):
I got something going here andsince then it's just went.
The Lord's blessed us.
He's been good to us.
The good Lord has treated uswith nothing but grace.
We don't deserve it, but it'sbeen good and I sure thank him
for everything he's done for thebusiness and us.
I do too, and without him wegot nothing.
Exactly, exactly the businessand us.
(31:33):
I do too, and without him wegot nothing, exactly, so exactly
.
You got some people coming inin the broncos.
Oh, all right.
So we're going to end this,okay, sounds good, but thank you
so much we got the website.
Everybody, you're welcome tocome out here and visit him
anytime.
They treat you with kindnessand a smile and it's a super
good story.
We're going to get off becausehe's getting busy, but we're
glad we got to do it, soappreciate it.
Check us out on the web,wwwdrafthorsesandmulesforsalecom
(31:57):
, and if y'all need anything,give us a call.
Until the next one, we'll seeyou soon.
Good morning everybody.
Stephen here with Haste Draft,horses and Mules, and welcome to
the podcast Harness Up.
I know it's been a while we'vebeen off about a month, we've
been kind of busy but we're gladto be back and we've got a lot
of exciting podcasts coming fory'all.
And the first one I want tostart out with is this young man
sitting right here and we'rehere in Billings, montana this
morning and I'm sitting downhere in downtown at this saddle
(00:22):
shop and I want to let him tellyou who he is and exactly what
they do here, and y'all aregonna be real interested in what
he's got to say.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Perfect, well thanks, steven, for having me.
Yes, sir, I'm glad to be here.
Yeah, oh, this is great.
My name is Bo Wagner.
We're here at Connolly'sSaddlery in Billings, montana.
This is a family-owned storeand actually it's been around
since 1912 and the Connelly'sfamily started it back then.
(00:53):
They progressed through theyears and then our family took
it over and bought it from theConnelly's family in 95.
And so we've owned it foralmost 30 years now and, yeah,
it's been great, and there's notvery many of us small family
(01:17):
owned western stores, salaryshops anymore.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
And so there's very few of us.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
But it's it's exciting, so I'm I'm glad that
you guys came in and we got tomeet the reason I'm here.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
A lot of y'all may have seen on the YouTube live.
I know a lot of y'all may watchour YouTube too.
I was driving down the road inLiberty there at home on a team
of horses and my hat flew off.
And I only wear American hatsbecause I like them so much,
they fit right and they're goodfor my head.
And so I was out here inMontana.
I still hadn't got a new hatand I said I've got to find a
(01:53):
new straw hat.
And I got on Google and typedin American hats for sale in
Montana and it showed up thisfella and I said we're going to
go there and find me a new hat,walked in, found my hat.
He shaped it for me.
I was out of here like that andit was great, so I got me a new
hat.
So some people said that I lostthat hat.
It was an excuse to get a newone hey, sometimes you need that
(02:17):
, though I didn't want a new one.
You know how it is when you geta hat and you get it broke in
and it's just your hat.
That's just right, even how itgets dented up here up top and
weak, and you know where to feel.
It's just, it's crazy.
But, I got a new hat and heshaped it.
He looked right at my old,another one I had, and fixed it
(02:38):
right like I like it.
Good, good deal.
But yeah, we're here inBillings this morning and you
know what today is, don't you?
9-11.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yep, so yeah, today's a day to remember when was you
in 9-11?
.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I was actually working in a sports marketing
company in Charlotte, NorthCarolina.
You were back east, Yep YepSitting at the office and went
across the street to a Walgreensand bought a small TV so we
could all watch it.
So yeah, how about?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
you.
I was in ninth grade at PlacidCounty High School in Kentucky.
In history, oh wow, and that'swhen we seen it on TV.
They pulled it up for us.
Let's do a moment of silencejust for the victims and all the
heroes of 9-11.
Let's do that for them.
(03:36):
Yep, that was a shocking day.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Now we can look back on it.
Yeah, I was watching the newsthis morning.
You knowing the videos and boy,just absolutely tragic and yeah
, well, you're here in the heartof western country.
Oh, man, this is the west, yesso you got these saddles.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I'm looking at back here.
I want to know about these.
Let's talk about your saddles,yeah uh.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So, like I said before, the store started in
1912.
It's kind of a leather shop,harness shop.
They started making saddlesthen as well and it progressed
throughout the years.
It was actually Conley'sbrothers that kind of started
this whole thing.
Actually Conley's brothers thatkind of started this whole
(04:26):
thing.
So over the hundred and I guess,12 years of the store there has
there's, there's been fourstamps of the Conley's, and when
we bought the store in 95,conley's was not making saddles
and they hadn't for for severalyears at that point, and so that
(04:48):
was one of the things that wewanted to bring back, and so we
spent several years interviewingand finding the right saddle
maker that would fit our team.
We wanted to ensure that it was, you know, herman Oak, all
leather.
We wanted to make sure, youknow, herman Oak all leather.
We wanted to make sure, youknow, we were hand tooling, it
was nothing by machine.
(05:09):
And so we spent a lot of timeand put that effort in, and so
we've got the fourth stamp ofthe Conleys, you know, official,
handmade uh over since since1912.
So, uh, it's, yeah, it's beenvery good.
(05:30):
We've got several trees, uhthat we put, you know, put the
saddles on.
Um, we do.
You know we try to keep a fairamount of saddles in stock.
Um, I see that, but it we do.
The majority of ours is custom.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Are you building these mainly for the rodeo
industry, or is it just a hugemix?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
It's all over the place because we've got a, you
know, we've got a RanchAssociation.
We've got a Will James, we'vegot a Wade, you know, and then
we do have a Roper.
We've got a light all around.
Know, our barrel saddles.
We've actually we hand designedour barrel tree and so it it's
(06:12):
a, it's an exclusive that thattree can only come from us and
it's been.
It's been great, you know, overhere we've got pictures.
We've been a part of the, theWRA, the Women's Professional
Rodeo Association.
They have a program called theSaddle Rotation Program, and so
what that is is every qualifierthat goes to the NFR gets a
(06:36):
saddle, and so there's only ahandful of saddle makers in the
country that are able toparticipate.
That and we've been fortunateto do that for for several years
and it's a, it's a cool programthat we get sorry about that,
guys.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
We had to pause for a minute.
He had a customer come in, so,but we're back, so don't worry
about that.
I don't really remember wherewe was.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Uh, yeah, we were just just finished up on the
thePRA and that saddle program.
But yeah, the saddles are a bigdeal to us and providing that
quality and fit for the horseand for the rider.
Well, the young man that came inwas over there looking at us.
(07:16):
What's going on with that?
Yeah, so it's a summer youthassociation called the YRA.
It's a summer youth associationcalled the YRA and we've been a
partner and sponsor with themfor years.
But we do their trophy saddlesfor their year-end winners.
And he was actually getting apair of boots but realized their
banquet is next week and wefinished up their saddle so he
got a sneak peek at hischampionship saddle.
(07:38):
His dad said he cheated.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
He was actually sitting on it but we won't say
no more than that.
But that's good that yousupport all that stuff with your
saddles and it's really good.
Them young kids are the futureof this industry, completely
completely, and there's severalof them.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
We've been fortunate to be involved with several
different associations andorganizations and and it's and
part of what's neat is a lot ofthem, you know they get to
customize their saddle the waythey want, instead of it just
being a a standard.
Uh, we let them pick.
You know, what tooling do youwant?
What type of seat do you want?
(08:18):
You want your initials on it,do you want your name on it?
And so it's been really neatover the years, and we've got a
couple of books over here ofjust how they design it.
It's cool because some of themI mean some of these kids
that'll be their only saddlethey ever have.
And then we have some.
They've got five, six, seven ofours.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I guess it's the difference in the families how
much money they got.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, so it's cool, we're privileged to be a part,
especially in those youthassociations, because, you're
exactly right, those are ourfuture.
I mean, it starts in the youth,goes to high school, college
and then, whether they go on andget their pro card or not, it
not, it doesn't matter, butthat's still the foundation to
(09:05):
be a part.
And you know, and that'sespecially around here, there's
so many family ranches.
You know that these are fourth,fifth, sixth generation ranches
around here, and to have theirkids come in and oh hey, I know
my dad has that that will Jamessaddle.
You guys made for him and I'dlike one too, and so it's it's
(09:28):
neat to to just continue on andsupport that you've got that
type person.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You've got that customer, the long life
generation generation typecustomer yep.
But in the past four or fiveyears Yep, you know what I'm
getting ready to get into Yep,yep, I've seen it in our
industry major.
Yep, something's going on.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Completely, completely, and you know we've
seen it throughout the decadesof.
You know, the movie UrbanCowboy comes out and then 8
Seconds comes out, and thisseason of time it's the
Yellowstone craze.
Now, good or bad, whether youlike it or you don't like it,
(10:14):
the amount of money that it'screated in the economy,
especially in Montana.
Now, there's been some negativeconnotations to that as well,
don't get me wrong.
But the hype of wanting to be acowboy, to wanting to be a John
(10:35):
Dutton or a Rip or whatever youknow, and we have people walk
through the door like, look, Iknow nothing about anything, but
when I leave here I want tolook like John Dutton.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Like okay, Do you see a lot of rips walking?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
There's a few, there's a few.
So it's interesting to see thatchange.
But here's the deal.
Change.
And but here's the deal.
It's good for the western wayof life.
(11:10):
And to I mean the the rodeo uh,craze right now.
I mean ticket sales for for apbr bull riding or a rodeo.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
They're higher than they've ever been in the last
couple years we went, we jacoyhale, yeah, young rider, yeah,
did a podcast with him.
Yeah, I actually met one of hisrelatives in ganado, arizona.
Oh no kidding.
He kind of turned me on to jacoyand said do a podcast with this
young man oh funny and we wentto louisville, kentucky, stayed
at the height and went to thepbr event and did a podcast.
(11:35):
Yeah, yeah, and I was like thatticket is very expensive
actually going up tomorrow, thenext day, to do one with Dakota
Lewis.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Oh yeah, Up in.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Browning.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
It's funny with Hale, so I used to.
I partnered with Ty Murray onhis event in Albuquerque.
Okay, we did that for 25 yearsand every year it was very
important for Ty to do an inviteand Jacoy got invited.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And it launched him.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
We're talking about you, if you're listening.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Yeah, so it was very cool to now watch him.
And now he's on.
You know part of the PBR teams.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
He is such a good kid Like that boy is.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I don't know him, so I wasn't able to meet.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
He's my friend but that's texting pizza.
We text back and forth he's a,he's a good kid yeah let's you
ought to listen to his podcaston I will do that where he come
from and where he's at now.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It's, it's really good that's, awesome that's
awesome.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So you got your saddles, you got.
You know we could, we know yougot American hats yep yep.
What else here that?
What's something different here?
You sell that people may want.
So you got your saddles, weknow you got American hats.
Yep what else here.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
What's something different here?
You sell that people may wantto come look at.
You know we carried honchoboots for years.
They got bought out and gotshut down.
So we we became acquaintanceswith, with Randy Watson I say
(13:08):
the boots, yeah, and, and Randy,he was president ran Justin
boots for 40 plus years and thenhe started his, his own, and I
flew down and met with thoseguys and you know we wanted, we
wanted something of quality andso for them to, you know, to
(13:30):
provide an all leather.
It's a handmade, it's got asteel shank in it, it's it's a
great boot and so that fit ouryou know our realm here, because
we we want to try to provideproducts that are going to last.
When products get put to thetest they can be.
(13:51):
When you're four miles from theranch house, out in the hills
moving bulls or finding heifersor whatever it might be, you got
to have something that's gonnawork you know, you don't want
something that's gonna break.
You don't want that that chinstrap break your cinch, you know
, your latigo, whatever it mightbe, and so we want to make sure
(14:14):
that that what goes out of ourstore is is quality.
And so we found that withWatson Boots.
Obviously we found it withAmerican Hats, and that's why we
started creating our ownsaddles again, because we wanted
something of quality.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
It's so crazy, man like being out here.
I come out here a lot.
Yeah, I'm used to this area.
I know the people, I love it.
I love the lifestyle.
I appreciate it more thananything.
Yeah, I'm used to this area, Iknow the people, I love it.
I love the lifestyle.
I appreciate it more thananything.
Yeah, it takes one toughrancher to make it out here.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Oh man.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, you ain't a kiddin'.
I mean, it's so different, likeback home, it still blows my
mind we was driving out.
We drove this time instead offlew.
Okay, I'm going through Wyomingon 90.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
And I see all this land on both sides of the road
and I see these cows in themiddle of sagebrush and nothing
but brown grass and I just can'tgrasp my brain.
How is that cow living?
Yeah, but I talked to a guy atWestern Ranch yesterday, yeah,
and he said you wouldn't believeit.
He said that brown grass.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
A few bites of that has so much more protein for
that cow than your pretty greengrass back east.
Yeah, no, it's a wholedifferent.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You know really ecosystem to a certain degree up
here, to a certain degree uphere, you know, and obviously it
takes a heck of a lot moreacreage to run uh, you know your
cow calf versus where you're atducky and you know in any of
those southern, even in texas.
Well, yeah, I mean, but likeback home, you got a hundred
acre farm that this farmer seeback home it's farmers, not
(15:59):
ranchers, sure?
No, no ranches.
That farmer back home it'sfarmers, not ranchers.
You don't have no ranches.
That farmer back home with 100acres has a huge piece of land
and he is a top dog Out here.
100 acres ain't nothing.
No, you're a hobbyist.
I was in Three Forks one timewith a customer of mine.
He's passed away now.
Super good guy, you know wherethe Buffalo Chump is and the
(16:21):
Tobacco Roots One of my favoriteplaces in Montana.
Mark it down.
Those Tobacco Roots mountains.
I love them.
Me and him was riding mulesalong the highway.
He said down there's myhayfield Steven.
I said wow, that's 200 acres ofalfalfa.
I stopped that m at Mule.
I said let's stop for a moment.
That's 200 acres.
(16:44):
He said yeah.
I said dang, no way you cannotlook at 200 acres at once back
home, yeah you can't out hereyou can look at thousands at
once.
Yeah, it's just the differencein the place.
But going back to quality, youranchers and stuff out here you
use cattle, you use horses towork cattle.
(17:06):
Yeah, back home they don't dothat.
Sure, sure, the farmer gets onhis side, beside his forward, on
, goes and gets it done.
Yeah, it's a differentlifestyle.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, the Western stores back home.
Okay, we got a good Westernstore in Nicholasville, kentucky
.
Shout out to Luke at the BootStore.
Thank you, buddy.
They're cool people.
I support them.
It's a whole different world.
Sure, they're selling to thoseweekenders that want to go to
Keeneland and kind of look likea cowboy at the horse race, or
(17:37):
the Yellowstone guy that wantsto be that Out here.
You're selling to a wholedifferent type person.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, it is, and obviously there's some tourists
and there's some folks inBillings that wouldn't know the
front end of a horse, and that'sokay.
Oh yeah, it's fine, and that'spart of it.
And we have some folks come inand aren't knowledgeable in that
(18:05):
, and that's fine.
That's part of why we're hereTo help them, because we want to
help educate, because, I mean,agriculture is our number one
industry in this state and it isby far, and so the way to
continue that is to educate andpromote, and that's what we want
to do in our little niche.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Like we do clinics teach people how to drive horses
.
Sure, we did one here in Marchat Miller's Horse Battle.
Yep, right down the road, I'mgoing to tell you something.
We had like seven people signup to be in the arena with us,
hands-on brought their horses.
We had like seven people signup to be in the arena with us,
(18:46):
hands-on brought their horses, Ithink.
Out of those seven don't quoteme, I'm trying to think If
somebody's listening that wasthere, I'm sorry if I messed it
up Five of those were women.
Oh, yeah, probably under 30.
Sure, sure, I want to tell youone thing If I was going to a
driving event or something tocompete, I would take my wife
and them women.
(19:07):
Now, yeah, over anybody.
Yeah, them women.
There was a young lady therefrom here in Billings.
She come in there with a GypsyVanner stud and a Gypsy Vanner
gilding, never drove much, sherode, she was knowledgeable.
Yeah, yeah, that woman said shewas determined I'm gonna drive
these horses.
Yeah, she dug in these ladiesin today's industry they're
(19:30):
tough, oh man yeah, they're.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
That's the thing is.
You know you, you go out tosome of these ranches and
they're, it's, it's the fullspectrum.
Yeah, but don't, and they're,it's the full spectrum, but
don't underestimate, they'rehandy, it's like my wife.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
If I'm gonna worm horses I say I go straight to
her, go worm them.
She can go right up to them andjust perfect, she just got away
with them.
She's got away with horses thatI don't, don't absolutely, it's
just the way it is.
But yeah, this is a nice story.
I'm glad I found.
(20:06):
I appreciate the opportunity tocome in here, and that's great.
One thing I am noticing, though, here in billings, going back
to agriculture, the sugar beetsyep are beautiful, the corn, but
in the past 10 years I've beencoming out here, those fields
are just going like this,shrinking All out here.
(20:28):
I don't know names, but youcome out of Laurel, I think it's
401.
There's a road that runsthrough Laurel and you go
through town by the cemetery andup and straight out.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh going north there.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, yeah.
And then you can turn right atthat little pavilion to come
into Billings.
Yep, that used to be a lot offarmland, yep, now it's just
houses, houses, houses.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, and that's the the sad part, uh, to a certain
degree I mean.
But yeah, the the west end ofBillings and Laurel are
basically connecting and thatwas all prime irrigated farmland
and you know, unfortunately,how our, our culture and society
(21:13):
goes, is you know it?
Speaker 1 (21:16):
it's not easy being a rancher.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
it's not easy being a farmer, that's true.
I mean, though it's it's razorthin margins and it's only
getting worse, and the cost tooperate these farms and ranches
has increased significantly.
And I mean, right now thecattle prices are good, the
horse market's good, but justthe cost to operate is so much
higher.
And so then when you get a, apretty cash offer, you know it's
(21:45):
hard to sustain that, andthat's the sad part of seeing a
lot of these ranches that havebeen four, fifth, six
generations that aren't able tocontinue, and it's sad.
And now there's those that aregrown and are gonna fight
through it, and it's not likethis is the first time.
(22:05):
It's been difficult, but youknow me as as a, as a group and
as an industry, have to keepcoming together and figuring out
how we can sustain our way oflife, because, whether the, the
people on the coast want tobelieve it or not, we feed
(22:26):
America.
Ain't that the truth?
And so we're that backbone, andso we want to do our part, and
however that looks like to, tokeep them working hard and
supporting them and providingthem with, you know, with
products to to help keep thatway of life alive and thriving,
(22:50):
because at the end of the day,even if you've never been around
a horse, you don't ever been toa ranch or anything like that
there's still something in everylittle boy and girl that wants
to be cowboy.
There is, you know.
It's just there, it's there,it's there, and we just got to
(23:10):
keep pushing that down the road.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
It's awesome really if you sit and think about it.
Yeah, I like that statement youmade.
That's a good one.
That could be a quote from youright there there's still
something in every little boy.
That's good man.
That is true, that's good.
You mentioned something earlierthat I got a question about.
Okay, I know some about saddles.
We drive horses.
(23:34):
We ain't riding horse people.
You said something about HermanOak.
What is that?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
So, it's just a type of leather.
It's a higher quality.
It's been tanned a little bitdifferently.
It's a little thicker.
That we just.
We found that that's the highlevel of leather that really
(23:59):
works well.
It sustains longevity, but it'salso malleable to the horse end
of the rider.
For a little bit more comfort.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I'm glad I asked you, because I thought you were
talking about oak trees.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh yeah, Sorry, no, it's just the type of leather
that's really high quality.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Oh, yeah, let's do this.
This is on video too, but Iwant you to get one of them
saddles, and bring it over here,oh, and kind of show the people
on the YouTube channel andstuff your saddles Absolutely
Beautiful saddles, guys.
I want to just show you all alittle bit and let you see one
of his favorites maybe, or onehe really likes, or something.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I do.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Well, this is a barrel saddle that we did for
the YRA.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Oh, cool.
And so this is a barrel saddle.
This one has a tooled, leatherinlaid seat and you know it's
the barrel saddles said it's ourcustom tree and we spent a lot
of time trying to design that.
(25:04):
The barrel saddles, it's ourcustom tree and we spent a lot
of time trying to design that.
You're not gonna find a saddlethat fits every horse.
It's not possible.
But we spent a lot of timedesigning the bars and the
angles of our tree to try to fitthe majority as best we can.
We try to have that deep seat.
You know, and that's the thing,the saddle depends on what the
(25:26):
rider's doing.
You know, if you're out on theranch for 12 hours a day versus
barrel racing or steer wrestlingor roping or you're cutting,
you know you've got to have theright tree for that process.
Yes, sir, you know.
I mean you don't see a footballplayer wearing basketball shoes
(25:47):
.
You know that's true, there'sdifferent tools.
You know that's true, there'sdifferent uh tools and so you
know we we try to take pride inin what we make and uh in
providing various options.
So you know we we want peopleto to ride the saddle for for
them, the horse.
But they can.
(26:07):
They can get it customized tofit them what's the red on it
here?
Uh, so that is a sponsor logo,okay cool.
Yeah, rodeo rigs, so somebodywill get this yep, yep, they
come in real soon, yep yeah,they're banquets next week, so
we've got uh four of them here.
We're just finishing up thefifth one and we'll uh take them
(26:28):
over to them as the tool.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
You can't see it in person, but if you're ever out
in billings, come by this place.
This tooling is unreal, it'sjust beautiful, thank you.
It's really quality.
You can tell it's top notch.
I like the rawhide stirrups too.
Yeah, that's rawhide.
Right, it is.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yep Exactly.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Looks good.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
That's fun.
Can they get online and seethese?
Yeah, so we try to keep all ofour.
We have our in-stock saddlesonline and then we have we try
to keep a lot of our saddles,just so people can kind of see a
variety of tooling patterns andseat patterns and things like
that from our saddles.
And you know we used to have amap in here and you know we've
shipped saddles to pretty muchevery state.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
So they can order a saddle online?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Yep, they can order a saddle online and we've got all
of our hats and boots andeverything else, and we ship a
lot of hats too, checked outyour website last night.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
It's really good.
You all should the blog.
You got some good blogs onthere, yep, yep.
You should really look at thewebsite.
Tell them the website, it'sjust.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Connelly Saddlerycom better spell it out that's C?
O N N O L L Y S A D D L E R Ydot com.
My wife's a connery.
Oh, she was saying thatyesterday.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
North Carolina.
Yeah, yeah, but it's C O N L EY a little spell difference
there.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
So we talked about the Saddles.
Is there anything else you wantto talk about that?
Maybe people need to know aboutthis place.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
You know, like I said , I think we covered a lot.
We're small, we're family owned, but we live the Western
lifestyle and we just want tokeep supporting that.
And what's interesting is folksfrom Kentucky showing up.
We've now become friends, we'vegot your new hat, but you know,
(28:24):
you come out here, you have alot of business out here, you do
a lot out here and that's it'ssuch a tight knit, it's such a
small world and that's what'sfun is to be in here and to hear
the stories and to just to meetpeople like you.
And now I guarantee we'll runinto each other a fair amount
(28:45):
now.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Montana has been so good to us.
I came out of here a littlestory 2015.
Okay, I started.
Really, we used to sell allriding mules.
I pushed them.
I loved riding mules yeah,still do, but unfortunately
they're hard to find and yeah,so we'll talk about that on
another day.
But 2015, I was working at theFord dealer, somerset, kentucky,
(29:10):
okay, and I'm sorry 2017.
17.
And I said to myself I'm goingto take a little trip, I'm going
to just, I was selling so manymules, it was unreal, yeah.
And the manager walked in.
I was selling mules at work, alot.
I was doing a lot of mule stuffat work and really wasn't
(29:34):
worried about the Ford company.
The manager walked in one dayand said are you gonna sell them
, stupid crooked legged donkeys,or you gonna work for me?
It hit me the wrong way and Ijust stood up and said I'm gonna
sell them, darn donkeys, I'mout of here.
And I walked outside andrealized I didn't own a vehicle
(29:55):
Because I drove a demo.
So long I didn't have my ownvehicle.
So I walked back in, bought anew truck, financed it through
Ford, then left.
And that was the start of myjourney, but I've been full-time
at this since 2017.
Wow, but I had a load of mules.
I loaded them up in my stoptrailer 14 of them Come out here
(30:18):
on a wild harry with an Amishfriend of mine and we had
nothing sold, not a single mule,and we started.
We went toward Missoula.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
You ever heard of the Potomac Valley up there?
Yep, yep, it's beautiful, it is.
There's a ranch up there onPetette Turner Turner Ranch.
I pulled in that place and justwent in there.
Howdy, I'm Stephen Haste.
I've got a load of mules I'dlike to show you.
They looked at them all.
They didn't buy none of them.
(30:50):
They said we've got peoplelooking for mules.
Let me give you these names andnumbers.
You call these people and I'llhave some other people come here
and look at them.
We stayed here two weeks and wesold that whole load.
No kidding, yes, that was thekickoff, really.
So been doing it since 2010,.
But that really showed me, man,I can do this.
(31:11):
I got something going here andsince then it's just went.
The Lord's blessed us.
He's been good to us.
The good Lord has treated uswith nothing but grace.
We don't deserve it, but it'sbeen good and I sure thank him
for everything he's done for thebusiness and us.
I do too, and without him wegot nothing.
Exactly, exactly the businessand us.
(31:33):
I do too, and without him wegot nothing, exactly, so exactly
.
You got some people coming inin the broncos.
Oh, all right.
So we're going to end this,okay, sounds good, but thank you
so much we got the website.
Everybody, you're welcome tocome out here and visit him
anytime.
They treat you with kindnessand a smile and it's a super
good story.
We're going to get off becausehe's getting busy, but we're
glad we got to do it, soappreciate it.
Check us out on the web,wwwdrafthorsesandmulesforsalecom
(31:57):
, and if y'all need anything,give us a call.
Until the next one, we'll seeyou soon.
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