"A Tribute Performer"

My Silver Saddles

In order to appear as The Lone Ranger one must not only have a large white horse, there also has to be that famous looking silver saddle, reins, martingale breast collar, bridle and tapaderas. In other words "the real deal" or you are not authentic.

My preference is the saddle on the right. I have 2 silver saddle sets of this style and each one is used depending on the type of event I will be attending.

I refer to my 2 saddles quite simply as Saddle #1 and Saddle #2

Flowers Saddle #1	My Flowers Saddle #2

This is Silver dressed with saddle #2 in these two pictures.

I am a Ted Flowers saddle fan. He made beautiful saddles and not many of them are around today.

Ted Flowers was probably the most prolific and one of the best known parade saddle makers. His saddles were very popular in the 1950s, 60s and 70's as an alternative to the West Coast saddle makers.

He had a saddle making plant in Alexandria, Indiana that employed as many as 15 workers.

Flowers started making saddles as a part-time hobby in 1942. He and his wife Arvilla began making silver studded harness equipment and saddles in the rear of their three-room apartment.

In 1945, his business had grown to the point that he built a shop in Anderson, Indiana and he went into the saddle making business full-time.

Flowers built his own saddles and even manufactured his own steel dies for stamping patterns in the leather. He commonly used German silver, Monel and Stainless Steel. He also used Sterling Silver, Gold, Gold Plate and Copper to decorate some of the saddles.

When a saddle was ordered from Ted Flowers "Spot Shop" each piece was ordered and priced individually (saddle, bridle, breast collar, etc...). The fancier sets also offered a choice of indian head or horsehead decorations.

Many customers wanted their saddle to be unique-- so there is tremendous variation in the remaining saddles you see today.

This Fansite is a hobby that I operate on a non-profit basis.