PEMBROKE, Ky. – Pete Harry says he doesn’t think of himself as a saddle maker, but more as a problem solver. Whether he’s building a saddle for a hard-to-fit horse, designing equipment for a disabled rider, or repairing a saddle for a museum collection, this U.S. Army veteran is always looking for ways to improve the process and the product.

“I’ve loved horses since I was a little kid,” said Harry, 71, who resides in Pembroke in Christian County. “I love the equipment more than anything else. Even today when I watch a western movie, I spend more time looking at the horse and the equipment than paying attention to the story line.”

Harry is a master saddle maker and craftsman with more than 25 years’ experience in building custom-made saddles, horse equipment and gun rings. Horsemen come from across the country seeking Harry’s services.

“Saddle making is a dying art,” Harry said. “Saddles nowadays are made in factories, just like automobiles – assembly line. I make my saddles from start to finish by hand. Factory saddles are built on standard ‘trees,’ or frames. They assume every horse is exactly the same. That’s not true. Saddles fit differently on different horses. You need comfort for yourself and the animal. You have to look at a horse to see what kind of conformation it has and you fit your tree to the horse.”

A bachelor’s degree in equine animal science helps him design the most anatomically correct equipment for the horse and rider. His education didn’t stop with the degree from Murray State University. He has continued to study his craft through books, videos, professional journals and classes in metal graving and horse shoeing. His hobbies of trail riding and cowboy shooting add firsthand experience to his work.

Harry grew up around the leather business and horses in Washington. His grandfather, Earl Harry, had a combination harness and saddle shop. Pete got to help with harnesses quite a bit, but the saddles were always his main interest.

“Growing up in the early 1950s, the westerns were a big thing on television,” he said. “I was always fascinated by the silver-mounted saddles.”

Enthused by what he saw on television, Harry worked on leather projects for himself in high school. He always liked working with his hands, so he became a good wood worker as well.

“Once you work with leather you can do anything in the world with it,” Harry said. “And once you start it becomes an addiction.”

Just out of high school, Harry joined the Army in 1966. His stint in the military led him to multiple tours in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, as well as time on the DMZ in Korea. Pete received medical evacuation out of Vietnam in 1969, and after active duty he settled in Pembroke. By then he had earned three Purple Hearts.

“After I got out of the military, I decided I wanted to do something I really enjoyed doing,” he said. “I punched a time clock all my life and I wanted to do something I loved to do.”

In the late 1970s Harry decided to make saddle making a fulltime business.

Immediately, Harry was swamped with saddle repair work. He wanted to build new saddles, though, so he read everything he could on saddle construction. He tried to take the best of what he saw and add it into what he already did. He even attended school over the years to learn new things. Soon he was turning out some custom saddles.

“I have customers all over the U.S. and the world,” he said. “I make saddles from start to finish. A standard one will take me about two weeks to finish, while some that require much more elaborate finishes take about six weeks. This includes all the silverwork and engraving.”

Harry worked in research and design with Steele Saddle Tree Co. in Tennessee for several years. Through Wayne Steele, Pete began involved in side saddles, and eventually he began building side saddles for a company in North Carolina. He then added a company in New Jersey, making side saddles for them. At the same time, he was getting requests from his own customers for side saddles.

As word of his knowledge of this type of saddle spread, Pete began to restore old saddles for museums and private individuals. He even performed repair work for the Ft. Campbell (Kentucky) Riding Stables.

“I probably built more side saddles than anybody in the world,” Harry laughed, “and I believe I’ve trained half the saddle makers in Texas.”

That latter statement is a bold claim, but perhaps true. Harry has been giving instruction on horsemanship, horse care and leather work for many years. He offers courses in basic saddle making, advance saddle making, restoration of antique saddles, repair of Western saddles and repair/restoration of Morgan side saddles. He also knew that leatherwork was therapeutic for ex-servicemen, so he made sure his school was one of the few that is V.A. approved.

“My customers have many different reasons for wanting to have their saddles restored,” Harry said. “Most of the saddles that come to my shop for restoration are hand-made by artisans of a bygone era. As someone who lives and breathes history, the restoration of these saddles is a work of love. My goal is to restore them to their former beauty and match the craftsmanship of the original makers.”

As his workload permits, he takes students one at a time for month-long saddle making school. He started this school in 1990. Many of his students are veterans.

“It gives veterans a chance to express themselves that they haven’t thought about, and they seem to thrive with it,” he said. “I’ve been through the same things that a lot of them have been through. We can talk and they feel like they’re talking to someone who knows exactly what they’re talking about.”

In addition, Harry has taught classes for Southern States Feed Cooperative on horse anatomy and training, with emphasis on how horses learn. Local 4-H groups visit his shop regularly for instruction in leatherwork.

Another area of work that has been very important to Harry is fitting saddles for handicapped individuals. He has helped several people dealing with paralysis, loss of limbs, debilitating disease and more to be able to ride and enjoy their horses and receive valuable mental and physical therapy. He did this by devising various braces and straps to assist them, ones that are not visible.

Harry also wanted to implement his own silver in his saddles and other leather goods, so he went to the GRS engraving school in Emporia, Kan. He found that he really liked engraving guns and this led him to do some gunsmithing on the side.

As if this isn’t enough, Pete also restores buggies and wagons, and combines his leather and woodwork into making trunks and picture frames. He makes black powder bags for guns, as well as some unique rifle sleeves modeled after the ones that Native Americans and mountain men carried. He also branched off into holsters and rifle scabbards.

But overall, it’s the saddle making and restoring that are true to his heart.

“Many saddles were not just pieces of equipment used in transportation, but highly refined works of art,” Harry said. “The truly quality saddles have survived even the severest neglect and the poorer saddles have been disposed of as we do in our throw-away society today.”

For more information about Harry, his saddle business or his schools, go to www.petescustomsaddles.com or call 270-886-5448.