EHAL Magazine - August 2016

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Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine
22 ©Everything Horses and Livestock | August 2016 |
The company grew and soon initiated catalog
sales. Then demand for Shipley saddles and
products grew to world-wide proportions. His
customers included presidents, Hollywood film
and other celebrities. Charles Shipley contin-
ued to run his company until he passed away in
1943. Two sons continued to run the company
until 1972 when it closed following 87 years in
the saddlery business.
I found two lovely vintage Shipley saddles in
mint condition on the S and H Civil War An-
tiques Web site. This is a live auction website
run by Chris Yeargan who graciously allowed
EHAL to use his pictures for my article. He
wants our readers to know that both these sad-
dles are for
sale.
The first is a
black silver
adorned pa-
rade saddle.
No history
came with this saddle, but obviously it was built
prior to 1972 (maybe 50s and 60s eras when
riding horses in parades was popular). The sad-
dle comes complete with silver martingale. The
stainless steel horn comes uncovered with the
Shipley Makers Mark visible near the gullet.
The second Shipley marked western high-
backed saddle has fancy floral tooling, large
silver hearts with gold stars on all four corners.
Tooled two-piece stirrup fenders come com-
plete with steer head decoration and matching
silver overlaid
stirrups. This
saddle was
once owned
by western
movie star
(silent mov-
ies) and rodeo
legend Tom
Mix. This sad-
dle also had
a matching
silver bridle.
The saddle was found in South America with
family members of Juan Malcom who became
acquainted and rodeoed with Tom Mix in Ar-
gentina. The saddle probably dates from the
1920’s.
Charles Shipley also made many, many fine
western working saddles. This saddle belongs
to family members of the original owner. It dates
from the late 20’s or early 30’s. The owner and
later his three sons
rode this saddle.
One of the boys
once failed to cinch
the saddle up tight
and it got under the
horse’s belly. This
particular gray mare
took exception and
promptly kicked the
maker’s plate from
the back of the cantle. It probably landed in the
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