Joe Pena, well known in the Western saddle-making trade and owner of the Joe Pena Saddle Shop, Uvalde, Texas, often is asked for magazine and newspaper interviews. His 65 years of experience make him one of few remaining craftsmen who can give information on making Texas saddles.

Shop displays of leather goods and the inviting smell of fine leather provide the perfect backdrop for Pena as he explains his methods. He passes over any mention of long years of hard work but speaks, instead, of his happiness in learning the trade from his former employer and master saddle-maker, the late Will A. Slade.

Pena’s eyes sparkle when he introduces his 34-year-old grandson, saddle maker Ben Reyes. Work tables and racks hold tools of the trade that someday will pass from Pena to his creative grandson. For now, however, the two men from different generations work together to turn out leather work of the highest quality.

Examples of Pena’s fine saddle work show up at ranches across the nation. One saddle with Pena’s mark on it recently was brought to the shop from Roberts, Montana. Made by Pena in the 1950s, the saddle now will be restored for its new owner, Chris Griffith, a car dealer in Uvalde.

Pena doesn’t remember the name of the customer who ordered that saddle in 1950, but he knows most customers very well. Locally, he used to make leather belts for John Nance Garner after he retired as Vice-President of the United States. The shop continues to do leather work for the ranches owned by Former Governor Dolph Briscoe, Jr. and for other well known farmers and ranchers.

The shop now keeps photos and other records of new saddles and their owners. That way, when customers ask for another saddle just like the first, Pena and Reyes will know exactly what style and design is needed.

Leather belts, carefully tooled with an elaborate floral design, are in demand by numerous Florida customers. That market developed after an area rancher, Quatro Light, was seen wearing his P ...

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