Matthew McClure sold the first pair of spurs he made to a friend in 2008. From that his customer base has grown by word of mouth.

He is a working cowboy who was inspired by friends who are builders to learn the craft. Matthew has attended a couple of Traditional Cowboy Arts Association workshops and trained with award-winning builder Russell Yates. His work currently favors the Texas style, and he progressively is incorporating more gun-style engraving into his inlays and overlays.

While Matthew admires the craftsmanship of Wilson Capron, Jerry Falkner, Matt Humphreys, Stewart Williamson, Yates and others, the young builder also seeks out design ideas from non-Western influences.

“So much of this stuff has been done that you try to differentiate yourself by looking at other things,” Matthew said.

He grew up on ranches in New Mexico and has worked on outfits in other states, including Wyoming and Arizona. He also holds a degree in agricultural economics from Texas Tech University and has managed his own yearling operation.

Matthew embraces technology, such as marketing his work on Facebook. He also occasionally uses a computer-drafting program to design before he builds by hand each bit, spur or buckle. Many of Matthew’s customers, who are primarily working cowboys, give him creative license in crafting the original look of their bits, spurs or buckles.

 “I usually create one-off pieces of gear. I don’t like to repeat designs,” Matthew said.

He sees his gear becoming more intricate as he hones his skills and finds new sources of artistic inspiration.

“I just want to get fancier in designing and making gear,” Matthew said.

After building bits and spurs for almost 20 years, Russell Yates sees his pieces as more than gear or trappings.

He considers them three-dimensional sculptures constructed of various layers of metal.

“But, function is still the No. 1 priority,” Yates said.

The craftsmanship of accomplished artists in the industry is what motivates Yates to continue to push his creativity.

Yates is a third-generation West Texas farmer and rancher who made his first pair of spurs in 1992 because he tired of waiting for a custom set. Yates credits other builders for help in developing his skills and influencing his style, including Max Stapleton, Tommy Sprayberry, Adolph Bayers and Billy Klapper.

In more recent years, Yate’s spurs and bits have evolved from Texas and California styles into a unique viewpoint influenced by the detailed intricacies on Roman, Greek, Renaissance and other ancient architectural structures.

“It’s amazing where you find inspiration today. These days I’m very interested in architecture. The quality of art from the masters during the Renaissance and other older eras is amazing,” Yates said.

He aspires to have his work viewed as museum-quality art. Some of Yates’ more recent pieces have included high-relief engraving and intricate inlays of 24K gold channels or pin striping.

Yates won the Best of Show awards at the 2007 and 2008 Trappings of Texas Show at the Museum of the Big Bend. In 2008 he was accepted into the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. The following year, he received the Adolph Bayers Memorial Award from the National Bit and Saddle Collectors Association.

Today Yates crafts pieces for TCAA and other shows and for trophy awards for a handful of events. His clients include both collectors and horse enthusiasts. Ironically, he no long accepts custom orders because of a tremendous backlog.

The artist readily admits that he is blessed to be able to enjoy his craft full-time and with the creative license to design bits and spurs without restrictions. He appreciates the camaraderie of other bit and spurs makers, and he continues to develop his own techniques.

“I have a lot of ambitious ideas, but my skills aren’t there yet,” Yates said.

The creative process for builder Wilson Capron begins long before he takes tool to metal in his shop. “I draw for an hour every morning,” Wilson said. He plans out on paper the intricate overlay engravings that define his contemporary interpretation of Texas- and California-style bits and spurs. Wilson has exhibited in the annual Trappings of Texas Show in Alpine, Texas, since 1999 and the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association member show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, since 2005. The Claggett/Rey Gallery in Vail, Colorado, also showcases his work. Wilson was raised on far West Texas ranches and has studied horsemanship and roping since his youth, so his gear reflects both gallery quality and functionality.“If you can’t use it, why build it?” Wilson said.

In 1996, Wilson began working for a friend’s father, legendary gear builder Greg Darnall. Wilson was living with the Darnall family while attending Texas A&M University-Commerce, where he earned an Ag-Business degree that same year. At first, gear building was a way to earn money for rodeo fees, but Greg’s encouragement for Wilson to learn engraving sparked a passion for craftsmanship that continues today. As Wilson developed his engraving talent, he found guidance in artistic principles from his father, cowboy painter Mike Capron. In 1999, Wilson launched his own business. “I’m a very regimented, scheduled guy. I go into the shop at the same time every morning, and I quit at the same time every evening,” Wilson said. “I talk as much about running a business as I do about building bits and spurs. You have to be good enough and fast enough to charge enough to make a living at it.”

His wife, Katy, helps with the office side of the business. The two also are busy with their daughters, Macy, 2, and Emmy, 6 months. Inspiration to push his skills comes from diverse sources, including gun engravers in Europe and the United States and Seattle Seahawks football coach Pete Carroll, whose book Win Forever Wilson currently is reading. “I am inspired by other builders, but ultimately it’s a competition with myself to get better. I’m trying to be as good as I can possibly be,” Wilson said. “I truly love what I do.”

Todd Bowman’s bits and spurs are precise tools that enable his customers to communicate better with their horses.
“It is very satisfying if I can build a tool that helps my customers to be more consistent with their cues,” Todd said.
That is why he said his favorite customer compliment was, “My horse and I are winning because we are now on the same page.”
Todd’s gear-building business is one of many interests, which also include running a trucking company with his wife, Kathi, working as a farrier and competing monthly in National Reining Horse Association events. He earned a BS in agriculture education at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls.

For 20 years he was a Professional BullFighter in the PRCA who twice was the alternate to the NFR in the Wrangler Bullfights. Todd also was becoming certified as a skydiving instructor when in 1998 during a high-performance canopy jump another jumper crossed his path, forcing him to land at 70 miles per hour. Despite breaking all of the bones below the waist and requiring 77 screws, two rods and two plates to repair the damage, Todd was fighting bulls six months later and skydiving a few months after that.

About five years ago Todd made a pair of spurs after seeing a set made by his reining horse trainer. A fellow student was so impressed with Todd’s first effort that he ordered a set, and the orders have been coming ever since. His customer base of trainers and competitive non-pros in reining, roping and pleasure horse disciplines spread, especially when he launched a website. His orders are about 50 percent spurs, 40 percent bits and the rest other silver pieces.
“Within a week of setting up the website I had an order from someone in France,” Todd said.
As a self-taught builder, Todd thrives on feedback from his customers so that he can provide functional tools for them. Since joining the guild, Todd has welcomed the advice of other builders and is beginning to incorporate gun-style and bright-cut engraving into his work. His wife also lends a critical eye to ensure quality control, Todd said.
“My competitiveness in the arena has taught me to be competitive with myself in the shop,” Todd said.

For craftsman Vern Lynes, the comfort of the horse is paramount. “It’s all about the horse. The gear has to be comfortable and designed to do the job we are asking them to do,” Vern said. That dedication to functionality is evident from his high-caliber materials to his engineering of each piece. For example, Vern’s bit mouthpieces are made of sweet iron – a cold-rolled steel with a higher carbon content that tastes good to horses. He also crafts a heavier balanced spur with raised swinging buttons that helps the spur stay in place. Having been around horses all his life, Vern learned early on the value of good gear. “When I saw quality handmade gear, the craftsmanship really amazed me, and I always wanted to be one of those craftsmen,” Vern said.

His career began in 1988 after enrolling in the late Elmer Miller’s school in Nampa, Idaho, that also included guidance from instructor Gary Weber. Vern first tackled a shanked bit with inlaid silver.
“I thought if I started with something a little harder the rest would be easier. I later realized none of what we do is really easier. Some just takes more time then others,” Vern said. He has developed a reputation for building top quality, handmade working bits and spurs, often as trophies. His customers represent all areas of horse enthusiasts, including working cowboys, rodeo competitors, horse trainers and recreational riders. He also makes belt buckles, saddle and headstall silver and other miscellaneous silverwork. Vern’s website attracts customers throughout North America and as far away as Japan, Norway, Germany and Australia. Working beside Vern is his wife, Susan, an accomplished bronze sculptor and painter.
“I help her in her stuff and she is a tremendous help to me with mine,” Vern said. “She's actually the real artist and I just call myself a silver scratcher.”

The couple has six children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Vern’s career is coming full circle as he now teaches bit- and spur-making classes. “I believe whatever knowledge we have must be passed on to others. If nobody does that, it will be lost forever,” Vern said. The first thing he tells his students is, "Working for yourself is great, you only have to work half a day and you can pick any 12 hours you want!"

A collection of antique spurs from “the old makers” at Weldon’s Saddle Shop and Western Wear in Denton, Texas, inspired Jerry Gant to learn the craft of building bits and spurs. “When Weldon showed me a pair and how much they cost, I told him, ‘Weldon, I don’t want to buy the whole store,’” Jerry recalled with a laugh. Jerry soon enrolled in a week-long class with veteran builder H.M. “Herman” Wells in Penwell, Texas, in 2006. “There were three of us in class, and it was pretty intense. We went from a blank piece of metal to making gear. Each of us made a bit and a pair of spurs,” Jerry said. “When I came back I applied what I learned and built on the knowledge using the tools I had.” 

Having owned and ridden horses and competed in rodeos as a youngster, a tradition his younger son carried on in high school, Jerry is diligent about ensuring that his custom-built gear works as intended. His first pair of spurs went to one of his sons until Jerry built him his own. Word soon spread of Jerry’s growing ability to build bits and spurs as well as buckles. “I recently built a set of spurs for a new college grad of San Angelo State. Instead of a class ring he wanted a set of spurs, which I thought was pretty cool,” Jerry said. Much of Jerry’s work for his clients, who include working cowboys, rodeo competitors and part-time cowboys who appreciate a nice set of spurs or bits, reflects the Texas style with overlays. He also is broadening into inlay designs and gun-style engraving.

He asks many questions of his customers to ensure that his bits and spurs meet their needs. “You always want them to be used and to function like they are supposed to,” Jerry said. Jerry currently is a part-time builder who will work on his craft full-time after he retires in the near future from his job as a construction inspector for high-voltage facilities. His wife, Elizabeth, assists him in many aspects of the gear-building business. The couple’s extended family includes two sons and their wives and three grandchildren.

Now entering his third decade as a builder, Ernie Marsh is known for creating iconic bits and spurs featuring gun-style engraving and high-contrast finishes. “I want the overall design to catch someone’s eye. And then, as they look closer, I want them to realize that there is even more interesting, fine-detailed work,” Ernie said. The founding member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association has participated in many juried shows, such as Trappings of Texas in Alpine, Texas, and Trappings of the American West in Flagstaff, Arizona. Ernie developed an appreciation for high-quality gear while working alongside accomplished horsemen on Washington ranches after high school. He saved money for five years to attend the late Elmer Miller’s month-long bit and spur school.

In 1990, Ernie began building gear at night while cutting timber by day. The endangered spotted owl prompted him to make his part-time passion a much more rewarding full-time vocation. “By 1993 I was out of a timber job, so I moved to John Day, Oregon, to be a full-time builder. I had only six orders at the time,” Ernie said. What helped expand Ernie’s following was incorporating intricate engraving after attending a class taught by firearms engraver John Barraclough of Pasadena, California. “At the time no one did that kind of engraving on bits,” Ernie said. In more recent years, Ernie has been incorporating French grey finishes, which make engraved inlays of gold and silver stand out.

In 1998 respected bit maker Al Tietjen (1928 – 2009) of Reno, Nevada, proposed that Ernie purchase his business of traditional-style, stainless steel bridle bits. The die-cut pieces now are cast in an Oregon foundry and assembled in part by Ernie’s wife, Teresa. In 2002, the Marshes moved to the Westfall, Oregon, area. They have shipped orders to cowboys, weekend pleasure riders and collectors across the country and world, including Spain and Italy. Ernie focuses on making unique, handcrafted bits and spurs of gallery quality. He finds inspiration while working a small herd of cattle and spending time with Teresa and their two sons, Milo, 16, and Audie, 13. “It’s a constant learning process. The design possibilities are endless, and that’s what makes this fun,” Ernie said.

H.M. “Herman” Wells recently found one of the first spurs he made. At the bottom of a crate with logging chains, the spur was rusty and missing its mate. The intricately engraved spurs and bits H.M. builds today are more likely to enjoy a much nicer fate, such as in a collector’s or gallery’s display. His work has been included in the Trappings in Texas show at the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine, Texas, and he recently was invited to display gear in the 21st Annual Trappings of the American West Exhibit at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona. “When I started building this stuff, it was out of necessity because I couldn’t afford to go to town to buy what I needed,” H.M. said.

He worked at several ranches throughout West Texas and fashioned his first set of spurs in 1978 using tools in the ranch shop. Six years later, he built a saddle and eventually opened a saddle shop. By 2000 he had transitioned from leather to metals to build custom bits and spurs. Having cowboyed at many outfits, H.M. was able to test the functionality of his designs. Despite the show quality of his current gear, they are all crafted to work too. Today he works during the day as a metal fabricator and considers himself a part-time builder, mostly of spurs and bits noted for their high relief firearms style of engraving. H.M. is a self-taught builder who also received helpful advice from several bit and spur makers through the years and from master engraver Johny Weyerts in Alpine, Texas. He also credits the support of his fiancé Joyce Ladner, a western photographer, with helping him keep his perspective and focus on what he wants to accomplish professionally. He teaches engraving classes periodically and admires the work of today’s builders, who inspire him to push his creativity. “The quality of work today is amazing. You really have to stay ahead of your game. I’m glad it’s that way because it’s made me a better builder,” H.M. said.