We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa and Loren Skyhorse. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa and Loren below.

Alright, Lisa and Loren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

We are now 73 years old. We have been self-employed, full time saddle makers/leather workers for nearly 50 years now! When we turned 40 we actually spent a week soul searching about if we wanted “real jobs”. We were parents, building a small ranch boarding horses and living modestly hand to mouth and wondered if it was just habit that was keeping us on our path. After intense introspection, we realized we loved what we did, we were good at it, and we were going to stay the course. Honestly, our dedication brought us to the place of mastery of our craft/art, huge satisfaction and recognition. This doesn’t mean that we no longer have to show up to sell our work or work hard, but the satisfaction of living our passion successfully is worth every bit of struggle.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Lisa was an art major and successful leather worker and ran her own business as a young woman from 1968 to 1973. From there, she pursued her passion of horses by apprenticing a saddle maker in Oregon. This was not as easy as it sounds, as in those days saddle making was extremely good-old-boy and no one wanted to take on a woman. She finally found Lawrence DeWitt, a master saddle maker who agreed to take her on a trial basis. After a week, they agreed it was a fit. As luck would have it, the first saddle she ever built made it obvious that this was her life’s passion. She opened her saddle shop, Arcata Saddle Co. in Arcata, California in 1973 and ran it on her own for 3 years. Loren had a Biology degree and was working in that field when horses connected them. They teamed up, Loren learned and loved saddle making. They homesteaded a raw piece of land, started a family, raised horses and began their business together. Today they create one-of-a-kind, unique, contemporary saddles – both functional and collectable. Their unique forte is a completely hand made saddle designed with and for the rider and horse, for an elegant ride. They are unique in that Lisa and Loren are the makers, with no employees. Together they have built over 1200 saddles, some in collections and museum, most in the show ring and trails around the world. In addition to saddles, they create furniture, wall art pieces that are also sculpted and painted, and any other leather items both large and small.
There are two things we are most proud of (above and beyond our 2 children and 2 grandchildren!). The first is that we did everything we could to live our dream and have been successful in an unlikely field. The second is that it has opened up an enormously satisfying way we could give back….being lifetime horsemen we discovered other horse cultures around the world. To date we have done 2 month-long projects in Mongolia, two month long projects in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, a project in Peru and a project in conjunction with the Navajo Arts Council. We are dedicated to passing on our skill and love of leather and saddle making and have also had numerous apprentices. We are committed to passing on as much of our knowledge as possible.
We still work diligently to produce heirloom objects that are meaningful to us and our clients.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Saddle making is a very traditional field. When we first began creating unique and contemporary pieces we were actually told that no one would ever purchase a Western Saddle that was different. We began making saddles that looked like the saddles that everyone had been copying for 100 years. Ironically, no one wanted a traditional saddle that was made by a woman (even with a man partner!). So we perservered, creating saddles that pleased us. Many of these designs incorporated feathers…..this was nearly 50 years ago! Not only have we flourished, but now feather designs are a main stay in many leather works!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Of course the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the satisfaction of both creating something inspired and wonderful, but also selling it! We have realized that the best judge of our work is the person writing the check. It is also immensely satisfying knowing that what we create is archival and functional and will live on well past our lifetime.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.skyhorse.com

Image Credits
Waldemar Winkler, photographer