Saddle Slim Green made for his daughter in 1991. |
Slim Green: Saddle Making
Born in Oklahoma in 1916, Austin "Slim" Green moved
with his family in a covered wagon to Texas, where he learned to be
a boy rodeo rider and roper. His riding experience provided him
with firsthand knowledge regarding the difference between a good
saddle and a bad one. Since he could not afford a good saddle, he
tried to repair a bad one. Realizing that he had a natural ability
with leather, he apprenticed himself to the great saddle-maker, Pop
Bettis, in Lubbock, making his first saddle at age 19.
Green's saddles are popular because they are
hand-tooled works of art, but also functional and comfortable,
custom made to fit. A saddle takes him from 50 to 150 hours to
make, depending on the intricacy of the tooling. He typically
charges $7,500, but a saddle he sold for $300 in 1952 resold for
$10,000. They are sought-after items; his backlog of orders number
over a hundred. He has made saddles for movie stars, governors, and
just plain old cowboys. For 21 years, Green, who resides in
Tesuque, made a trophy saddle for the queen's mount in the New
Mexico State Fair.
Featured as a master traditional artist by many arts
organizations, he represented New Mexico at the Smithsonian
Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. in 1992. His saddles are also
in the Professional Ropers and Cowboys Association Museum, the Gene
Autry National Western Heritage Museum, and the Elk City (Oklahoma)
Butler Museum.
Documentation includes newspaper and magazine
articles, photographs and a video.
Originally submitted by: Jeff Bingaman, Senator.
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