Silver Parade Saddle, Bohlin, for Dick Dickson Jr.
Parades and horses go together like peanut butter and jelly. Imagine one without the other. Imagine a parade down Main Street without high stepping horses exquisitely attired in parade saddles, adorned with silver outlining the top and side edges.
Flashing in the sun, silver conchos1 twinkle over his ears, across the forehead and down the horse's nose. Leather reins connecting the bit to rider are often decorated with round silver ferrules2. Parade saddle may have various sizes and shapes of conchos, from tiny silver spots interwoven among larger and varied sized poppy inspired designs, square, or diamond shapes. But let's not stop here with only silver enhancements. Many parade saddles have additional gold overlay, from plain spots to artistic cutouts of stars, riders, longhorns and bucking broncs, a favorite image. Riders may start off with simple parade saddles and matching bridles, then add tapaderoes3 and breast collars4 to their outfit every year. A complete dream and goal can consist of adding silver laden drops along the rump of the horse, called an encara, that looks like a beautiful scarf twinkling along the rear legs.
Where do these fancy ideas come from? Man has always wanted to dress beautifully for special occasions and dressing-up their horse was no different. It seems that those artisans from Mexico and the Western part of our nation did it best for the vaqueros and charros. In Mexico, silver thread and cactus fiber (called pitiado) was used to embellish. Silver was the next step to use for this "horse jewelry". Edward H Bohlin began his silver and leather work in Cody, Wyoming in the late 1920s, but quickly moved his operation to Los Angeles where Tom Mix and many others rode his famous saddles. We can look towards Northern California as well, where Visalia and Keyston made their stunning silver parade saddles beginning in the late 20th century. Hearts were a thematic favorite for Brydon Brothers of Los Angeles, who shared their fame with the illustrious Hollywood Saddlery Company.
Plain or simple, the men and women who parade are proud of their horses and love dressing them up in horse "bling".