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Michelle Liggett has carved her niche in a ready-made world. Custom-made saddles may be a luxury for many horse owners, but to professionals like all-time leading reining horse trainer Tim McQuay and serious non-pros like Jerry Durant, Liggett's attention to detail makes all the difference.
"It's the best I've ever ridden," said Durant of the saddle Liggett made for him. Durant was so impressed, in fact, that he asked Liggett to make five saddles as prizes for two cutting horse associations that will hold a 'shoot out' of their year-end division leaders at Durant's Silverado Arena in Weatherford. Four of the saddles have been on display at the Brazos Bash, a major limited aged event with $275,000 in added money held annually at Silverado.
Liggett grew up as a horse crazy kid in California and Arizona and began braiding her own leather gear when she went to work for a trainer who specialized in roping horses. She soon progressed to making custom rawhide and braided leather, which led to a few custom orders from fellow competitors.
While working for another trainer in Arizona, Liggett met her future husband, Bruce, who had worked as a hunting guide in Montana's Bob Marshall Wilderness and as a cowboy for several large outfits. The couple married in 1982 and in 1987, and when Bob Haley of Bob's Custom Saddles, a leader in the reining industry, reorganized his business, Michelle purchased all of his chap patterns and dies.
As Bruce built a clientele by training and showing performance horses - he is an American Quarter Horse Association Congress winner in reining, as well as an NRHA Reserve World Champion and NRHA Futurity Co-Reserve Champion (Ltd Open) - Shelly began to devote more and more time to braided gear and chaps. When they moved to their present home, an 80-acre horse facility in Mineral Wells, Michelle went to work for Calvin Allen's saddle shop in Weatherford, where she learned to build saddles and continued to braid.
In 2000, Michelle went to work for Joey Jemison, also of Weatherford, where she was able to hone her skills in leather floral carving. Since then, she has been invited to exhibit her gear at the Cowboy Trappings Show in Alpine, Texas, and was selected by her peers as Reserve Champion in the Saddle Contest in Wichita Falls.
M.J. Liggett's custom saddles start at a base of $2,800 and increase in price depending on details such as ornamental carving, silver conchos and plates, padded seats, special stirrups and the like. Custom headstalls and specially plaited headpieces can cost as much as $1,800.
Like a fine pair of boots, it's the attention to detail and fit that distinguishes a custom piece from a ready-made saddle or bridle, according to Michelle.
"It's the difference between a saddle that's been put together piece-by-piece by a lot of different hands and one that's been designed and created from the start by one sadldle maker for a specific rider," she pointed out. "There is no comparison."
~ Article by Sandy Harrison, Fort Worth Business Press, December 3, 2005
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