Rio Verde Saddlery (RVS) was established in historic Camp Verde, Arizona in 1994 by master saddlemaker D.F. (Dave) Rowland and his wife, Judith, and specializes in authentic Old West saddles as well as a line of lightweight ladies’ saddles.  Each saddle is individually handcrafted from the finest materials to produce an Old West saddle that will offer years of beauty, comfort and durability.

 

 

Jeff Carter, from Scottsdale, Arizona, is our treemaker  and brings to life the designs that Dave envisions for his Old West Saddles.  Jeff also designed the trees for our ladies saddles that enable us to offer high quality saddles weighing less than 25 pounds.  Jeff  has recently joined Dave on the leather side of the saddle and has proved himself  quite  proficient.

became a passion for him. Now Dave has combined his love of history and saddlemaking to make truly authentic saddles of the Old West.

As did the early saddlemakers, RVS also offers gun leather made from the same high quality leather as our saddles. Our styles and designs are thoroughly researched for authenticity and historical accuracy.

 

Rio Verde Saddlery has been privileged to exhibit at the Art of the Saddle Maker at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and Trappings of the American West at the Coconino Center for the Arts as well as other juried western art shows.

 

Master saddlemaker D.F. (Dave) Rowland, SASS #7946, CMSA Life #202, and GHSS, is a descendant of a family steeped in western history.  His great uncles were raised on the violent Kansas-Missouri border during the post-civil war years. His grandfather rode on the last major cattle drive out of Texas and other family members were in the 1893 Oklahoma land rush.

 

Raised listening to his family’s history, western lore

About Us

 

Judith Rowland works the

business end, bookkeeping, scheduling shows, marketing, maintaining our websites, and overall “gopher”.  She also conceived the idea of the 1895 line of saddles after listening to women complain about the weight and lack of comfort in their saddles.  Judith also designs and names the saddles as well as tools many of them.