On the Bighorn River, just outside Lovell in northwest Wyoming, you’ll find bit and spur maker Ernie Marsh’s studio. For over 30 years, Mr. Marsh has been mastering his trade and upholding the centuries-old tradition that great cowboy craftsmen have taught him over the decades.
According to the Western Folklife Center, Mr. Marsh’s interest in cowboy craftsmanship came from working at the 6-Prong Ranch in southwest Washington. He’d seen the fine workmanship of his peers’ ranching equipment and he wanted to learn how to replicate it.
He then trained at the Elmer Miller School of Bit and Spur Making that eminent silversmith and bit and spur maker Elmer Miller (1914–1993) and his wife Mildred set up in 1986, to protect the craft.
In the early years of the school, the couple hosted students in their home at Nampa, Idaho, and there Miller passed on the skills that he’d learned from Californian bit maker Raphael “Filo” Gutiérrez (1889–1958).
“My designs go back to the early California bit makers—designs that have been tested by 150 years of use on the finest bridle horses in the world,“ said Miller on the Masters of Traditional Arts website run by the nonprofit company Documentary Arts. Those tried and tested traditional designs took into account how each material interacted to form the perfect equestrian equipment. ”The selection of the metals that go into the bit—iron for the mouthpiece, steel for the cheeks, and pure copper and brass for the rollers and braces—needs to be properly understood to provide a bit that will keep the mouth moist and tender,” he explained.
Upholding Western Traditions
Mr. Marsh continues preserving the bit and spur traditions taught to him at Miller’s school. His speciality is making the Al Tietjen style stainless steel bridle bit, designed by renowned Reno-based bit maker Al Tietjen (1928–2009). (Tietjen worked with Miller for a number of years under the “Miller & Tietjen” brand.)
Along with his wife, Teresa, Mr. Marsh runs Marsh Brothers Silver & Saddle Shop, where he makes jewelry, as well as bits and spurs, with his wife. Their partner, saddle maker Dennis Hensley, makes saddles in the Marsh Brothers Silver & Saddle Shop in Etna, Wyoming.
As a master cowboy craftsman and a founding member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association (TCAA), Mr. Marsh has dedicated his time to passing on his skills.
Since its inception in 1998, TCAA members have been committed to uphold and protect the American Western traditions of silversmithing, saddle making, rawhide braiding, and bit and spur making.
Anyone can apply to join the TCAA, even international masters of the cowboy crafts, but they must be proficient in making American Western-style works. Each member has established himself in his craft, with commissions booked years in advance.
All TCAA members willingly pass on their expertise to students via scholarships, peer-to-peer gatherings, and fellowships. For the past 23 years, members have shown their mastery in the “Traditional Cowboy Arts Association Exhibition & Sale,” at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
The exhibition gives TCAA members the chance to show not only the range of their skills and how they are preserving these traditional Western disciplines, but also how these age-old techniques can be applied to a diverse range of objects. For instance, exhibition visitors can see traditional designs such as Colorado saddle maker John Willemsma’s “TCAA Saddle,” based on the now common Wade-style saddle made famous by Walt Youngman in 1937; and Oregon saddle maker Pedro Pedrini’s “Ladies Astride Saddle,” which women began to use at the turn of the 20th century. And they can also see the Western disciplines used in surprising ways, like in Texan saddle maker Troy West’s “Tooled Leather Fender Stratocaster,” a Fender American Professional II Stratocaster (electric guitar) covered in hand sewn and carved leather; and Mr. Marsh’s “Heart Spurs,” embellished with touches of nitre blue, a chemical treatment traditionally used in gun making to prevent rust.
