River Valley Pioneer Museum Director Tamera Julian decided a saddle exhibit would be the ticket for this year’s July 4th celebration. She had noticed last year that rodeo cowboys and their families from all over were among the visitors the museum attracted during the weekend of activities in Canadian.

The museum has a permanent exhibit that includes six of Reid Errington’s saddles, along with original record books and his sewing machine. After publicizing a request for other Errington saddles for a special show, Julian acquired 23 on loan from local and area owners. “I used the record books to match up with the saddles, which gives it so much life---and some people didn’t know the history of their saddles.”

As visitors go through the current exhibit in the gallery room, they can see the owners’ names and the history of the saddle on laminated tags. And, if a connection was made by Julian, they can also see on the back, the original order for the saddle in Errington’s handwriting. In his 40-year career as a saddlemaker, Errington probably made about 20 or 30 a year, said Julian, along with belts and chaps. The saddles are displayed in the center of the gallery room on owners’ wooden saddle racks, if they were available, and on metal ones the museum obtained.

“Some of the very plain saddles are my favorites,” said Julian. “You can see the wear and how much they were used.” In the collection there are kid saddles that have been used by several generations. In a display case are spur leathers made by Reid for Dell Krehbiel, as well as a photo taken of Krehbiel as a young cowboy.

To fill out the exhibit, Julian wanted to show a selection of western art. She chose artists Ronda Bartlett of Canadian, Gary Leddy of Leedey, Oklahoma, and Jay Michelsen of Canadian. Bartlett has an impressive display of local cowboys on horseback, and of other animals, such as buffalo. At Julian’s suggestion, she also displayed the original photographs she took for her inspiration. Leddy is accomplished in two mediums, as a painter and as a sculptor of all sorts of creatures, including horses. Michelsen’s work features two large colorful paintings of splashy cowboys on bucking horses.

The “Reid Errington Saddle Exhibit and Western Art Show” will be on display through July 8. The opening reception took place Saturday evening, June 24.

Museum hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 am through 3 pm; Saturday, 10 am through 2 pm. On Tuesday, July 4, the museum will be open from noon until 3 pm.