Texas Legend S. D. Myres
Pancho Villa was a man of many horses. Many horses and many saddles.… So many saddles that it seems like the story of every saddlemaker who was active back in Villa’s day includes the claim that they made a custom saddle for the notorious Mexican revolutionary. If you read enough about the West, you’ll often get the impression that everyone this side of the Mississippi rode with Buffalo Bill, roped with Will Rogers and played poker with Pancho. Or made him a saddle.
But Samuel Dale Myres, who moved his saddlery from Sweetwater, Texas, to El Paso in 1920, he was the real deal.
Not only was the Centaur of the North said to have been a customer and an amigo—or at least an acquaintance—of the saddlemaker, Myres also made saddles for and swapped stories with the likes of Tom Mix, Buffalo Bill, Pawnee Bill, William S. Hart, Gene Autry, Hoot Gibson, Montie Montana, at least two presidents of Mexico, plus generations of cowboys and ranchers, and yep, Will Rogers. A certificate of merit hung on his office wall for equipping the U.S. Cavalry with McClellan saddles in World War I. Holsters designed and crafted by Myres cradled the firearms of such prestigious military figures as General George S. Patton, as well as Texas Rangers, Border Patrol and FBI agents. So renowned was the Myres Saddle Co. that in 1971, some 18 years after its founder’s death at the age of 81, Hollywood actress Kim Novak visited the El Paso shop that still bore his name to order a custom saddle for her Arabian stallion.
“Tio Sam Myres was ‘literally a storybook character,’ so ancient and authentic that he could ‘recall the real West.’”
—1948 PARADE MAGAZINE ARTICLE
In interviews and advertisements S. D. Myres emphasized the of his leatherwork. “I’ve always thought that Myres was ahead of his time in design,” says saddlemaker Nick Pernokas of Stephenville, Texas. “When he began building saddles, it was a time of transition from purely functional saddles designed for ‘going up the trail’ to western saddles that were used for sport competitions and pleasure riding. His early saddles had the distinctive Texas cowboy look to them, but they were also starting to incorporate more intricate carving and detail work similar to what was being seen on the West Coast.” Some of Myres’ most elaborate saddles even
