Three Cowboy Saddle Makers Ride Away
ShopTalk! has learned of the passing of several top saddlemakers over the past year. R.D. Mork, Bob Moline and Bob Marrs all made their mark in the saddle industry. All three were also cowboys who had lived the cowboy dream astride their own creations.
Roger Dean Mork was raised on a family farm in northeastern Iowa. The family had work horses, R.D.’s first experience with the horse business. Eventually, R.D. went to work for noted horse trainer Jack Brainard in Wisconsin. There he discovered the Quarter Horse business. Monte Foreman was a friend of Jack’s and frequently visited. R.D. was impressed with Monte’s forward seat, bulkless rigged saddles, made by Fallis Saddlery, and the things that Monte could do in them.
The mid Fifties found R.D. working for all-around hand John Ed Rogers in Texas. This was followed by a stint on the Matador Land and Cattle Company, where R.D. spent a lot of time in a line camp. It was here that he pulled apart a custom saddle he wasn’t happy with and rebuilt it. This trial and error was the beginning of his saddlemaking career. He tried to do repair work for cowboys with good saddles, so that he could study them.
“I never spent a
