The Gift of a Lifetime

By Delores Kuhlwein

Every day after school, young Tyler Haney would sit at the work bench of his dad’s California saddle shop to do his homework.  His dad, none other than California saddle maker Buck Haney, had his shop on their ranch, and Tyler was able to watch for hours as Buck carved and stamped flowers that were tooled into the saddles.

Little did he know that Buck and everyone who visited were keeping a secret at one point– Buck was working on Tyler’s 9th birthday present – his own saddle.  “As I’ve gotten older, and sat in many saddles since then, I really appreciate the time and effort he puts into each one,” explains Tyler. “On the West Coast, it’s really special to have one of his saddles.  I’m really lucky to have this saddle to still stay in touch.”

Tyler used the saddle until he was about 16 years old, when he finally outgrew it.  When he did, his dad asked if he could lend it to a friend for their three kids, and Tyler agreed.

Since then, it has enhanced the lives of two families, explains Tyler – first, the Kiley family of Oregon, whose kids learned to rope in it and whose grandkids used it on the ranch.  “The most recent is another close family friend, Jared Mclenahan and his wife, Kristen,” says Tyler.  “Jared was always around the ranch as a kid for family gatherings, and he learned to shoe horses and build saddles from my dad.”

He explains that Jared was part of their family’s lives, so it was only natural Jared and his wife used the saddle for their two children when they learned to ride. “My parents introduced Jared and Kristen to each other, so it was really cool to watch everything come full circle.”

Tyler recently had the saddle returned to him, and he says, “I didn’t realize how special it would be to get it back!”

Sharing the Special Gift

In keeping with tradition, he is now passing the saddle along to close friends Rose Santos and Todd Grant, whose son, Tag, is learning to ride and has set his sights on roping.  “Rose and Todd are like family to me – Rose and I have been like brother and sister,” reveals Tyler, who met Rose in his time in California.  “Through Rose, I met Todd, who has been a great friend.” He explains that Todd made the connection for him with Anne and Chester Prince, the horsemen he works for now in Florida.

“I always said that if the Rose and Todd ever had children, I’d make sure my saddle went to them,” explains Tyler.  “Fast forward to now, Tag is learning to ride, and he really wants to rope. Since they live in Oklahoma now, I don’t get to spend as much time with them as I wish to. So this is my gift to all of them – I hope later in life, he will read this story and realize how loved he is and how much we all want him to do well and be successful as a horseman. It’s bred into him, as both Rose and Todd are amazing horsemen themselves.”

Waiting in the Wings

There’s another saddle, however, with perhaps even more meaning, waiting to be gifted – one that his dad made that’s very similar to his. “At 13, my mom passed away from breast cancer. At the time of her passing, her saddle was on my dad’s work bench being built,” explains Tyler.  “It was supposed to be a plain “using” saddle as my mom just wanted one of her own that my dad didn’t use all the time,” Tyler laughs.

After Tyler’s mom, Vandra, passed, Buck placed the saddle underneath the work bench, and there it stayed for a long time.  “One day I came home from school, and the large white table where my dad would tool and cut leather was full of his flower drawings,” says Tyler.  “These drawings were used as outlines for different patterns over the years on saddles made for other people, some of which were the first ones he drew as a teen when he was learning the art of saddle building.”

When Tyler asked his dad what he was up to, Buck explained he was ready to start building her saddle again and was going to finish it. “He put every flower he’d ever drawn on that saddle as a tribute to her,” says Tyler.

The saddle served a beautiful life as a “using” saddle for his dad, used to rope a lot of calves, and accompanying him to countless rodeos.  But when Tyler got the saddle back from his dad, he almost made an irreversible mistake.  “I was young and stupid and I needed money, so I thought about selling it.  Rose begged me to never sell it as she knew I’d regret it, and I’m glad she did.”

“Now, I want to gift that saddle to Rose to ride in,” reveals Tyler. “It’s a very special piece of equipment and I hope that she and Tag build a lot of memories at this time in his life, just like I did.  The saddles will come back to me one day, but for now, I’ll keep passing around the good feels that come with them.”