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Women of Beef

Nancy Martiny, the Idaho Rancher Who Has Built Some 500 Saddles

A working Angus rancher in central Idaho has built roughly 500 custom saddles in about 35 years.

Who is Nancy Martiny?

Nancy Martiny is a working rancher and master saddle maker from May, Idaho, a valley town at the foot of the Lemhi Mountains in the eastern part of the state. The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame describes her as having made over 500 custom saddles in roughly 35 years, each built by hand, and named her to its 2025 class of honorees.

As a living person, she is covered here only through her public work as a craftswoman and rancher.

From a father's leather shop to Dale Harwood's bench

Her father, Bill Brockman, was a fireman, rancher and team roper in Livermore, California, who took up leatherwork and built a saddle with help from saddlemakers at Rowell Saddlery in Hayward in the 1960s. He later bought a ranch in southern Idaho and moved the family there. At fifteen she learned to make and tool belts from him, according to a 2021 Shop Talk profile.

In 1987 saddlemaker Dale Harwood, who lived about fifty miles away, agreed to build saddle trees for her and help her get started. He advised her to keep saddle making a hobby because it is hard to earn a living at it. She learned by taking notes and sketches during lessons and practicing at home. Her first saddle took several months, while her second, built from those notes, went faster.

Ranching and saddle making under one roof

Martiny works from a shop in a corner of the ranch house, on a ranch that her husband's family homesteaded in 1889. The cowgirl museum describes the family ranch as 135 years old, and she runs it as a working Angus cow-calf operation, splitting her time between cattle and the shop. The nearest towns are thirty and fifty miles away.

She builds traditional cowboy saddles with light, delicate floral carving and sometimes subtle color, and many are slick forks, a style popular in her region. She does not specialize in roping or reining saddles. Her customers are mostly working cowboys, and her saddle trees come from a maker in New Zealand.

The waitlist, the price and the craft

The 2021 profile gave a base price of $4,500 and said her orders were about five years behind, largely from repeat business. Those are reported figures from that year and may have changed. A later Boise State Public Radio piece quotes her saying she was coming up on her 500th saddle after 35 years in the trade, which she calls a career, a passion and her business income.

She has also tooled headstalls, ornate floral spur straps and, from about 2010, reproduced her leatherwork on ceramic tile and printed clothing aimed at women's boutiques.

The Key to Her Success

Martiny's career shows how a rural craft business can run beside a ranch for decades. The pattern in the documented record is steady apprenticeship and unusual patience.

A fair limit: saddle making is slow, and she has said it is hard to earn a living at. Income here has come from combining ranch work with a long order book.

  • She apprenticed with the best nearby: first her father, then Dale Harwood, plus Traditional Cowboy Arts Association classes and a later fellowship.
  • She took notes and sketches at every lesson, then practiced until the second saddle came faster than the first.
  • She stayed in a niche, traditional cowboy saddles for working riders, rather than chasing every trend.
  • She kept her sources of income varied, adding headstalls, tile and clothing designs to the saddles.
  • She taught others, mentoring emerging women artisans through the Art of the Cowgirl Foundation.

Mentoring the next makers

Since 2019 Martiny has taught fellows through The Art of the Cowgirl, a Montana-based group whose annual Arizona show funds fellowships for emerging cowboy artists, and she makes a saddle for its auction each year. Her first two fellowship students were women with children, and in her first class a saddle took eight days to make.

In the Boise State Public Radio feature on Idaho's Cowgirl Congress, a gathering of Idaho artisans, she says the trade needs more young craftspeople and that women are becoming more prominent in it. Her advice for newcomers is to begin where you are, learn by doing, study other makers and ask questions.

Honors and recognition

The Cowgirl Museum's 2025 announcement lists her among that year's honorees. The museum's profile notes that she mentors emerging women artisans through the Art of the Cowgirl Foundation.

More about Western craftspeople is in farm.FM's ranching section, and a farm.FM story about saddle makers adds more.

Timeline

  1. Age 15Learns to make and tool belts from her father
  2. 1987Dale Harwood agrees to build saddle trees and help her begin saddle making
  3. About 2010Begins reproducing her leatherwork on ceramic tile
  4. 2019Starts teaching through The Art of the Cowgirl fellowship program
  5. 2021Shop Talk reports a base price of $4,500 and a roughly five-year order backlog
  6. 2025Named to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame class

Frequently asked questions

Who is Nancy Martiny?

She is an Idaho rancher and master saddle maker from May, Idaho, with more than 500 hand-built custom saddles in about 35 years and a 2025 National Cowgirl Hall of Fame honor.

What kind of saddles does Nancy Martiny make?

She builds traditional cowboy saddles with light floral carving, many with slick forks, for working cowboys. She does not specialize in roping or reining saddles.

How long is the wait for a Martiny saddle?

A 2021 profile reported orders about five years behind. The Cowgirl Museum describes a years-long waitlist. Check with the shop for current timing.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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