The Saddle Maker

We feel it is probably important for you to know a little about the “Maker” of the “custom” items that we will make for you.

Mike is a retired Law Enforcement Detective from a local Florida agency and used leather gear for most of that career, which got him started in making and repairing custom holsters and Law Enforcement leather goods. It has been Mike’s great pleasure and honor to be associated with and an apprentice of J. A. “Al” McDearmid for a number of years. Al McDearmid has been doing leather craft, harness and saddle work for over 50 years in the area of North Florida and South Georgia, particularly for the rather extensive Florida Georgia Plantation society, where hunting from horseback is a tradition that extends back for hundreds of years.

It is in this apprenticeship that Mike has learned his craft from a “true master” of the plantation style of saddle, who has evolved into a master saddle maker in all types. Truly an honor and a privilege to have learned from and continue to learn from a “true southern gentleman”…who we affectionately call “grumpy”, although he prefers “sweet and cuddly”. 

Mike has, through extensive travels over the past decade, mostly “horse vacations” and “back country trips”, gained valuable experience in the “Great Basin” area of the American west, particularly Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Nevada and the family has recently purchased property in the Medicine Bow National Forest Area, west of Laramie, Wyoming, with future plans to spend a good part of each year in the area.

 Here at Three Hearts we have a passion for horses and we are dedicated to delivering to you the finest products for your use in your passion.