OklahomaHorses Magazine May 2023

20 OklahomaHorses • May / June 2023 Genuine BILLY COOK SADDLES Still Going Strong after 70 Years by Casie Bazay I n 1953, a young man named Billy Cook opened a saddle shop in Greenville, Texas. That year, he built 75 saddles, and over the next several years, his business continued to grow. Cook soon partnered with Potts Longhorn Leather Company, and by the end of the 1950s, the business was making 1,200 saddles a year. Cook was somewhat of a pioneer in the saddlemaking business, still making each saddle by hand but employing people to help in the process, similar to an assembly line. By the 1980s, Billy Cook saddles had become quite popular and were known for their quality craftsmanship and durability. Potts Longhorn Leather Company fell into financial trouble in the 1980s, and when the company foreclosed, Cook started his own operation once again. In 1988, he incorporated it as Billy Cook Harness & Saddle Manufacturing, Inc., and in 1990, he moved his operation to Sulphur, Oklahoma, where it remains today. Trouble on the Horizon Cook encountered trouble when Potts Longhorn went out of business, however. The bank that had foreclosed on the Potts Longhorn assets resold them to Simco The showroom of the Genuine Billy Cook shop displays all the latest saddles and tack items. Photo courtesy of Genuine Billy Cook Saddles.