Saddling Up in Santa Ynez: Merle H. Little's Silver Tack and Chaps

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum & Carriage House. It was well worth the drive to see its collection on display, and the interesting current exhibit "The Evolution of the California Stock Saddle." 

But I had an ulterior motive: what I really wanted to see Merle Little's saddle. I was fortunate to visit the Museum with some of his family members.

If you follow this blog, you'll know that in 2022 I received a collection of horse photographs, written materials, and other objects from the estate of Monrovia/Duarte horse rancher Merle Hartley Little. Tracking down the history of Merle, his family, and his horses has led me on a fascinating journey that helps illustrate just how much impact horses had on California in the mid-twentieth century. 

The young Merle made his own riding gear. The Monrovia News-Post reported on September 11, 1931, that Merle had studied metalcraft at Monrovia High School prior to crafting his own saddle.

This wasn't Merle's only silver saddle. A photo in an album from his estate proudly displays two silver-mounted saddles, along with bridles, breast collars, and chaps.

Merle and his wife Edna May often rode together in parades and other events. Here they are at a 1933 Labor Day event at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The July 18, 1974 edition of the Arcadia Tribune ran a feature story on Merle and Edna May, with a photo of Merle and his saddle. 

The photo caption noted that Merle had used it in 23 Tournament of Roses Parades, and that he had made the saddle when he was attending Monrovia High School. "He engraved all the silver and worked it into the leather over a three-year period," the newspaper noted. 

After Merle passed away in 1975, Merle's saddle, bridle, breast collar, and chaps were donated to the Museum by his wife and daughters, through the auspices of his longtime friend, trick roper and horseman Montie Montana. Merle's family saved this collage they put together with photos of the two friends, the saddle, and a clipping from the Rancheros Visitadores' On the Trail News. The newsletter was from 1976, when Montana was the head of a rodeo sponsored by the Rancheros Visitadores. 

The clipping said the donation was made "on behalf of the Rancheros. Merle Little was a former member of the Rancheros and the donation is much appreciated."

(The Lompoc Record newspaper that year reported that the saddle had belonged to Montie Montana, but the engraved silver shows that it is indeed the saddle Merle Little made.) 

The Santa Ynez Museum's collection holds not only Merle's saddle and bridle, but also his chaps. (I looked, but didn't see the breast collar that went with the saddle on display.)  The chaps are marked with the initials MHL, for Merle Hartley Little. 

Merle's silver mounted riding outfit seems to have evolved over time. One of the first photos of him wearing the same or similar chaps, and riding his black and white pinto horse Thunder, was taken at the 1933 Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. 

You can see the silver lettering standing out against the black leather, surrounded by a blanket and collar of roses and ferns.

The Arcadia Tribune newspaper noted that Merle and other riders from the Santa Anita Riding Academy took part in the Rose Parade representing the city of Arcadia:

 "Mr. Little's horse," the paper noted, "was gaily accoutered with a blanket of roses and ferns and wore a collar of red roses. His saddle, too, was exceptionally handsome with silver mountings."

And in another building on the Museum property, in a case by itself, is Merle's silver mounted saddle. It looks like it might be the same saddle, with different fenders (the part between the seat and the stirrup) and tapaderos (the decorative leather covering the stirrup), as the one in the photo from 1931.

It can be identified by the embossed letters "MHL" on both sides of the pommel, or swell, under the saddle horn.

The letters appear more clearly when I adjust the color and clarity on the photo.

In the middle of the back of the cantle, behind the rider, is a raised silver monogram that seems to contain Merle's initials. 

I wonder if it's the same saddle that appears on Thunder on the left of this photo of Merle, Thunder, and Patches.

Merle's silver-mounted bridle, in the center of the photo below, is also of black leather. It's on display in the main Museum building, on the back wall across from the entrance. 

Photos from his estate show that Merle owned a number of different silver-mounted bridles over the decades, worn by his Pinto and Morgan parade horses. Since he was adept at making tack, Merle may have "repurposed" parts of his bridles to fit a particular horse. I found a photo of what seems to be the same bridle worn by his prize-winning Morgan stallion Lippitt Morman (chestnut, 1939, Mansfield x Lippitt Kate Moro) from the late 1940s-early 1950s.  

In the photographs Merle left were some images of himself with his friend Montie Montana in Merle's later years. 

Even though he didn't use his parade tack on trail rides, it's appropriate that Merle's saddle, bridle, and chaps are in the museum in Santa Ynez. That's because, for many years, he rode with the Rancheros Visitadores in their annual trek in Santa Barbara County, starting in the 1930s. That's Merle on the right front, on what appears to be a buckskin pinto horse.

Merle Little's connection to the Rancheros Visitadores is such an important topic that I'll address it in a future blog post, with more photos. Come to think of it, his friendship with Montie Montana also deserves a blog post of its own.

UPDATE: Since I originally shared this post, the good folks at the  Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum & Carriage House have moved Merle's equipment so they're displayed together. Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit again soon.

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Here's a link to the Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum and Parks-Janeway Carriage House website. Check their opening hours before you plan your visit.

https://www.santaynezmuseum.org/

Merle's Morgan stallion Lippitt Morman was the inspiration for a ceramic Morgan stallion produced by the California pottery Hagen-Renaker, Inc., designed by Maureen Love. Here's my blog post on it:

https://modelhorsehistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/happy-birthday-lippitt-morman.html