People began riding horses thousands of years ago. Saddles for horseback riding were invented soon after.Today, many companies manufacture saddles. But it is rare to find someone who designs and makes these products by hand. American Keith Valley is one of the few.He has been making saddles, one at a time, for more than 20 years at Jackson Hole in the western state of Wyoming.The community of Jackson Hole is famous for skiing. But Jackson Hole and all of Wyoming is also known as cowboy country.Keith Valley grew up wanting to be a cowboy. He was influenced at a young age by Charlie Russell, an artist of the old American West.He says Russell's paintings and the adventures he wrote about kept him interested in the Western way of life for cowboys. Keith Valley worked on a ranch for a long time.But after some cold, hard winters, and a few pains, the young man decided to get into saddle making."Back in, like, 94, when I made my first saddle and I was working horses and had ordered a saddle from a gentleman (and) it was just,in my mind, it was just taking him too long so I just made a deal with him that if he gives me the supplies we'd call it good and I would build it myself. So that's how I got started."
