Joe Pena Saddles

Amid the fence posts, steel pipe, deer feeders and other trappings of the old and new West, Uvalco Supply has carved out a unique space to keep the tradition of hand-crafted Texas saddle making alive. This is the proud home of the Joe Pena Saddle Shop.

Joe Pena was born in 1923 in Uvalde and started working for master saddle maker Will Slade at the age of 12. He was hired to clean Slade’s shop, but Slade quickly found that his new hire was much more interested in working the leather than the broom. Slade started Joe slowly, showing him how to make repairs and sew strips of leather for belts. Joe found he had a knack for design, which he worked out in his head as he went along.

Joe made his first saddle at the age of 16 and never stopped, except for a stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He returned to Uvalde after the war, married his childhood sweetheart, and settled into his life’s calling as a master craftsman of hand-tooled saddles, holsters and belts.

The Pena brand quickly became synonymous with quality and fine workmanship. Joe made leather belts for Uvalde favorite son and former U.S. Vice President John Nance Garner and continued to do leather work for ranches owned by former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe, Jr. throughout his life. John Wayne owned several Pena belts and gun holsters, as does actor Nick Nolte and country, Latin and rock musicians.

Perhaps the finest testament to his skill came from the Rocking Horse Ranch in Highland, N.Y., which placed an order for 125 saddles in 1965. Thirty years later, owner John Holland contacted Joe about repairing the original saddles, all of which were still in working order save one, which had been lost at some point. Typically, factory-made saddles last only three years. Holland knew a good deal when he saw it, and ordered 25 new saddles from Joe in 2004.

In 1995, Joe’s grandson Ben Reyes was between jobs and offered to help his busy grandfather by performing various office duties. Soon, Joe noticed that his grandson was exhibiting the same curiosity about working leather as he had over 60 years ago in Will Slade’s shop. So just like Will, Joe started Ben off slowly, teaching him everything he knew about the materials and workmanship that make a Joe Pena saddle, belt or holster endure for generations.

The torch was officially passed in 2007 when Joe Pena died, leaving Ben in charge of perpetuating the family legacy. Today, Joe Pena Saddle Shop leatherworks are still made by hand to the same exacting detail and customer specification. Each is unique, each a classic, each an enduring legacy to the treasured tradition that made Joe Pena an icon of the Old West.