Buellton is bubbling with new action, and it’s all about the huge horse industry in the Santa Ynez Valley. After Farm Supply opened, horse trainer, entertainer and leather worker Ramon Becerra opened his saddle shop in the former Gracian feed building.
“We’re still in the process of getting our show cases, but we have saddles for sale and some other items,” said Ramon. He inherited some of his sewing machines and leather working tools from the late film star and producer John Derek, who he says taught him a lot of his leather craft.
Co-worker Antonio Ortega was in the process of creating a fancy saddle with rawhide designs and Ramon showed me his original “Santa Ynez Valley saddle,” which has special features with beautiful draped leather and a removable horn that can be replaced with a sturdy one for roping, or completely removed for jumping.
“It’s lightweight but very sturdy,” said Ramon. “We thought it would be perfect for a discerning lady who is tired of hefting a big heavy saddle up onto her horse.”
Ramon had recently returned from doing a show, called the Night of the Horse, in Del Mar and featuring singer Shania Twain. He and his wife Charlotte and young daughter Katherine took part in the segment called “Why we love horses,” which featured his amazing trained equines.
Bo Derek was the mistress of ceremonies and Santa Ynez Valley trainer and member of the Cowgirls Hall of Fame Sandy Collier performed as well as Tina Fry. Singer Shania Twain was also a sponsor.
Right there in another section of the old Gracian feed building, we found Mike and Kristi Monighetti’s One Stop Livestock Supplies Inc. in its new location. They came out of the woods just off Highway 246 to join the “big city” life. It’s where all the farriers hang out because they have everything for horses’ feet.
Kristi says they are going to carry boots for human feet with makers like Anderson Bean and Olathe brands. There’ll be 35 different styles of boots by Rio of Mercedes, too.
They have some beautiful wood wall paneling and Kristi said, “Our ranch neighbor loves trees and when he orders tall trees they come in big wooden boxes. The wood was so beautiful we decided to use them to cover one area of our walls.
Kristi is really the proprietress while Mike takes care of their Los Alamos cattle ranch.
“We carry a lot of animal health products as well as some feed. Our emphasis has always been as a resource place to get answers,” she said.
Bahamas
