The story of saddle making in the Piland family began during the Great Depression in Dallas, Texas. A man named Henry Piland moved from the farm in Fannin county, Texas to Dallas to apprentice as a saddle maker at the Schoellkopff company. He was Tim Piland's uncle. He later started his own shop in Dallas called Corral Saddlery. John Piland, Henry's brother, came to work for Henry in 1951 as an apprentice. John later had his own business for a time and worked in subsequent years for several shops around the Dallas/Fort Worth area through the 1950's and 1960's. He had a reputation as one of the best saddlers in Texas.
Tim Piland learned to make saddles from his father, John Piland, during his growing up years in Dallas, Texas. His first job in the saddle shop was in 1958 at the age of 6, sweeping and cleaning up in his father's shop after school for spending money. He soon began to learn the craft and by age 8 was regularly working in the shop after school and on weekends as an apprentice. He assembled his first saddle about age 12. Appropriately, it was a youth saddle. He continued learning the trade through high school and became quite proficient at it.
After attending college, Tim returned to his trade in 1976 working for the prestigious Ryon's Western Store and Saddle Shop in the historic stockyards area of north Fort Worth. It was there that he fell in love wih the craft of making quality custom saddles. After a nearly ten year career of working in several of the best saddleries in Fort Worth he moved to San Angelo, Texas in December,1985 to begin a partnership with his father called Piland Saddlery. The reputation of Piland Saddles has spread worldwide as a place to get a quality custom saddle at a reasonable price. The partnership lasted until the end of 1993 and Tim carried that same reputation for quality into his own business in 1994 , Tim Piland Custom Saddles . In 2006 The business was incorporated as Piland Saddles Inc.
Tim, and his wife, Joyce, are the proprietors and employees of Piland Saddles Inc. It is truly a "family" business.You can rest assured that a saddle purchased from Piland Saddles Inc. is made by them, in their shop, to the highest standard of craftmanship.
