BOUNTIFUL -- When Denny Lytle was just 11 years old, he spent summers on big Nevada ranches where he hung out with buckaroos and Mexican cowboys. The impression the experiences left on him has carried into his adult life.
"The cowboys had really nice equipment," Lytle said.
Now years later, Lytle has teamed up with his father-in-law Jim Mower in making spurs and bits, calling their venture L & M Spurs.
Mower said he has always been interested in horse tack, so making spurs became a cherished hobby for him.
Mower, a retired forest ranger, often rode horses in his job, so he is very familiar with the tack and equipment equestrians and cowboys use.
"I traded knives and began collecting spurs," said Mower.
About 20 years ago, the two men headed to the Miller Bit and Spur School in Nampa, Idaho, where they learned how to construct handmade spurs.
"It is just something to do after I retired," Mower said.
Mower picked up a newly completed spur to show the work they do.
"Some makers mark them, but we never do," Mower said.
And Lytle figures they have made between 500 and 600 pairs of the spurs. He held up a spur shaped as a leg.
"The lady leg is an old iconic shape. There are all kinds of shapes and sizes," he said. Another design is of snakes on both the shank of the spur and on the bit.
Mower pulled a long straight, flat brown hunk of metal from a compartment in his basement workshop, which is dedicated to his hobby, to help explain the beginnings of the spur. A metal band saw is used to cut the metal into shape.
"It is a rough shank, then I shine it up a bit by mounting silver, then Denny takes it," Mower explained.
Mower is often asked how long it takes to make a pair of spurs, but he doesn't really know the answer.
"I don't know because we hardly ever make a pair from start to finish," said Mower.
But Lytle figured it takes from two days to a week, depending on how complicated the design is.
While spurs are part of cowboy gear, 95 percent of the L & M spurs go to collectors. Cowboys would probably say they are too expensive to be worn out on the range. Most of the L & M spurs are sold through dealers and auctions and often are on the expensive side of horse tack. The auctions are held in many of the western and mid-western states including California, Texas, Arizona and Oregon, which are the big ones, and in Kansas and Oklahoma.
It is not unusual for a pair of spurs to go for $3,000 to $4,000, said Denny.
"There are auctions every month of the year," Mower said. "There are collectors all over the world."
They had the opportunity to make a pair of spurs for Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, when someone ordered a pair for the past leader.
Not only do they make new spurs and bits, but they also restore old ones. They are in the process of restoring a turn of the century bit made by G. S. Garcia, a renowned California-style spur maker during the late 1800s in Elko, Nev.
Lytle shows where G. S. Garcia's name is engraved on the bit. Garcia would put his name on the inside of the heel of his spurs.
"Crocket and Kelly Brothers are the most popular names around here," Lytle said.
The intricate engraving on the spurs is part of what won Lytle and Mower the People's Choice Award in a contest held in Loveland, Colo.
"It is just like wood carving; you just do it with metal," said Lytle while holding a tool used to engrave the spurs.
L & M Spurs are featured in the book "Bits and Spurs Motifs, Techniques and Modern Makers" as well as in auction magazines.
Both find great satisfaction in their work. They don't think of themselves as artists, but as craftsmen, and claim they have greatly improved their work over the years.
"It is something to keep us busy during the winter," Mower said.
Lytle says it's the creativity that keeps him going.
"Creativity brings me the most satisfaction. The design makes or breaks the product," Lytle said and Mower agreed, "It wouldn't be what it is without the engraving."
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