2025 Spur Strap Entries

#1 Leighton Brooks

#2 Norman Kington

I am an aspiring leatherworker with dreams of building ranch gear that captures and exudes the rugged beauty of the rural west. I live near Elko, and I have witnessed the depth and richness of the cowboy’s life. I have also experienced the struggle of long days in the sun with a shovel or a fence stretcher. No one gives as much as the cowboy for so little, and the leatherworker should be the same. Each item that is handmade from leather has something like a soul; a soul which was once a calf on a ranch somewhere, given life by the craftsman’s hands. Each project I have made has advanced my craft and pushed the limits of it.

#3 Ethan Girty

Ethan Girty is the founder and craftsman behind Girty Leather Co., creating custom handmade leatherwork one piece at a time from his home workshop in Oklahoma. A dedicated stay-at-home father to three young children (a four-year-old and two-year-old twins), Ethan has been perfecting his leather crafting skills for four years while building his small business.

Though he didn’t grow up in a western lifestyle, Ethan was always drawn to cowboys and rodeo culture. At three years old, he dreamed of becoming a bull rider, and nearly two decades later, he finally pursued that passion. Starting bull riding at age 20, he discovered his love for the sport was everything he’d imagined, even though he jokes he still hasn’t won anything.

When he’s not crafting leather goods or chasing after his three little ones, Ethan enjoys creating YouTube videos to share his craft, competing in bull riding, and hitting the golf course. His work reflects the same dedication to excellence and attention to detail that defines the western tradition, with each piece representing hours of careful handwork and genuine passion for the craft.

#4 Hannah Morman

What started as a casual interest in 4-H grew after college, when I had the privilege of learning from generational craftsmen at Oliver Saddle Shop. That experience opened my eyes to the rich tradition and artistry that lives within the trades—and I’ve been captivated by leatherwork ever since.

There’s something special about working with a medium that has served people for centuries. Leather isn’t just about creating something beautiful. It’s about form and function and creating items that become part of someone’s daily life and adventures. Whether I’m building working or show chaps, tack, home decor, or western accessories like belts and Bible covers, each project connects me to that long lineage of makers who understood that good craftsmanship endures.

The western crafts remind us that our hands can create lasting value. Every piece that leaves my shop carries the hope that years from now, when someone reaches for their well-worn Strawberry Roan Mercantile gear, they’ll smile at the memories it helped create. That’s the magic of making.

The beauty of this craft is that it welcomes anyone willing to learn. Every master craftsman started with their first uncertain cut, their first wobbly stitch. Leathercraft teaches patience, and patience teaches skill. There’s room at the workbench for anyone ready to honor the tradition while making it their own.

#5 Ian Musick

Ian Musick is a fourth generation Colorado native who grew up in the rural ranch country of Elbert County. His family ranched in that area since the turn of the 19th century. Ian grew up horseback and has spent many years studying the evolution and use of cowboy equipment. Ian joined with his wife Diane Vigil- Musick in early 2000’s to open the Vigil-Musick Cowboy Leather Gear company which is their small craft studio in Colorado.

During the 1860’s Ian’s great-great grandfather and his brother settled at Del Norte, Colorado shortly following the Civil War. The great uncles still alive during Ian’s childhood captured his imagination with their colorful and wonderful stories of early western culture. As Ian grew up he became good at saddle repair and built his first pair of working chaps when he was 17. Since then he continued to build on his craft and studied old time makers who were famous in the day for their styles and legacy of quality. Enamored with these styles and variations in different parts of the west, as well as continued changes in styles tracing particular decades at the turn of the 19th century, Ian studies endlessly about the development of equipment through that time.

Today Ian and Diane work together keeping as much of the legacy of their heritage alive and hope to leave examples of work that live up to the long line of makers in the history of the American West.