John A. Visser Saddlery is located in the South Eastern corner of the Province of Alberta, Canada, near the town of Manyberries. John and his wife Christine, make up John A. Visser Saddlery. John builds the saddles, trees and creates the silverwork while Christine runs the computer, answers the phone and acts as general shop helper.

John has been a custom saddlemaker since 1983, he specializes in making working saddles for cowboys and ranchers, he has also made cutting, arena and pleasure saddles as well as gallery quality show saddles.

Since 1992, John has been concentrating on making and perfecting his own saddle trees as well as doing custom silver work and engraving. Because of this, he is able to maintain quality control from the beginning, making the tree right through to silver ornamentation. Along with his custom saddle work, John has made saddles for Dale Harwood of Shelley, Idaho, Big Bend Saddlery of Alpine, Texas, and Hamleys of Pendelton, Oregon. He is currently providing saddles to clinician, Peter Campbell, of Wheatland, Wyoming for his clients across the United States and Canada.

Johns work has been exhibited at:

Trappings of the American West, Flagstaff, Arizona
Beyond the 98th Meridian: Images of the American West, Sedona, Arizona
Lincoln Country Cowboy Symposium, Ruidoso, New Mexico
Trappings of Texas, Alpine, Texas
Calgary Cowboy Festival, Calgary, Alberta

John has created a name for himself among working cowboys and discerning horse people as a maker of quality saddles and is respected for his fine leather tooling abilities and attention to detail. He had the privilege to make saddles for the late actor, Richard Farnesworth (Western Horseman Article, 1989) and renowned cowboy artist, Gary Morton of New Mexico. An article about John appeared in the Fall 1997 issue of, Canadian Cowboy Country magazine.

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