Rob:  Well this past week, ninety-two FFA members were awarded one hundred thousand dollars in scholarships, with two-thirds of those cash awards coming from Oklahoma FORD dealers.  Most artists would probably take exception if someone sat on a prized piece of their artwork, but not the gentleman in our next story.  Sam Knipp introduces us.
Sam Knipp:  Bret Mock is an artist; but you won’t find any of his work hanging in an art gallery.  More than likely, you’ll find his art out on the prairie or in a rodeo arena.  You see, Mock is a saddle maker, carrying on the tradition started by his grandfather more than 70 years ago in the Sand Springs area. 
Brett Mock:  I’m the third generation.  It’s been in the family since 1941.  My great uncles and grandpa started it.  Before they opened this, grandpa, and them, was up on the Osage and had spent plenty of time on plenty of ranches.  So, matter of fact, that’s how Claude, my great uncle, learned how to build, and a gentleman showed him when he was cowboyin’; and so, that’s kind of how we went; and this was back in the mid 30s probably.  Everything we do is ranch or rodeo orientated, a lot of ranch business.  That’s why we moved out this way, from the old yards, was because of the ranches up north into the Osage.
Sam:  We won’t call Mock a dying breed, too much of a cliché; but there just are not many saddle makers left in this country.
Mock:  You won’t find, and I’ll go out on a limb here, you might, but I’ll bet you won’t find a dozen people in all of the U S, probably the world.  I mean, where else do you build saddles but in the U S?  But, that would even get close to the way that we do it.
Sam:  Why aren’t there more saddle makers?  Maybe it’s the hard work.  
Mock:  Physically, not hard, as far as the sweatin’ and that, but yes, there’s probably, in a basic saddle you’ll have 80, 90 hours in just a plain one.  And then there’s some of them, depending on how elaborate the tooling is, there’s some of them that you’ll have, you know, 100 hours just in the tooling, and then plus the saddle.
Sam:  And just look at the Sand Springs craftsman, no doubt what this man was born to do.
Mock:  I grew up here.  So, that’s all I knew.  I knew that’s all I was going to do.  So, either that or cowboyin’, so.  If we couldn’t make a livin’ here, I’d be out there makin’ a poor livin’ on a ranch somewhere too, so.
Sam:  Maybe he’s spent a lifetime building saddles because, he likes it.
Mock:  I do.  I do.  Like I said, you get to meet people every day that you can relate to, and visit; and I get to meet a lot of good people.  A lot of famous people come through, like Bob Wills, we’ve made him four saddles, my grandpa and great uncle did.  Brooks and Dunn, dad made two sets of guitar straps, and I’ve got the picture right over there.  
Sam:  You’ll find other pictures of satisfied customers too.  In fact, Mock Saddles have a far-reaching reputation.  
Mock:  Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas; I’ll send, it’s kind of my base deal.  I send a lot, some of them back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Jerusalem, Germany, Japan, Australia, New Zealand.
Sam:  A Mock Saddle will last a lifetime, if you take care of it, which means there will be a Mock Saddle riding the range long after Bret hangs it up.
Mock:  I hope so.  I hope they’re still around for a long time.