Some assemblies require as many as 30 parts. But Balding’s bits are cut from mild and stainless steel and can be custom-measured to a rider’s specifications. Most mass-produced bits are assembled from cast metal parts. Now, with five full-time employees and an annual revenue of under $1 million, the company has earned the esteem of the equestrian community for durable, American-made bits, spurs and tack with aesthetic appeal to match. Balding started working from out of a salvaged mobile home. In 2014, Tom Balding Bits and Spurs celebrated its 30th anniversary. The next day I drove into town and had business cards printed.” “I fixed her bit, and that evening I went out into the shop and put together my first bit with scrap sailboat parts. At that moment, his welding experience came back into the picture. “She’d heard I could weld anything,” says Balding. In 1984, a few years after he settled in Sheridan, Wyoming, a woman knocked on Balding’s door with a broken bit-the metal mouthpiece for a horse’s mouth that lets the rider communicate with the horse. He’d perform welding repair jobs, fixing trailers and rebuilding engines for people around town. He learned to ride a horse, and got by as a ranch hand. As idyllic as it may sound, Balding was drawn to the cowboy lifestyle. In 1980, he set down his torch and boldly left Southern California for the wilderness of northern Wyoming. I thought, ‘Someday I’ll make a product where people admire the welds,’” he says. “I grew frustrated by the fact that these beautiful welds would be buried, unseen, in the bottom of the sailboat or plane. The creative freedom that he enjoys has been hard earned, but Balding still stays at the helm of the production process that makes Balding Bits and Spurs one of the most prominent makers in the industry.Tom Balding Bits and Spurs welds its way into a successful niche of equestrian componentsįebruary 2015 - After almost two decades of welding aircraft parts, sailboat components and other precision TIG welding jobs, Tom Balding was burned out. Sometimes he will free hand concept drawings that will later make its way into a formal prototype. This has created an inequality in the market.”Īfter so many original designs created and hanging in the mouths of horses around the world, he still finds his inspiration simply through his everyday interactions. Companies in China have been copying American made bit designs at a lower quality and cost. He explains that one of the biggest difficulties is “creating and maintaining original designs. He takes pride in having some of his employees with him for over 20 years.īut with all of the success that Balding has found in the market, it has its fair share of challenges for him. It is seeing the bits and spurs in use on the trainers and riders that are his customers and the design process that he employs through his customers and employees that he still enjoys to this day. To this day, he still has the same inspirations and satisfaction in what he does. Soon, the demand increased from his customers for his items to be “dressed up” a little, so the silver began to appear. With a passion for the western culture fed through the trainers, competitors and riders that use his product, Tom Balding is still forging ahead in the industry after nearly 30 years.Ī self-taught artist, Balding began building bits and spurs in 1986. Tom Balding Sheridan, Wyoming Bit and Spur Maker & Silversmith
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