MILLS — It was more than half a century ago that a small Wyoming car dealer traded bucket seats and power steering for boots, spurs and saddles.

Now in her second generation, the owner of Moss Saddles Boots and Tack in this small town on the outskirts of Casper likes to tell the story of how her father first put the family car up for sale at his new dealership.

Sue Moss-Wyatt said her father, Red, soon needed a notary to sign the titles for the cars he was dealing in in Riverton, so his mother quit her job at a local bank and the family opened a secondhand tack store where she was available to sign the titles for him at his car sales.

“He drove to Denver to buy cars at an auto auction and stopped at Colorado Saddlery and bought $150 worth of tack. We have stuff today that sells for four or five times that,” she said. “When they sold the used stuff, they moved up to the new stuff.”

Today, 55 years after her parents opened the equestrian shop, the former rodeo cowgirl continues to serve ranchers, rodeo athletes and fans of the hit television show “Yellowstone.” She also helps those who have just moved to Wyoming, purchased a horse and need the equipment to ride.

The merchandise she and her husband, Jerry Wyatt, carry at Moss Saddles Boots and Tack—which they like to call “the little shop with more”—includes boots, saddles, saddle pads, bridles, work shirts, lassos, ropes, belt buckles, leather bags and jewelry.

“We can give you boots, shoes, a crown, a rope, a saddle and tools,” Moss-Wyatt said.

As a former horse instructor at Central Wyoming College, she is often asked for advice on tack and equipment by college athletes preparing for the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper.

Basics of livestock farming

The couple knows their way around the stables and around horses. Moss-Wyatt’s father was not only a businessman, but also a good rodeo athlete. Jerry Wyatt also grew up on a ranch.

“My family came here from Illinois and settled on the Powder River. My grandfather was Scots-Irish and they raised sheep,” he said. “My great uncle Henry was in the sheep business before that, so he was in the business with my grandfather.”

Moss-Wyatt bought the business from her parents in 1992; her father died in 1996. After marrying Jerry, who worked for the Casper fire department, she moved the business from Riverton to Mills.

Challenges for the business have worsened following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Jerry Wyatt said felt for cowboy hats from Ukraine is hard to come by and there are logistical problems in supplying straw cowboy hats.

The store just received a shipment from American Hat Co. that was ordered over a year ago.

Other hat brands include Resistol and Stetson. And it’s important that the hats are current and in line with what the couch cowboys see on TV and what the wannabe rodeo cowboys see the riders wearing on the pro tour.

“Whatever the pros wear, you better get those hats because that’s what the people want to wear,” Jerry Wyatt said. “The kids especially want to look tough, like Trevor Brazile or the Wrights, the bronco riders – they want to look like those people.”

Dealing with newbies

The store is also recommended by friends who own a horse boarding facility where newly arrived Wyoming residents have purchased a horse as part of their western makeover.

Wyatt said when new residents come to him looking for a saddle, his firefighter “safety” mindset comes into play. He said they usually don’t know about the different types of saddles or how big their horse’s back is. So he peppers them with questions about their plans for the horse and generally recommends a saddle with a flexible tree for comfort if they’re just riding for pleasure.

“I’m concerned about people’s safety. I don’t want them to be tortured to death or thrown somewhere with a punctured lung and no one can get to them,” he said. “We’ve even brought people up to the front and shown them how to swing properly with a rope. It’s just one of those things.”

The store also serves ranchers who “want what they want.” Moss-Wyatt said she has customers who drive over from Fremont County to get her equipment.

New horse owners often come into the store wanting to buy the same bit that the previous owner used. They don’t understand why certain riders need special bits.

“We have nearly 300 horse bits in stock at any one time, and that’s another advantage,” said Moss-Wyatt. “My dad said you can never have too many bits in your horse room or in the shop. It depends on the horse and how light or heavy the rider’s hands are.”

Moss-Wyatt said a rider may be fine with a particular bit, but if someone with heavier hands takes the reins, it is better to switch to a lighter bit.

A special saddle

The shop also carries high-quality saddles, including hand-crafted McCall saddles and a special Circle Y saddle they purchased several years ago to commemorate a certain cowboy star.

“The John Wayne family commissioned Circle Y to make these,” she said. “It’s a limited edition, there are little silver pesos for the conchos, there’s a silver commemorative brass plate engraved on the back, the leather is hand-finished and it comes with a life-size cardboard cutout of John Wayne.”

Originally listed for $10,000, the store had to lower the price to $8,000. Moss-Wyatt said she believes it is time to “sell” the saddle, so she is willing to lower the price even further.

“It would be great fun for a John Wayne collector to have,” she said. The store would sell it for $5,000.

This real cowboy shop also offers rodeo athletes and ranchers everything they need in rope. There are ropes of different weights, strands, threads and lengths. Head ropes are softer ropes. Heel ropes are stiffer and longer. Calf ropes for the rodeo arena are 28 feet long so the horse can hold the rope taut. Breakaway ropes are short.

And the ropes on ranches are long—sometimes 65 feet. One rancher told Moss-Wyatt that he needed that length to pull unruly cows into a trailer.

Saddle blankets, leather bags and cowgirl jewelry as well as belt buckles are also available in the shop.

Buckle because…

Rodeo cowboys usually forgo the buckles because they already have a supply from their competitions. In Casper and Mills, Moss-Wyatt says, there is a good market because of the locals and the tourists who come by.

“We sell a lot of buckles here because a lot of people from the city just want a nice buckle and there are a lot of tourists,” she said.

As the company looks to the future in its second generation, the couple says they are keeping all options open – including their own consulting services.

Moss-Wyatt remembers the advice she received from sales reps before moving to the area from Riverton.

“They told me I couldn’t stay in the boot shop in Casper, Wyoming, and I would make it in the saddle business,” she said. “And I didn’t listen to them, and the boots and shoes are what really make it.”

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at [email protected].