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Haslerig Saddlery can be reached from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday by calling 423-653-9953.
While horses may be a fairly common sight in Northwest Georgia, saddle companies are not.
"There's less than 10 saddle shops in the United States," said JD Malone.
One of those is in Chickamauga, where Malone works with business partner and Haslerig Saddlery owner David Haslerig to custom-create saddles, as well as custom purses, wallets and "lots of belts," to ship to people all across the globe.
"You don't just run across someone with his kind of talent," Malone said of his partner. "This stuff is a lost art."
Haslerig has been crafting leather creations for 11 years, and spent six years perfecting the art of creating custom saddles in his garage, said Malone. He opened his shop on Highway 27 in January.
Malone estimates Haslerig spends 40 to 80 hours on each of his saddles.
"The customer tells him what they want on it and he does it," said Malone. "To form a seat in a saddle, every piece is fitted together, and there's a definite art to it. Everything we do is hand-cut."
He said the difference between theirs and mass-produced leather goods is obvious in the quality.
Malone said Haslerig Saddlery only uses leather from Hermann Oak Leather, which has a storied history of providing leather and goods for some of the country's defining moments since 1881. And, Malone said, he and Haslerig only hand-tool or stamp their saddles to add any artistic elements desired.
They offer both team roping and calf roping saddles.
"The saddles are my favorite thing," said Haslerig. "I like building something someone can use. I like seeing people use the saddles and seeing people out there enjoying them. That is worth it to me."