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Ted Flowers was the probably the most prolific, if not the best known of parade saddlemakers. His saddles were very popular in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's as an affordable alternative to the West Coast saddlemakers.  He had a saddle making plant in Alexandria , IN that employed as many as 15 workers.

Flowers started making saddles as a part-time hobby in 1942. He and his wife Arvilla began making silver studded harness equipment and saddles in the rear of their three-room apartment.

In 1945, Flowers' business had grown to the point that he built a shop in Anderson, IN and he went into saddle making business full time.

Flowers built his own saddles and even manufactured his own steel dies for stamping patterns in the leather. Flowers commonly used German Silver (Click here to read all about nickel alloys), Monel, and Stainless Steel. He also used Sterling Silver, Gold, Gold plate, and copper to decorate some saddles. 

The Flower's family continued production for a short while after his death in 1974. Bridgewater's Saddlery purchased the business in the late 1970's and made silver saddles until about 1980 when the dies and equipment were stored.

Custom saddlemaker, Bob Glessner,  acquired the original dies about 1995 and spent several years restoring them to useful condition.. He has since been producing saddles and parade equipment in his shop -- so yes you can still have a Ted Flower's saddle made today!

When a saddle was ordered from Ted Flowers "Spot Shop" each piece was ordered and priced individually (saddle, bridle, tapaderos, breast collar etc). The fancier sets also offered a choice of indian head or horsehead decorations. Many customers wanted their  saddle to be unique-- so there is tremendous variation in the remaining saddles you see today.

Following are some emails sent from Ted Flower's Nephew:

7/2007

Email Titled, "Some more Tidbits about Ted Flowers"

Here are some more tidbits about Ted Flowers, if you are interested.

Ted was born Edward Anderson Flowers on Sept. 7, 1914 in South Pittsburg, TN. He was the fourth of six children born to John Nathan Flowers and Caldonia Mae Cline Flowers.

Ted was as much as 1/4 Cherokee; his paternal grandmother was at least part Cherokee.

He died Jan. 7, 1976.
 

In addition, he also sent a copy of the following newspaper article about his uncle, click on the image to enlarge the file:

(Part 1  :)   Click here to download part 2 which is a pdf file

2/2007- an email from Ted's nephew provides some interesting insight:

I just came across your website and thought I would write in. Ted Flowers,
who passed away in January of 1976, was my uncle; my mother was his baby
sister, Pollie. Many family members claim, rightly or wrongly, that I was
his favorite nephew. Nonetheless, I spent nearly as much time with him as I
did with my father, who, by the way, had a partnership with Ted in the '60s.
My father went on to become one of the Midwest's largest if not the
Midwest's largest wholesale horse equipment distributors. Dad sold his
enterprise in the 1980s to Dennis Troyer of Troyer's Saddlery and Troyer's
Carriage Company in Shipshewana, Indiana.

To answer a question from the website: Ted is riding Sundown Mack on the
cover of his catalogue. Mack, as we called him, was really Ted's second show
horse, but, of course, his most notable. His first, and the one Ted claims
taught him about horses and how to ride, was a pinto named Rex. In fact, I
have more photos in my private collection of Ted riding Rex than of Ted
riding Mack. Although I don't know this for a fact, Ted may not have known
the front of a horse front the rear until he bought Rex. In fact, he often
claimed that he really didn't care much for horses, even though he at one
time raise some quarter horses sired by Mack. But, while Ted might not have
cared much for horses generally, his feelings for Mack were something else
entirely. Many people tried to buy Mack, even at least one celebrity, but
Ted refused to sell him. Although as I recall, Ted once either sold Mack or
retired him to a farm about 100 miles away, but became so despondent
afterwards, that he quickly brought Mack back home.

Unlike Ted, my father, Russell Townsend, was a pure horse lover. We had
horses of all breeds throughout my days at home: quarter horses; standard-
breds; Belgians; Appaloosas; Shetland, Welsh, and Hackney ponies; even an
occasional mule and donkey. Dad grew up with horses and started showing
them, Belgians mostly, at a young age. When showing horses at least once at
the Indiana State Fair many years ago, he became acquainted with John
Dillinger's parents, whose horses were stabled in adjacent stalls.

Another little tidbit about Ted you and your readers may find interesting:
most, if not all, of Ted's costumes were handcrafted by my aunt and Ted's
older sister, Rozelle, or Rosie as we called her. And when showing, Ted
often wore a pair of Colt six-shooters. Those two pistols were antique 1873
Colts; he had one chrome plated and the other nickel plated to improve their
appearance for his costumes.

Finally, no story about Ted and his Alexandria, Indiana, Spot Shop would be
complete without mentioning his wife, Arvillia, or Aunt "Arvella" as she was
known to us. In the background most of the time, she worked along side of
Ted and did as much as anyone to build the business. As I tell my classes,
no truly successful people ever achieved success without "mucking a few
stalls along the way," and Arvillia, as well as Ted, "mucked their share of
stalls." She passed away in 2006, and I know from how Ted spoke of her even
after their divorce that he would come back here and haunt me the rest of my
life if I ever forgot to mention her when I spoke of him and his business.

Sincerely,

J. William Townsend
 

Editor's note: "Rex" is the horse pictured in the 1970 Western Horseman article.

Keyston Brothers is still in business today.. however they no longer make saddles. The following is from their website.