Cecilia Bell, Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society president, stands beside the miniature saddle and its creator, Nick Doubble.

By Mary Alice Murphy

An Englishman, Nick Doubble, builds western saddles, full-size and miniature. He lives part of the year in Cliff, NM, and part of the year in England, with his wife, Jill, whom he calls his support and inspiration.

After a visit to Fort Bayard and the museum hosted by the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society, he made the miniature McClellan Saddle and presented it to the society.

"I learned saddle-making from James Sturgeon, who recently died," Doubble said. "I first learned from him in Arizona, and when he moved to the Cliff area, we followed him. He was the owner of J & S Saddlery in Cliff, which his wife still runs."

Doubble said he has three McClellan saddles "at home in England, where people do a lot of re-enactments, especially of the American Civil War and Western wars."

"I started taking Sturgeon's classes in about 2003 or 2004 when James was still living south of Phoenix," Doubble said. "I went there three times to take his course. He was my inspiration. I like to stay busy."

Doubble said, since he was a child in England, there was always a western on television, and he liked watching them. Doubble said he liked "Gunsmoke" very much, as well as the spaghetti westerns.

His saddles are historically correct, and he uses traditional methods of cutting leather, carving and hand-stitching, using linen thread.