Legacy Wyoming Western Wear Store Began As A Mom-And-Pop Car Dealership

MILLS — It’s been more than a half century since a Wyoming mom-and-pop auto dealership traded in pushing bucket seats and power steering for boots, spurs and saddles.

Now second-generation 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 put the family car up as the first for sale at his new auto dealership.

Soon, Sue Moss-Wyatt said her father, Red, needed a notary to sign titles for the cars he was dealing in Riverton, so his mother left her job at a local bank, and the family opened a second-hand tack store where she would be available to sign titles for his auto sales.

“He went to Denver to buy cars at an auto auction, and he stopped by Colorado Saddlery and got $150 worth of tack. We have bits that sell for four or five times that now,” she said. “As they sold the used stuff, they got into the new stuff.”

Now 55 years after her parents opened the tack store, the former rodeo cowgirl continues to serve ranchers, rodeo athletes and fans of the television hit “Yellowstone.” She also helps those who have just moved to Wyoming, bought a horse and need the equipment to ride it.

Among inventory she and husband, Jerry Wyatt, carry at Moss Saddles Boots and Tack — which they like to call “The Little Store with More” — are boots, saddles, saddle pads, bridles, work shirts, lariats, ropes, belt buckles, leather purses and jewelry.

“We can boot you, shoe you, crown you, rope you, saddle you and tool you,” Moss-Wyatt said.

As a former equine instructor at Central Wyoming College, she is often sought out for advice about tack and gear from college athletes preparing for the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper.

Ranching Foundations

The couple know their way around a barn and both ends of the horse. In addition to being a businessman, Moss-Wyatt’s father was a good rodeo athlete. Jerry Wyatt also grew up on a ranch.

“My family came here from Illinois, and they homesteaded out by Powder River. My grandpa was Scotch-Irish, and they raised sheep,” he said. “My great-uncle Henry was in the sheep business before that, so he was in business with my grandpa.”

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

Challenges for the store amplified after the pandemic and the war in the Ukraine. Jerry Wyatt said felt for cowboy hats supplied from the Ukraine has been difficult to get and there are logistical issues with the supply of straw cowboy hats.

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

Other hat brands are Resistol and Stetson. And it is important that the hats be current to what the couch cowboys are watching on TV and what the wanna-be rodeo cowboys are seeing riders wear on the pro circuit.

“Whatever the pros are wearing, better get those hats in, because that is what the people are going to want to wear,” Jerry Wyatt said. “The kids especially want to look tough, like Trevor Brazile or the Wrights, the bronc riders — they want to look like those people.”

Dealing With Newbies

The store also sees referrals from friends who own a horse boarding facility where newly arrived Wyoming residents have purchased a horse as part of the western transformation.

Wyatt said when he gets new residents come in looking for a saddle, his firefighter “safety” side kicks in. He said they typically don’t know about the various types of saddles or how big the back of their horse is. So he pumps them with questions about their intentions with the horse and generally will recommend a flex tree saddle for comfort if they are just going to riding for pleasure.

“I’m worried about people’s safety, I don’t want them drug to death, or I don’t want them bucked off with a punctured lung somewhere and they can’t get to them,” he said. “We’ve even taken people out front and shown them how to swing a rope properly. It’s just one of those deals.”

The store also caters to ranchers who “want what they want.” Moss-Wyatt said she has customers that will drive over from Fremont County to get their tack and gear.

New horse owners often come to the store wanting to buy the same bit used by the previous owner. They don’t understand the need for specific horse bits for specific riders.

“We carry close to 300 horse bits, all the time and that’s another draw,” Moss-Wyatt said. “My dad said you can never have too many bits in your personal horse room or in your store. It’s about the horse and how light or heavy of hands the rider has.”

Moss-Wyatt said one rider can be fine with a certain bit, but if someone with heavier hands takes the reins, the proper thing to do is go to a lighter bit.

A Special Saddle

The store also carries quality saddles, including hand-made McCall saddles and a special Circle Y saddle they obtained a few years ago to commemorate a certain cowboy star.

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

Originally the saddle was priced at $10,000, and the store has had to reduce it to $8,000. Moss-Wyatt said she believes it’s time for the saddle to “leave” so she is willing to reduce it further.

“It would be fun for someone who is a John Wayne collector to have,” she said. The store would let it go for $5,000.

This real cowboy store also provides rodeo athletes and ranchers all their rope needs. 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, so the horse can keep the rope tight. Breakaway ropes are short.

And ranch ropes are long — sometimes 60 feet. One rancher told Moss-Wyatt he needed that length to help him drag ornery cows into a trailer.

Saddle blankets, leather purses, and cowgirl jewelry as well as belt buckles are also available at the store.

Buckles, Because …

Typically, rodeo cowboys bypass the buckles because they already have a supply from their competitions. In Casper and Mills, Moss-Wyatt said there is a good market because of the locals and the tourists who pass through.

“Here we sell a lot of buckles because a lot of town people just want a nice buckle and there are a lot of tourists,” she said.

As the second-generation business looks to the future, the couple say they keep their options open — as well as their own counsel.

Moss-Wyatt recalls the advice she received from sales representatives prior to moving to the area from Riverton.

“They told me there was no way I could stay in the boot business in Casper, Wyoming, and that I would do good in the tack business,” she said. “And so, I didn’t listen, and the boots and shoes are what really make it rock.”

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.