After winning the Overall World Championship title in Amarillo, Texas on Saturday, Circle Y Team of Champions member Kenda Lenseigne took a detour to Circle Y in Yoakum before heading home to Arizona. We hadn’t met Kenda in person, so her being in Texas was a great opportunity to take a tour of our facilities and meet. Traveling with Kenda was her photographer Brian, 4 horses including Justin, her champion mount, and her two dogs. Before the tour, she volunteered to give a private clinic to some Circle Y employees and their spouses. Besides being one of the nicest people you could meet, she was a great instructor and entertaining to visit with. 
Kenda arrived at Circle Y Tuesday morning. After meeting the office personnel, we started the tour in the Cutting room, where our digitizing and cutting machines demonstrated the technological advances Circle Y has made in the past 5 years. Being able to digitally trace paper patterns and import them into the cutting machine means that we are not constrained by “cookie cutter” clicker dies, or strenuous hand cutting. So we can make a design in any shape we want, tweak them to
fit perfectly together on a saddle tree, change or improve designs instantly, and make a safer working environment for our employees. The cutting machine uses laser imaging to lay out and mark the patterns on the hide, then a pneumatic knife cuts the parts, which are popped out of the leather skeleton and put in a box to go the assembly area.
Next we toured the Saddle factory where Kenda watched each operation from the leat
her coloring process to hand finishing edges, stitching, putting in the groundseat, seat, skirts, and final assembly. Even though technology has advanced saddle making in some areas, saddles are still built by hand, one-by-one, and Kenda was able to witness the craftsmanship that goes into each and every saddle at Circle Y. Kenda even got to see her Quick Shot Mounted shooting saddle in process. Kenda finally got to meet the Design & Engine
ering team of Mike and Bull. These are the guys that take the first prototypes from start to finish. Bull even talked Kenda in to trying her hand at hand tooling a leather design!
The last stop of the tour was the finished goods warehouse where Kenda got to check out the finished product. Throughout the day Kenda took time to pose for pictures and visit with the employees. Later, she returned to factory to hand out pictures and sign autographs for her fans at Circle Y.
fit perfectly together on a saddle tree, change or improve designs instantly, and make a safer working environment for our employees. The cutting machine uses laser imaging to lay out and mark the patterns on the hide, then a pneumatic knife cuts the parts, which are popped out of the leather skeleton and put in a box to go the assembly area.Next we toured the Saddle factory where Kenda watched each operation from the leat
her coloring process to hand finishing edges, stitching, putting in the groundseat, seat, skirts, and final assembly. Even though technology has advanced saddle making in some areas, saddles are still built by hand, one-by-one, and Kenda was able to witness the craftsmanship that goes into each and every saddle at Circle Y. Kenda even got to see her Quick Shot Mounted shooting saddle in process. Kenda finally got to meet the Design & Engine
ering team of Mike and Bull. These are the guys that take the first prototypes from start to finish. Bull even talked Kenda in to trying her hand at hand tooling a leather design!The last stop of the tour was the finished goods warehouse where Kenda got to check out the finished product. Throughout the day Kenda took time to pose for pictures and visit with the employees. Later, she returned to factory to hand out pictures and sign autographs for her fans at Circle Y.
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