Life, for Tom Balding, is about forks in the road.

Forks in the road have led him from hot rods, to aerospace, sailboats and eventually, to horses. Forks in the road have lured him from his birthplace in Southern California to the open skies of Sheridan, Wyoming and from steady full time employment to the owner of not one, but two successful businesses.

Raised in a family that enjoyed the outdoors, but one that had no interaction with horses, he never imagined he would one day be known around the world as a master craftsman, specializing in bits and spurs.

Learning a trade

Though his father was a welder and his younger brother eventually became a metal shop teacher, it was Baldwin’s teenage newspaper route that ignited an interest in welding. His route took him past a small welding shop, “I saw this guy welding and he sparked an interest,” he says. He began experimenting with his father’s acetylene cutting torch and soon learned of an opening at a local welding shop.

His first fulltime welding job was for Hooker Headers, a race car exhaust system company and by age 21, he was certified to weld government aircraft. “There was an endless amount of work available and it paid really good,” he says.

 He excelled as a craftsman, but was never content.

“I was a really good employee while working for each company, but I was restless and moved from job to job,” he explains.

Before long, Baldwin reached a fork in the road. “One Friday afternoon, I was having a conversation with someone about starting my own business. By Monday, I left my job and started my first business at 23 years old,” he reminisces. The company welded parts for Hobie Cat sail boats, aluminum backpack frames and other custom parts.

Business was good, but by 1980, he was burnt out.

“I looked over the valley one night at sunset and had an epiphany,” he says, “I saw a neighbor’s horse in a pen and decided I wanted to own a horse, but decided it had to be somewhere it wouldn’t have to be in a pen.”

He packed his vehicle and drove until he came to Wyoming. He bought a young colt and a horse training book. Then he went to work for a local rancher stacking hay, fixing fence and tending to cattle. “On the ranch we’d go out riding at 20 below,” he says, “I was hooked.”

Ranching was a hard way to make a living. He tried shoeing horses, he attempted leatherwork, but neither seemed to be the right fit.

In 1984 a woman asked him to fix a broken bit. Instantly, it became clear—his calling in the horse industry would include his welding skills. He went to work in his shop, a mobile home salvaged from the dump, and began designing bits. Using bits of scrap metal his business Tom Balding Bits and Spurs was born.

“Copying another bit never occurred to me,” he says. “I was constantly trying to figure out what was going to be my look.”

Function and design

To spread the word about his products, he rented booths at horse shows. He used the opportunities to sell his bits and to glean feedback from riders. “The first 10 years was very hand to mouth wages,” he says, “then I got into Reining and that’s when it took off.”

Balding’s break came in 1998 when a multiple winner of American Quarter Horse Association World Championships, started using his bits. Word got around the western horse circuit that Balding’s bits were the best that money could buy.

He sold his house and purchased land in Sheridan, Wyoming where he built a shop and hired his first employee.

Since then the industry’s most accomplished riders including Bob Avila, Todd Bergen, Tom C Powers, Bobby Ingersoll, Andrea Fappani and a long list of others caught on to using Tom’s bits and spurs.

“I have been using Tom Balding Bits and Spurs for well over 20 years,” says Tom C. Powers, “I was amazed that someone could weld that good and finish his products to such perfection.”

Above all else, Tom is devoted to quality workmanship. “I don’t cut any corners. I wouldn’t settle for less than quality work,” he emphasizes.

“Take ahold of one of Tom’s bit by the shanks and try to wiggle it back and forth against the mouth piece. You will find that his tolerances are very fine. No pinching. No sloppy work ever,” Powers says.

Design is equally important as functionality. Balding often mixes two different types of metal to create a unique look- one that may results in a two colored bit- a brown shank and stainless steel rings studded with silver dots.

“Tom is not only a bit and spur maker, but truly an artist. His work is absolutely the best available,” Powers says, “the little decorative silver ‘dots’ on bits was his original design. Since then he has been shamelessly copied.”

For a time, inexpensive knock-offs affected business. “We watched sales plummet,” he says, “people were trying to return broken Chinese bits to us and we had to tell them they weren’t ours.”

As imports flooded the market, critics also accused him of mass producing his bits and spurs. They couldn’t believe his staff was capable of producing 3,500 bits and 500 pairs of spurs by hand in one year.

“We are very proud of our products. I’d put my craftspeople up against anyone out there,” he says.

Balding’s products have not only caught the attention of top name riders and trainers in the horse world—his products also earned recognition by the television show How It’s Made, which airs on the Science Channel.

When invited to be a part of the show he was told, like businesses highlighted in previous episodes, his business would be featured in one episode.

Once the filming crew arrived and watched him work for 30 minutes they called the producer and arranged for an unprecedented three show series.

“It caught me off guard,” he says, “I thought it was going to be easy to show them what we do. I realized how hard it actually is to create our products.”

Life’s next fork in the road

Though times were tough in the beginning, Balding never borrowed a penny, and he’s proud that today he doesn’t owe anyone a penny. “I never asked anyone to hurry up. That’s why it’s taken so long to get successful,” he says.

His patience and dedication have paid off. Tom Balding Bits and Spurs are sold worldwide with a growing presence overseas including Europe and Australia.

“Here I am a hippie from Southern California to someone whose name is recognized as high quality,” he says. “It has been a real humbling experience.”

With business booming, Balding still finds time to pursue his passions of mountain biking, hiking, backpacking and snowboarding.

“I’ve come to another big fork in the road—my children are grown, I’ve drifted away from (owning) horses and I got divorced three years ago,” he explains. “When I gave away my last horse to a friend she offered me the option to buy the colt when the mare foaled, which she has…so now I’m pondering that.”

For more information about Tom Balding Bits and Spurs or to arrange a tour of his shop visit www.tombalding.com or call 307-672-8459.