Handed Down - Nevada Arts Council

1990–1991
Rawhide Braiding:
Randy Stowell and Jean Pierre Pedrini
Randy Stowell was
raised on a ranch in
Rowland, in far northern
Elko County, and has
been a buckaroo all his
life. His appreciation for
rawhide braiding came
from his father, but most
of what he knows he
taught himself through
trial and error, taking apart
old gear, looking at books,
and talking with other
braiders. Randy is one of
the best rawhide braiders
in the country, and his
bosals, reins, headstalls
and riatas are highly
sought after, although he
has to squeeze time to work on his craft into a busy life
running a ranch.
Jean Pierre “Pedro” Pedrini seems at first to be an
unlikely candidate to be a maker of Western saddles,
but his work is firmly in the buckaroo tradition and
he was thrilled to be able to work with Randy to improve
his skill in rawhide braiding. Pedro is French, but
since he was a kid he has been fascinated with American
cowboys and at the first opportunity he came to
this country to learn about cowboys and saddle making.
One of his stops on that first trip was Capriola’s in
Elko, where he worked under Eddie Brooks for a few
months before returning to France. Of Eddie and the
other saddle makers at Capriola’s he says, “I owe those
guys the trade, you know. Because they did this without
realizing they were doing it, they just took me as a guy,
just as a friend, and they helped me.” He came back
to stay in 1978, and has developed into a good custom
saddle maker; today he has his own shop in Gridley,
California, but he would like to come back to the high
desert country soon.
Pedro already knew a little bit about braiding, but
wanted to learn more, both to maintain the tradition
and to help in his job, where he gets numerous requests
to repair old braid work. He learned to make bits for
the same reason—to round out his knowledge of horse
gear, although he still considers himself primarily a sad-
Randy Stowell (right) teaching Pedro Pedrini how to
braid a noseband for a bosal.
Pedro Pedrini practices braiding.
dle maker. Pedro learned quickly working with Randy,
delighted to learn the little tricks that come with experience
and to figure out techniques and knots that
had puzzled him. Like Randy, Pedro doesn’t believe
in keeping his knowledge to himself; he wants to put
something back into the art and share it widely. He
says, “When you do a good thing, it will last, it’s there.
Lots of people will see it, and it will keep on going…If
you want to be good, that’s up to you.”
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