A Gift for Vicente Fox President of Mexico and Mrs. Martha Fox

In early October of 2006 the office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger contacted us to arrange the purchase of two pairs of custom made spurs with matching custom made spur straps. The spurs were purchased as gift for Governor Schwarzenegger's long time friend and “Foreign Constituent”. We immediately contacted our friend Mike Vatalaro of Tap’s Bit & Spur Shop to build the custom spurs, one Men’s pair and, one Women’s pair. The custom spur straps were basket stamped, lined with soft latigo leather and stitched, adorned with custom sombrero style conchos made by Tap’s, and engraved with the California Governor’s seal. The matching his and hers spurs feature the Governor’s seal engraved in sterling silver and fixed to the outside spur band, with sterling silver placards on either side of the seal engraved with “Presented to: H.E. Vicente Fox, President of Mexico”, and “Presented to: Mrs. Martha Fox”, and opposite the seal “Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California”. The inside spur bands and shanks feature, flowers and vines engraved in high relief in the steel, while the outside of the shanks feature inlaid silver, with sterling silver inlaid stripes accent the top of the bands and shanks. Each pair was finished with Tap’s signature rowels and jingle bob’s. Click Here to view the President Fox Spur Image Gallery

A Gift for President George W. Bush

In mid February of this year we got another call from Governor Schwarzenegger's office with a request for a pair men’s custom spurs and spur straps. Only this time they gave us very short notice. In speaking with the Governor’s protocol officer she explained to me that they needed the spurs in one week. I informed her that I doubted we could get a set of spurs and spur straps made with such short notice and after explaining to her the lengthy process, and time it took build such a set of spurs, she revealed the spur were to be a gift for President George W. Bush. Well needless to say I quickly hung up the phone and call Mike Vatalaro again and said “You’re never gonna believe this!” (this was on a Friday).

Mike immediately began designing the spurs while I coordinated with the governor’s engraver. Two days later (Sunday) Mike had the conchos made and silver pieces cut out that were to be engraved with the Governor’s seal and my wife and I met his wife Peggy two hours north of us to pickup the silver, while Mike stayed in his shop toiling away at the spurs. Monday was a holiday (I think President’s day) which really threw a wrench in things, keep in mind we had a deadline of Thursday. I drove downtown on Tuesday the drop off the silver pieces and conchos with the engraver. He was to have everything engraved in time for UPS to pick up the silver that afternoon for overnight delivery to Mike, so he could finish the spurs. As luck would have it UPS did not arrive at Mike’s until 5:00pm the following day (Wednesday), so much for “A.M. Delivery”. Mike worked on the spurs well into the night and by 3:00am the following morning (Thursday) he had them finished. After little sleep and lots of coffee Mike drove from his shop to ours. Thursday afternoon we drove downtown the Governors mansion and had the spurs there by 3:00pm. You will see in pictures Mike appears to me a little tired and un-enthusiastic, which I suppose in understandable! In the Governors letter to the president he mentioned both our names, Mike Vatalaro of Hopland California, and Carlos Macias of Wilton California, as the makers of these fine spurs and spur straps.

President Bush’s spurs feature brass rivets surrounding the sterling silver overlay on the outside spur bands. The center piece of each outside spur band is the California Governor’s seal, next to a placard reading, “Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California”. The inside of the each spur band feature placard’s reading, “Presented to, George W. Bush, President of the United States”. The inside of each of the spur shanks feature high relief engraving, while the outside of the shanks feature inlaid silver. The top of the spur band and shanks are finished with inlaid silver stripes, and of course the spurs are finished with Tap’s signature rowels and jingle bob’s. To complete the spurs we made a set of bib style spur straps basket stamped, lined and sewn. Finished with a pair of Tap’s sombrero style sterling silver conchos engraved with the California Governors seal, surrounded by several bright cuts. Click Here to View the President Bush spur image Gallery.

For more information about Mike Vatalaro - Tap's Bit & Spur Shop please visit: www.tapsbitandspurshop.com
For more information about Carlos Macias - BuckarooGear.com please visit our "About Us" Page.

Story written by Carlos Macias 7/1/07