About Us
JR Wenger grew up in a family of business owners starting with his grandfather and grandmother Bob and Tina Beil (Beil’s Sales) and his mother and father Steve, and Cindi Wenger (Wenger’s Saddlery). In 1963 Bob Beil started the tack and horse auction business. Then in 1972 Steve and Cindi took over the business selling tack. Later in 1981 they took over the horse auction. In 1997 they shut down the weekly horse auction and focused on just the retail and wholesale tack. They continue to run Wenger’s Saddlery at the same location and have grown to be one of the largest retail tack shops on the east coast along with having the oldest running wholesale dealers auction held once a month. Bob and Tina Beil went on to build and run a public auto auction which they sold in 1985. They then moved into the import merchandise auction and wholesale business in which they continue to run today. As a matter of fact the road that all three businesses are located on is named Auction Dr.
JR Wenger’s custom saddles and tack has been in business since 1998. Our saddle shop is located also in York Springs, PA just down the road from the retail store. We are the makers of the Western Saddlery brand saddles along with Wenger’s Custom and JR Wenger Custom Saddles. JR Wenger grew up in Mechanicsburg, PA and has been riding horses all of his life. He got his start by showing pleasure horses and then moved to roping horses at the age of 15. He has had the opportunity to ride with some of the best trainers in the world. By the time he was 18 he had many All American Quarter Horse Congress championships and reserves in both roping and pleasure. He also had an AQHYA World Championship in calf roping and an AQHYA national title in calf roping. Since then JR Wenger has been focusing on making saddles and tack along with roping in the PRCA. Through training and working with the best horse trainers and rodeo competitors JR learned about the importance of correct fitting saddles and quality tack. JR noticed that there was always a large gap in the products that the professionals used versus what was available through the major companies and dealers. At JR Wenger’s our focus is to make saddles for all levels. We are the only company that makes top level custom saddles in all the disciplines (showing, reining, roping, barrel racing, and even trail riding) along with entry and mid level saddles that are made using the same process. We realize that not all customers are at the same level, whether just starting or competing at a professional level. Our entry level and mid level saddles are all made with the same steps as our top custom saddles. As a youngster JR was only able to ride in saddles that were factory made and when he advanced he realized that he needed a better saddle to improve on his ability. With our saddles you do not have this problem. Most saddle companies either specialize in just factory saddles or just custom saddles. That is why our focus is to be able to provide you with saddles to help you advance all the way, throughout your career. JR Wenger is not just a business owner he is a proven saddle maker and prides himself in being very diverse in his saddles and having top professionals in all disciplines using his products from showing to rodeoing.
