saddlery

noun

1. (uncountable)The trade or craft of a saddler.

   “A good deal of dressed leather is now sent to London, from whence formerly much of what was used here was brought. Saddlery is carried on to some extent.”

   “1863, Rachel Henning, letter dated 27 January, 1863, in David Adams (ed.), The Letters of Rachel Henning, Penguin, 1969, p. 124, The whole station is engaged in saddlery just now. It is wonderful how soon people learn to do everything for themselves in the bush.”

   “He resolved that when winter came he would go into one of the regimental workshops and learn a trade, either saddlery or ferriery, which would enable him to earn his living for a time abroad until he saw something better to do.”

   “He traveled almost altogether afoot, observing the strictest economy and supporting himself by occasional jobs of saddlery and harness mending.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A place of business of a saddler.

   “There is a tinker’s shop and a pharmacy; a saddlery, where the broken gear used in cultivating the monastery lands is mended […]”

   “1931, Ruth Russell, Lake Front, Chicago: Thomas S. Rockwell, Part 3, Chapter 2, p. 209, Occasional stores pressed close to the wooden walk, and you got the dry smell of hay-and-feed shops or leathery whiffs from saddleries […]”

   “Although there are saddleries in almost every Montana town, only a few have national reputations and are convenient for travelers to visit.”

3. (uncountable)The inventory and equipment of a saddler; saddles and other horse-riding equipment, or the materials for making them.

   “Near-synonym: tack”

   “The next article, and the most important article of all to this country, was saddlery. This embraced every part of the leather manufacture, boots, shoes, gloves, &c.”

   “[…] we notice that the most gorgeous piece of Japanese saddlery is the crupper, which, even on a pack-horse, is painted crimson and gilded gloriously.”

   “A heap of saddlery was thrown in a corner, and from this each man, as he captured his mount, made shift to draw proper equipment […]”

   “He heard the creak of saddlery and the thud of a horse’s hoofs on the hard turf behind him.”