Ep. 131 - Rebuilding a Western Legacy with Adam Trenk of Genuine Billy Cook Saddles
What This Episode Covers
This episode is for anyone who has ever thought:
A saddle brand is just a product company.
I know the Billy Cook name, but I don’t know the modern story behind it.
I care about western legacy brands, but I don’t always know what it takes to keep them alive.
I want to understand how a business rebuilds after disaster without losing its identity.
I’m interested in how rodeo, craftsmanship, community, and rural economic development connect.
Katie and Adam cover:
How Adam Trenk first became connected to horses and the Billy Cook name
Why Adam purchased Genuine Billy Cook Saddles in 2019 and its general condition
How craftsmanship, employees, and company culture helped restore the brand
What happened when the 2024 Sulphur, Oklahoma tornado destroyed the factory
Why Adam chose to rebuild instead of walking away
How the second rebuild was different from the first
Why the rebuild expanded into an arena and the Sulphur Stampede rodeo
How rodeo events can help drive rural economic recovery
How Genuine Billy Cook Saddles became the official saddle of the National Finals Rodeo
Why Adam wants the brand to remain accessible to working horsemen and western families
What preserving a western legacy brand looks like in real time
Episode Preview
Adam Trenk joins That Western Life to share the modern story of Genuine Billy Cook Saddles: rescuing a western legacy brand, rebuilding its reputation, surviving the Sulphur tornado, opening a new factory, launching the Sulphur Stampede, and stepping onto the national stage as the official saddle of the National Finals Rodeo.
Some western brands are more than companies.
They live in tack rooms, on ranch horses, in rodeo arenas, and in family memories. For generations of horsemen and western families, Billy Cook Saddles is one of those names. But the modern story of Genuine Billy Cook Saddles is not just a story of heritage, it is story of rescue, reputation, disaster, rebuilding, and refusing to let a western legacy disappear.
On this episode of the That Western Life podcast, Katie sits down with Adam Trenk, owener and CEO of Genuine Billy Cook Saddles, to talk about what it means to take stewardship of a legendary brand, rebuild trust in the western industry, survive a devastating tornado, and bring a historic company onto one of rodeo’s biggest stages.
Adam’s connection to hroses started long before he owned a saddle comapny. He grew up around horses in New Jersey, where his grandfather had ties to the Thoroughbred racing industry. Some of Adam’s earliest memories are of riding in front of his dad in an old Billy Cook saddle his grandfather had purchased in the 1970's.
Years later, after becoming an attorney and building an equine law practice, Adam learned that Billy Cook had passed away and that the company bearing his name was in serious financial trouble. In 2019, Adam purchased the business, including the buildings, equipment, inventory, intellectual property, and operations.
He bought it sight unseen.
At the time, the company was struggling with debt, production issues, and a damaged reputation. Adam believed the brand could be saves, but the first rebuild was not about flashy marketing or fast growth. It was about fundamentals.
He spent the first year learning the business, getting to know the employees, understanding the supply chain, and studying how saddles were built. He put the comapny online, built a digital presence, and slowed production dramatically so the team could focus on quality. Instead of pushing out as many saddles as possible, Adam wanted every tree inspected, every line straight, every stitch clean, and every detail restored to the level people exected from the Billy Cook name.
Trust is everything in the Western industry.
A saddle is not a throwaway product. It is a part of someone’s daily work, thier horse’s comfort, their safety, their memories, and often their family story. Rebuilding the Billy Cook name meant rebuilding confidence that the product was once again worthy of the legacy.
By 2022 and 2023, Adam says the company had found its footing. The quality had improved, the reputation was returning, and the business became proftiable earlier than anticipated.
Then, in 2024, a tornado hit Sulphur, Oklahoma.
Adam received the call from his general manager, Jody Rayme, with the grim news, “It’s all gone.”
The tornado destroyed the company’s downtown buildings, inventory, equipment, and much of its physical history. The town itself was hit hard, with hundreds of structures destroyed. For Adam, the first priority was making sure his people were safe and keeping them on the payroll.
He had a choice. He could have taken the insurance money and walked away; no one would have blamed him.
Instead, he rebuilt. Again.
The second rebuild was different from the first. The first had been operational and cultural. The second was physical. Adam moved the company outside of downtown Sulphur, built a new factory on land he already owned, sourced replacement equipment, and worked to keep rpodcution going from a temporary garage while the new facility was under construction.
The urgency was real. His team was working in a space that was not heated or cooled, production was reduced, and the business could not stay in limbo forever. By May 2025, the team was inside the new factory.
But the rebuild became bigger than replacing a building.
Adam added an arena, orginally as a way to bring people to the property and support retail sales. That idea grew into the Sulphur Stampede, a rodeo and concert event designed not only to support the Billy Cook brand, but to help drive tourism and economic activity back into a community still recovering from disaster.
The first Sulphur Stampede brought thousands of people through the gates. Lcocal hotels filled. People bought gas, ate at local restaurants, supported vendors, watched rodeo, listened to live music, and helped bring life back to Sulphur.
If you can’t tell, this episode was about more than just an iconic saddle brand. It is a conversation about what western businesses can mean to rural communities.
Adam’s vision is not only to sell products. It is to build something that helps sustain tradition, supports small-town economies, creates memories, and gives people a reason to gather around horses, rodeo, and the western lifestyle.
That vision now reaches the national stage as Genuine Billy Cook Saddles has become the official saddle of the National Finals Rodeo, as well as a saddle partner to the PRCA. Adam describes the partnership as deeply validating after years of rebuilding, refining, and recommiting to quality. For the first time, the company will also have a retail booth at Cowboy Crhistmas during the NFR, bringing saddles, tack, apparel, outerwear, hats, and co-branded merchandise to rodeo fans in Las Vegas.
Still, Adam is clear about what matters most. He wants Billy Cook products to remain accessible. He wants people to make nemories in them. He wants riders to use them, trust them, pass them down, and connect them to their own western stories.
When Katie asks what feels most meaningful after the factory, arena, Sulphur Stampede, and PRCA partnerships, Adam points back to impact. The money matters because the business has to survive, but the purpose is bigger than margin.
It is about preseving an art form.
It is about keeping saddle making alive.
it is about honoring the name Billy Cook.
And it is about maki8ng sure the next generation of horsemen, rodeo athletes, ranchers, and western enthusiasts can still access a handmade saddle built with pride.
For his “Deep Thoughts on the Rodeo Trail,” Adam shares two lessons from his grandfather that carried him through the tornado and the rebuild:
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”
And just as importantly, he says despair is easy. After the tornado, Adam realized that giving up would have been the asy path. Rebuilding was the hard one. So he got back up, rebuilt the factory, kept hijs people working, and pushed the brand forward. The tornado might have bucke dhim off, but he go tback on and Genuine Billy Cook Saddles is still riding.
Listen to the Full Episode
Listen to this episode of That Western Life with Katie Schrock and Adam Trenk for a conversation about Genuine Billy Cook Saddles, western legacy brands, saddle making, equine law, business recovery, the Sulphur tornado, the Sulphur Stampede, the PRCA, the National Finals Rodeo, and what it takes to rebuild after disaster.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | ThatWesternLife.com