Steed loans historic Lockhart bridles to Lovell-Kane museum

A very special, historical item was presented to the Lovell-Kane Area Museum last week, a bridle set used by pioneer rancher Caroline Lockhart at her ranch north of Barry’s Landing.

The bridles are for twin buggy horses pulling a carriage, according to Pat Steed, who is loaning the items to the museum.

“They aren’t heavy duty work bridles for out in the field,” Steed said at the museum on Friday morning. “They’re kind of petite and fancy. Caroline had a buggy for going back and forth to town.”

Steed said Lovell policeman Solon Wells Cozzens (1906-1979) traded Lockhart a team of horses for a Lockhart team of horses and the bridle set, and years later, his brother David R. Cozzens, who was 25 years younger (1921-2006), ended up with the tack.

“Dave was a horse trader in Cowley forever,” Steed said. “Ben (brother) and I ran around with Dave for years and years. He was fun. We’d go to horse sales, livestock auctions, whatever.

“In his tack shed he would often tell us about the set of harnesses which had been Caroline Lockhart’s.”

After Dave Cozzens died in 2006, Steed approached Dave’s wife, Frankie, and asked if he could buy the bridles from her. She agreed to sell, and Steed bought the pair. A week or two later, Cozzens’ longtime friend Chuck Hoffman asked Steed if he could hold onto the bridles.

“I said, ‘You can have the bridles, but I want ‘em back when you pass on.’ Two months ago, Chuck died, and his wife Trixie and sons Pat and Andy returned the bridles to me,” Steed said. “I’m loaning them for the life of the museum in the name of the Dave Cozzens and Chuck Hoffman families.”

Museum board president Karen Spragg said she is working on a Caroline Lockhart display for the museum, working with the National Park Service at Bighorn Canyon to borrow Lockhart artifacts the Park Service has in storage and display them at the museum with the bridles. She noted that Jed Nebel already loaned the museum Lockhart’s coffee grinder and has agreed to make it part of the Caroline Lockhart display.

The museum also has the post office boxes from Hillsboro, one of which was Lockhart’s P.O. box.