Owners hope to use store to open wild horse preserve

Carlos LoPopolo and his wife, Pflugerville resident Pam Van Handel-LoPopolo, have a dream. The couple hopes one day to make enough profits from selling Native American products at their stores to open up a wild horse preserve where Spanish mustangs can roam free.

Last year, LoPopolo—who already has one wild horse preserve in New Mexico and sold a second wild horse preserve in the same state—took a crucial step toward reaching that goal with the opening of his second Native American store, Sombrillo Leather.

The store is located in Pflugerville and specializes in unique Native American jewelry, pottery, artwork and biker gear.

Sombrillo Leather is the second of five proposed shops to help with the funding of the New Mexican Horse Project, a project that establishes wild horse preserves for Spanish mustangs.

"When we set up a shop like this, we get the [initial investment of profits] back, and then all profits from the shop go to buy more land and set up more preserves," LoPopolo said. "When we get the horses, we DNA them [to ensure they are Spanish mustangs], and they spend the rest of their lives at the preserve."

LoPopolo's first Native American store—Socorro Leather—is located in Socorro, New Mexico, and has helped fund the Cindy Rogers LoPopolo Wild Horse Preserve and Campbell Ranch Preserve in New Mexico.

LoPopolo hopes profits from the two stores will help his goal of opening another wild horse preserve within two years. The stores offer LoPopolo a way of raising funds for preserves without directly asking for donations.

Sombrillo Leather carries Native American items that customers won't be able to find anywhere else, he said.

Items include handpicked jewelry made by well-known Native American artists exclusively for Sombrillo Leather, antique-style rugs and saddle blankets, Native American pottery made in-house by a Navajo potter, and Native American art.

Several artist depictions of horses from the preserve in New Mexico can be found throughout the store, including one of Sombrillo, the store's namesake.

"The artwork is done by people that have been out on the preserve and wanted to help the project," LoPopolo said.

Though Sombrillo Leather has only been open for about four months, LoPopolo is already entertaining the idea of taking customers on a tour of a preserve in New Mexico.

Customers also have the opportunity to learn more about the history and culture of Native Americans and Spanish mustangs via books—some written by LoPopolo himself— and horse caretakers at the store.

One Pflugerville customer noted the personal attention, expertise and reasonable prices that Sombrillo Leather offers.

"The experience couldn't have been better," said Charles "Chas" Sumer, who got a handmade leather gun holster.

"If [LoPopolo is] not satisfied with the product, then he'll fix it. That kind of service is hard to beat," Sumer said.

Sombrillo Leather, 15803 Windermere Drive Ste. 204, 852-1094, 994-9961, www.sombrilloleather.com