Lyle and Cody by the old log barn on Lyle's Quarter Circle XL Ranch. Cody is one of the many horses Lyle has broke and trained in his lifetime, so far. I love to hear him and his cowboy friends tell stories from their early cowboying days, remembering each and every horse they rode by name. The respect and relationship between horse and cowboy. Lyle talks of his days working on the nearby Double X Ranch in his 20's and getting a horse started then jumping on him the next morning to wrangle horses and really getting him broke - he might buck and really run, of course, but Lyle has the reputation for staying on and says he just fell in behind the herd he was wrangling and rode it out. He also recalls 30 below zero mornings and heading out to ride the big circle on the Double X Ranch. Making the rounds to feed cattle from the cake shacks scattered throughout the rugged Badlands pasture. Riding alone on a bronc that was assigned to him and never completely sure that he would make it back alive on some days. You were given a string of horses to break and ride and you just did it. That is a different kind of tough - that is Lyle's cowboy life ... Cody was a colt in training when I showed up here and he has been one of my main horses the past few years and well broke, thanks to Lyle. ©JEAN LAUGHTON
