Lynne Taylor (1935-2008)

Lynne Taylor was born in 1935, in the Hole-in-the-Wall Country near Kaycee, Wyoming. His first years were spent in the "Red Cabin" on the east slope of "the Mountain." There wasn't a neighbor within 40 miles. He learned to live as the early pioneers lived, with horses as the main transportation.

His father took him on the roundups on the Mountain, which was done the cowboy way, with a rep from the surrounding ranches to cut out their cattle. It was here that he learned to rope and handle cattle at a very young age. He knew then that the only thing he wanted to do was work with horses.

He broke to ride his first horse at age ten. His mother moved into Casper to enroll the boy in school because there was no school to attend in the Hole in the Wall Country. To pass the time in town, his dad brought him a little filly to break. After it was broke, he rode it through Casper to the sales yard to sell.

After the war, his dad moved the family from Wyoming to Montana with the idea that he would buy a ranch in better grass country. He didn't buy a ranch but settled in Miles City, Montana. There Lynne went to school, was a good student, played sports, and continued honing his horseman skills. Lynne was privileged to have worked with Bud Kramer and Bob Pauley, the best horsemen he ever knew.

After high school and junior college, Lynne joined the United States Army. After he was discharged, he attended Colorado State University and Dickinson College and competed on the Rodeo Teams. Lynne made his living rodeoing for a number of years. He competed on bareback horses, broncs, and even bulls, which he frankly didn't like. He eventually settled on saddle broncs and could tell you every horse he was ever on. Lynne said he rodeoed because he could make more money competing than working on ranches. He made many great friends on the rodeo trail. He always made the effort as the years went by to keep in touch. Lynne rodeoed in many parts of the U.S., even Chicago and The Gardens in New York City. He didn't like rodeoing in the south much, he felt you had to be "one of their boys" to be judged fairly. Eventually an injury in Idaho convinced him it was time to quit rodeing.

Lynne found work with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and managed the Pryor Mountain Horse Range (the first federally funded horse range in the nation) for twenty years. His early years on the east slope of the Mountain in Wyoming provided him with the expertise of handling wild horses. Lynne greatly improved the Pryor Mountain horses by carefully culling them from the herd as to conformation and color. He followed the guidelines that governed the Pryor Mountain Horse Range and the result was that the horses thrived. The first years were good and the horses were well managed, but eventually the politics involved with government overreach hurt the range and the horses. Lynne moved on.

While Lynne managed the Pryor Mountain horses, no helicopters were used. The horses were gathered by cowboys horseback. Not many people had the skill or ability to work in this way. But because he had endlessly rode the Mountain, knew the trails, and every horse on the Pryor Mountain range, the gathering was accomplished without motor vehicles. Lynne could throw a horse loop a mighty long way and always rode sound big horses that could stand the jerk of catching a running wild horse.

While employed by the BLM, Lynne was a pickup man for several good rodeo companies. He was darn good at it and always rode his own horses.

After retiring from the BLM, he was able to accomplish his dream of raising big strong athletic horses that could be ridden all day in rough country. He had worked on big ranches and knew that a good horse was invaluable to a cowboy. He purchased two great studs that met his specifications--Roanys Tomcat from Bub Nunn's great stud, High Rolling Roany, and Awesome Pete from Bob Shelhamer's great stud, Mr. Pete Oswald. He put the two studs with mare bands carefully chosen that would mix with the bloodlines of those studs.

He had three bands of mares run on rancher friends' property in exchange for his use of the studs. Lynne raised many fine horses and enjoyed training and riding them. He became interested in their talent as rope horses. Lynne's horses had the size to be used as pickup horses at rodeos. They could work all day in the country and still have gas to get the job done. They were smart and most of them gentle enough to be used for most any endeavor.

Lynne did day work for ranchers as a way of exposing the horses to livestock and readying them for sale. The last full day of his life was spent riding one of his young horses day-working for a rancher. Lynne unexpectedly died at the age of 73 years young.

He simply was never one to brag about his accomplishments. Lynne's knowledge and understanding of horses was unique - second nature as they say. If he were here today, he would confirm that his life ended doing what he loved most, working horses.