We have very little information regarding this picture. If you have anything to share, please contact us.
My Horse and Saddle
Lyle E. Rodgers 
Lyle E. RodgersOne good Marine, one good saddle, and the South Pacific! Before going off to war, a stern faced Lyle Rodgers poses with a horse he bought for $35. Circa 1940. This good ol' saddle likely has a story all of its own, too From a tattered and yellowed clipping taken from an early 1940's Billings Gazette: "Ripley could do something with this. "Corporal Lyle E. Rodgers of the US Marine Corps - son of Mr. & Mrs. C. E. Rodgers of Laurel, Montana - found a Connolly Brothers stock saddle on Samoa. The fact that he found such a saddle in that remote spot is, in itself, strange, but the fact that he had ample opportunity to use it adds to the oddity. "There was a fairly large herd of cattle on this island and, inasmuch as Corporal Rodgers came from Montana, his sergeant assumed, without question, that he was the man to ride herd. His choice was fortunate because Corporal Rodgers knows his dogies when he sees them! "Corporal Rodgers enlisted in the US Marine Corps at the Billings recruiting station on November 18, 1941. It was after his 'boot' training and specialized training that he found himself on Samoa with Shorthorns and Herefords to ride herd on. . I guess 1 am the only Marine cowboy who finaly managed to take care of a herd of cow critters while still in uniform,' is the way Corporal Rodgers expressed it. "A couple of hours each day were devoted to this job. They gave him a horse - 'a pretty fair nag at that,' was the Corporal's opinion - and a saddle. A Connolly Brothers saddle! The Connolly Brothers'shop in Billings has been making saddles for Western cowpunchers for many years. Their saddles can be found in stock ranch barns from northern Montana to the Rio Grand. And now it's a known fact that a Connolly Brothers saddle is doing duty on a South Pacific island! "Rodgers' cow-punching duties on Samoa were not greatly different from what he will be doing when he finally settles down on that Bridger Creek ranch back in Montana. Each day he rode out and tallied his herd and, if there was any branding to do, he took care of that chore. The herd seemed to get along in fine shape, despite a certain number of distractions, Rodgers recalls." When Lyle left Samoa, he also left the good Connolly Brothers saddle - wish we knew what happened to it! Lyle Rodgers, now almost 80, lives in Billings, Mont.
Lyle As He Is Today With A New Horse 