i lived there in miles city in the late 70's to mid 80's. does anyone know if the wild horse saloon is still in operation & if lyle & mariona still own it.

I think Mariona is out at Friendship Villa

Lyle passed away in the VA nursing home.

The Wild Horse is just a dim memory!

it burned down several years ago, at least 15 years anyway

The Wild Horse is just a dim memory!

Sadly so....much of the town's character was lost with the passing of the Wild Horse.

.....and along that line, that's why guys with handles like "onepeckerwood" no longer live in Miles City.

I'm having a deja vu experience!

Weevi?

FH

The good old Wild Horse. Where it was not a problem to buy a quick six pack. At seventeen, mind you...
I liked it. Every now and then.

Where else could you go out in the middle of nowhere to find a bar with a pot-bellied stove warming the place in the middle of the room and an assortment of "characters" partaking of their favorite beverages while being entertained?

Definitely a one of a kind place!

I otherwise would not be on this forum or have made an account here but I was smoking weed and carrying on watching this documentary called "Riding the Dog" about riding on Greyhound Buses. Anyways, in the documentary this fella mails a saddle on a layover at a bus stop (efficient use of time for a guy in a wheelchair on a trip I would add) and he mentions his name and the destination for said saddle as "Lyle Cunningham,Wild Horse Saloon Miles City, Montana". Any rate, being that the documentary was made in 1989 and me being of the inquisitive sort, I wondered if the Saloon was still around...so I googled Wild Horse Saloon Miles City Montana and this forum thread popped up. Lyle appears at 17:14-18:00. I just thought that maybe some of the people whos lives Lyle touched would like to know he is still doing just that. I thought you all would appreciate it.

I otherwise would not be on this forum or have made an account here but I was smoking weed and carrying on watching this documentary called "Riding the Dog" about riding on Greyhound Buses. Anyways, in the documentary this fella mails a saddle on a layover at a bus stop (efficient use of time for a guy in a wheelchair on a trip I would add) and he mentions his name and the destination for said saddle as "Lyle Cunningham,Wild Horse Saloon Miles City, Montana". Any rate, being that the documentary was made in 1989 and me being of the inquisitive sort, I wondered if the Saloon was still around...so I googled Wild Horse Saloon Miles City Montana and this forum thread popped up. Lyle appears at 17:14-18:00. I just thought that maybe some of the people whos lives Lyle touched would like to know he is still doing just that. I thought you all would appreciate it.

Fascinating!

Thank you for sharing!


FH

Great to see the old times! Kalispell also had some great bars when I lived there in 1966. I suppose Stockman's is still there. I hope so. That whole area, including Whitefish and Columbia Falls, had not many more people than Custer County has now. But, as Bobby Bare sang it, "Things Change".

The bus stop in Miles City and at Bud and Bette’s in Terry was very interesting. I think Lyle (Wild Horse) Cunningham may have taken some literary license with the bank robbery story. I knew him from 1948 when he was my aunt’s boyfriend and I was living at my grandmother’s house. Not to say he didn’t live up to his nickname ‘Wild Horse.’ I remember teasing my aunt about her boyfriend being locked up in the city jail. I don’t recall ever hearing of any bank robbery. My recollection of why he was in jail on that occasion was that he was drunk, on horseback, downtown Miles City and roped a cop. That event got him a good beating and several months jail time.

The barber, Karan, that Lyle said hello to questions the bank robbery story, as well. She is retired but when she comes to town, like yesterday, she cuts my hair. She and her husband enjoyed the video.

Another time in the late 70s or early 80s I received a phone call from the District Judge to come to his chambers. When I got there the judge said that Lyle was in jail and he was not going to let him bond out because he had also threatened to gut shoot all the lawyers in town. Because Lyle was a friend of mine the judge wanted me to talk to him. I asked Lyle if he was going to gut shoot me to and he responded he wasn’t going to gut shoot lawyers, he was just mad and blowing off steam. Before I went back to the judge, I asked Lyle why he had broken his significant other’s arm to which he replied he didn’t break it, it just broke because all the Budweiser she drank had made her bones brittle.

I think that song that Lyle plays and sings should be the Official City Song.

One thing I love about this forum, no term limits, You can bring back old memories/topics without being classified as a scourge. I love that. Can you believe, I've been banned for off topic/out of date responses. . The BatBoard moderator was such an ass. I simply liked a video that he himself liked a year or two earlier. I was labeled as one who wanted to climb the ladder by my post counts. That was B.S. I got so pissed, I asked to be removed. No regrets. That does not happen here. Pretty Cool!

[Edited by DJanssen (7/23/2021 9:34:45 AM)]

I was watching a documentary and saw a man with a saddle, and he wanted to send this saddle to Wild Horse Miles city, Montana.
Searching on google for Wild Horse miles city..
And that's how I came to this forum.
But ho-ho not so fast, I first had to adjust my internet settings because I was not allowed to enter the forum as a European.
Luckily I had a VPN and set it to Seattle, WA, USA, which allowed me to access the website and create an account.
Why am I creating an account?
It fascinated me, the documentary, the story of the Wild Horse saloon.
And I want to say hello;
I greet you from the city of Deventer, in the Netherlands.

Wild Horse Lyle also had a "R" rated version of The Strawberry Roan that he played and sang.It was hilarious-after the Strawberry Roan kept bucking a cowboy off and tried to hurt the guy,he attempted to neuter the nag with a bowie.

Mariona passed away several years ago.As to Lyle's wild stories,he always claimed he backed Jessie Ventura[aka Minnesota governor,aka Jessie the Body pro wrestler]with a pistol out at the bar when Jessie was getting too fresh with one of the girls.His story was included in a Billings Gazette article about the Wild Horse.In his autobiography,Jessie acknowledged he had read Lyle's account.He said he had never been to Miles City,not sure but I think he said he had never even been to Montana.

So, now we have a new mystery:

Why does Larry hate Europeans?

One too many spammers from non-USA IP addresses, Gunnar.

The Wild Horse is history but Miles City still has classic bars like the Bison, the Montana and the Range Riders. Three weeks to Bucking Horse Sale!

Amorette Allison wrote:

The Wild Horse is history a hazmat site, but Miles City still has classic bars like the Bison, the Montana and the Range Riders. Three weeks to Bucking Horse Sale!

Fixed it for ya.