2 – MARVIN K LEY – 2015 LAST REVISED 01/04/16
MCHF & WHC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE:
MARVIN K LEY
YEAR OF INDUCTION: 2015
DISTRICT OF INDUCTION: 2
Marvin Kenneth Ley was born on Aug.14th, 1940 in Beach, North Dakota, the
second of Kenny and Mary (Bruski) Ley’s six children. They lived on family farm and
ranch 11 miles southwest of Wibaux, Montana near Marvin's grandparents who were
early homesteaders and lifelong residents of Wibaux. His Grandpa Al was an early
riser and a hard worker. He believed in being self-sufficient so his place included
farming, dairy cows, chickens, a herd of beef cows, and of course, horses. That strong
work ethic was passed on to his kids and grandkids. The Ley boys learned to work as
soon as they were big enough to go to the barn and help with the chores, and there
were lots of chores to do. Some mornings they barely had time to change clothes and
eat breakfast before the school bus came.
Marvin's dad, Kenny, was a good cowboy in his day. He raised, trained, traded,
and sold horses, and always rode a good one. Marvin credits his father as one of the
people who made him the horseman he is today. Kenny had his boys riding and
starting young horses before they were 10 years old, and taught them how to do a
good job on them.
Tough times and scarce money turns boys into men at an early age. As his older
brother had left for Richardton, North Dakota to finish high school at a Catholic
school, Marvin decided at 12 to forgo school for a job. He worked for a year at the
Herigstad Ranch, and then for Leo Lunde. At 14 he lost his mother to cancer. His two
sisters went to live with relatives for a while and the two younger brothers stayed at
home. Marvin took a riding job closer to home with George Saye. George was an oldtime cowboy that raised some top ranch and arena horses on about 40 sections of
rough country in southwest Wibaux County. He lived next to land the Ley family
rented. George was fussy about who rode his horses, but he knew Marvin and
recognized his talents as a horseman.
It didn't take long for Marvin to make a name for himself as a horse trainer and
he was soon showing horses for other area breeders. He trained and showed cutting,
reining, and stock horse classes at horse shows all over the area.
There is an area of big ranch country that stretches from Glendive, Montana
south and east toward Baker. In the days when Marvin was hiring out he rode for
nearly every ranch in the area and probably covered three hundred square miles of
those badlands horseback. Ranches he worked for included Herigstad, Ben
Brownfield, Leo Lunde, Blankenship, Smith Ranch, Shaw, and Jack Eaton. He helped
gather the last of the Foss Ranch wild horse herd out of the rough country southeast
of Makoshika Park for Jack Eaton. Some of those horses kept escaping through a
narrow cedar pass, so the crew packed in and built a drift fence and catch pen of cedar
poles. When the horses were penned, they had to be roped, halter broke, and led out,
as there was no way to get there with a truck or trailer.
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In the late 50s and 60s Marvin went down the rodeo road. He was a natural at
saddle bronc riding, but entered and won money in all three riding events. He went
to every amateur rodeo he could and to some pro rodeos as well. He was partly
responsible for helping his brothers get started riding bucking horses and when the
Ley boys showed up the bronc riding got tough. His brother Johnny said, “Marvin was
a good big brother. He drove us to a lot of rodeos before we had a driver’s license,
shared his bronc saddle with us, and helped us get on and ride them right.” Johnny's
name is on the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall & Wall of Fame in Billings, Montana and he
gives Marvin credit for helping him get started. The youngest brother, Tim, was also
a good rodeo hand and horse trainer, but his career ended young in a tragic truck
accident on the way back East with a load of horses.
In the late 60s and early 70s, Marvin worked for the Knight and Cervi rodeo
contractors hauling bucking stock to major rodeos. When one of their pickup men was
injured, Marvin was asked to take his place. Marvin ended up working in the arena
with Larry Kane as a pickup man at some of the big rodeos like Cheyenne; Colorado
State Fair; Albuquerque; Sidney, Iowa; and Nampa, Idaho. At one rodeo Marvin got a
standing ovation from the crowd after a bull jumped out of the arena in front of the
grandstand and Marvin roped the bull over the fence and held him until the fence was
cut and the bull pulled back into the arena. He probably saved some spectators from
serious injury and the crowd showed their appreciation for his skill as a cowboy.
Marvin also worked as a pickup man at the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale for six years.
Marvin's rodeo career was put on the back burner when he and wife Rosy
settled in Glendive so their two young children could go to school. Marvin broke colts
and trained horses at Jack Wyse's indoor arena until he got a place of his own built. In
1983, he and others at Dawson Community College started an equitation class and
leased the indoor arena west of Glendive. For 13 years he taught horsemanship and
colt starting classes to groups of 8 to 10 students. This made for many gentle young
horses and gave a lot of young people a better understanding of how to train them
that way.
In 1992, the Hinebauch family, who bought the Phelps ranch on Glendive
Creek, started booking guests to their ranch for working ranch vacations. Marvin was
one of the first wranglers they hired because he knew the country and had horses the
guests could ride. At branding time and at shipping time in the fall they took people
from all over the world out for a week of real cowboy life. There again, Marvin was
training horses and people at the same time. He showed guests how to bridle and
saddle their own horses, be better and safer riders, and how to move and gather
cattle. Marvin was a good public relations man for Montana's ranch industry and our
cowboy way of life. He has friends all over the world that learned more about ranching
and real cowboys from him than they ever did from movies or reading books.
Looking back over Marvin’s busy life, you can't leave out the fact that he did
his part in service to his country. He enlisted in the National Guard in 1962 and went
through basic training, then went to all the meetings and training camps with pride
and honor. He was honorably discharged in 1968.
Today, Marvin and his wife Pam live on a neat little place on the East side of
Glendive. At the age of 75, Marvin is still riding. When you drive into his yard you'll
likely see his pickup hooked to a trailer and three or four good-looking horses in a
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pen with sweat marks on their backs. There is no way to measure in 65 years, how
many hours, days, or miles Marvin has spent horseback. There are not many cowboys
in the state that could match it. You might still find him at sale barns penning cattle in
the alley, or at bran dings dragging calves to the fire, shipping in the fall, or gathering
and sorting cattle for the grazing association. When Marvin was asked “How many
horses have you broke or ridden for other people in your life?” he got a faraway look
in his eye like he'd never thought about it. Then he grinned and replied “Well, it would
be more than a thousand.” Marvin Ley is a humble man and he never brags or tries to
impress you with his life as a cowboy, he just saddles up and gets it done.
Sources: Interview with Marvin Ley and his brother Johnny by Bob Petermann. Personal
memories from Jim Baisch and Bob Petermann.
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