PHOTO ALBUM 1

Dan on Sanchi, his palomino quarter horse mare. I asked Letha out and gave her the option of dinner, a movie, or a ride. She choose ride; she said latter she wanted to see if I knew which end of the horse to put the saddle on.

Letha  on Tana, her Morgan bay gelding, a very nice big boy and her second Morgan.

I invited my brother Randy and his wife Kim along on the ride thinking Letha might be more comfortable not be alone with me on a first date out in the middle of nowhere.

Me, Dan, trying to coach Sanchi through the Hole in the Rock, a famous spot on the Arizona Trail on this section. Not there now; I think the Forest Service took it out as a trail obstacle.

It took a lady to get my girl through the rocks; Letha was able to get Sanchi to follow her through but she wouldn't do it for me.  The ladies trust another lady more than a man I guess. I have to say though, the only mare we have left now is my girl Pearl who trusts me but not Letha.

Letha got her boy Tana through too with no big problem.

  Dan on Spirit, his first Morgan, on the 

Kaibab Plateau very near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Letha took me on a Morgan Horse shopping trip and Spirit is who I came home with. A bay mare about 5 with a big motor who could walk away from any horse.  I had to up my horsemanship skills stepping up to a Morgan from a quarter horse; a lot more horse!

Lethe on Ayla on a ride with our friend Anne Biggs in Parks, a community  near Flagstaff, Arizona where Anne lived in the summers.  Ayla was 4 years old in this picture.

Dan on America, a 14.1 hand Morgan bay mare Lethe had when we got married who'd been a brood mare her entire life before that and never broke to ride. She is Ayla's dam. and turned out to be a nice riding horse.

Letha on her Morgan mare Sierra, a half-sister to Spirit, my first Morgan, she bought on the Morgan shopping trip for me at the same farm!  Same  stallion different dam about the same age. This picture and the one of me on America were taken in Tucson Mountain Park on the northwest side of Tucson.

Me, Dan, on Spirt on the right and my son Devin on Chisum on top of Cochise Stronghold a little less than an hour east of our home in Mescal, Arizona. Chisum Is a Morgan/Back of the Bay gelding a friend retired with us from endurance racing.  Back of the Bay horses are Morgan crosses from Alaska where our friend grew up and still lived at the time in the summers.

We at lunch near the top of Cochise Stronghold at the pond behind the dam. I caught Chisum sneaking an orange from my nylon lunch bag.  I had two and he'd already eaten one I discovered peel and all and was coming back for the second one.  He was a sweetheart and I was just surprised not mad and gave him a kiss.

 Letha and I led 3 day weekend rides in Tombstone several times for both the Arizona Morgan Horse Association (AzMHA ) and the Tucson Saddle Club. We based out of the Tombstone Livery and rode the local area trails on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday morning would ride into Tombstone and down Allen Street, the main street of downtown, both ways along with the stagecoaches and the tourists taking pictures of us and the horses. This picture was on the 2010 AzMHA ride. 

This is riding into town in 2010 with me in the lead on Spirit and Letha just behind me on Sierra on my right.  We rode about three miles from the Livery where we were camped both into town and then back afterwards and had a nice brunch in the saloon there.

Here we are riding into town on the 2014 ride again with the AzMHA. This time I'm on Sierra and Letha didn't ride this year into town.

This is me, Dan, on Lady Bug in town leading the ride with the Tucson Saddle Club in 2015. Letha didn't ride on this one either.  Doing it once in 2010 was enough excitement for her; been there done that she said! Of the three rides I did it on a different one of our Morgans each time!

Here is Dan on Lady Bug on the Arizona Trail with the Santa Rita Mountains in the background.  The Arizona Trail is some 800 miles long from the Mexican Border running all the way north to the Utah border including through the Grand Canyon. Dan has ridden somewhere around 70 miles of it.

Letha on Pearl our gaited Morgan mare in the same area as Dan and Lady bug at left.

 Letha on her Morgan mare Ayla on part of the Arizona Trail in Walnut Canyon just east of Flagstaff

Letha and Joker her Morgan gelding in the aspens on the Arizona Trail near the Snowbowl Ski Slopes northwest of Flagstaff.

Letha on her Morgan gelding Joker and friend Anne Biggs on her gaited Morgan mare Tapper on another part of the Arizona Trail just northwest of Flagstaff near the Snowbowl Ski Slopes.  The peaks of the mountain we are on here called the San Francisco Peaks are the highest point in Arizona, some 11,000 feet.

From right to left, Letha on Ayla her Morgan mare, Dan on his gaited palomino Morgan gelding Sunday, and our friend Susan Spooner on her Morgan mare Secret.  This is on the Loma Alta Trail slightly west of where it connects with the Arizona Trail as it heads up the Rincon Mountains near Vail just east of Tucson.  It was a cold day on this ride in late February.

This is Dan on our former gaited Morgan stallion Rhythm also on the Loma Alta Trail but on a warmer day than the picture of above.

Dan and Rhythm on the Loma Alta Trail under the biggest saguaro cactus on this trail and I've ever seen anywhere.  We always pose under this cactus anytime we're on a horse who hasn't done it before or with a friend who hasn't done it.

This is a Tucson Saddle Club ride coming down Mt. Lemmon from Camp Hirabashi on the Arizona Trail all the way down to the bottom of the mountain and to a member's house near the bottom.  Dan took this picture from his horse who's head is showing which is Spirit, his mare and  first Morgan horse.

Same ride as the picture at left but a little further down the trail which you can see even further down. Was a pretty technical ride but beautiful views. You can see the Rincon Mountains in the far background with a bit of snow on them.

This is a Tucson Saddle Club ride accompanying one of our members Bonnie Slaten and her friend Lynn on their final section on the Arizona Trail to complete riding the entire 800 some miles of the trail. We started further up the mountain than the picture above at General Hitchcock campground where the ride started and rode down to Camp Hiraboshi . For Lynn it was her second time to do the entire trail and Bonnie's first time; they are the only two woman to have done it and only 3 other men had done it at that time!  15 of us rode with them on this ride.

Here we are riding into the area of Camp Hiraboshi with Lynn in the lead and Bonnie right behind her.

Here are Bonnie and Lynn celebrating at the end of the ride and hugging each other.  There was a group of 50 friends in camp ready to party and lots of food waiting; plus representatives from the Arizona Trail Association to present them with special belt buckles  commemorating  their achievement. They did this over a five year period not all in one trip.