Considered by many to be the toughest 100 miles in one day ride in the world, the Western States Trail Ride 100 in California is a dream come true for many riders, and a challenging test for both the riders and their horses. To finish is to win, and it couldn't be more true than with the Tevis Cup.The Morab has been one of the most consistant breeds to enter and finish this grueling ride. As a breed, we have been able to find only a few Morabs who were pulled from the ride after they started, and one of those got within just a few miles of the finish before being pulled (he threw a shoe). Their finishing percentage is extremely high, even when compared to other small breeds. At least one Morab has won the Tevis Cup...twice. And others have finished in the Top Ten - one of them finished in 3rd place twice in a row. As time goes by, we are still discovering more Western States Trail Ride/Tevis Cup Morabs. Until recent years, they were mostly entered as Half Arabians, and we are having to uncover the fact that they were indeed Morabs. This page is dedicated to some of the Morabs that we know have done the ride. Some of these Morabs have finished multiple times.

The Tevis Cup trophy is awarded to the person who completes the 100 Mile One Day course in the shortest amount of time, and whose horse is in sound condition and "fit to continue." The Tevis Cup was named for Lloyd Tevis (1824 - 1899) by his grandson, Will Tevis, a prominent San Francisco businessman and early benefactor of the Ride.

The other major trophy, the Haggin Cup, is awarded to the rider whose horse is in the "most superior physical condition" of the first ten horses to cross the finish line. The Haggin Cup was named for James Ben Ali Haggin (1821 - 1914). At least one Morab has also won this award.

The earliest Morab that we have found to finish the WSTR/Tevis Cup was the gelding, RED CHIEF R ("PANCHO"), owned by Will Tevis with Bud Dardi as rider. A big horse at 15.3 hands and 1100 pounds, Pancho may also be the first Morab to ever do the Tevis Cup. He is also the first and only Morab that we know of to WIN the Tevis, and do it TWICE, and even set a record doing it! He was one of those who was entered as a Half Arabian with Half Arabian papers as there were no Morab registries in those days. Pancho crossed the finish line in first place in 1966, came in second the next year (but taking the Haggin Cup Award), and then was first again in 1968. At 12 years old, he finished the 1968 Tevis in 11 hours and 18 minutes, setting a record for the fastest time. His record stood for 13 years until 1981. It has not been bested since that time, and still stands as the second fastest finishing time for the Tevis Cup. Pancho is one of the very few Tevis Cup winners to win more than once. We have not found a picture of Pancho, yet, or we would post it here. If you know of one, please let us know. We are also working on contacting Bud Dardi.

Here is the link for the WSTR/Tevis Cup website: http://www.foothill.net/tevis

2X Tevis Cup winner, Potato Richardson has a DVD/video with endurance tips and advice: www.PotatoRichardson.com

UPDATE AUGUST 1, 2007! The 2006 Tevis Cup is now over - 95 finished out of 185 that started. Only one Morab was in the field this year - the young IMR Morab gelding, Red Sans Legend, with his very experienced 65 year old owner/rider, Roger Yohe. In 2006 this pair finished in 30th place. At approximately 75 miles into the ride, Roger and Legend were poised to make a thrilling Top Ten finish when tragedy struck. Legend apparently stumbled on a rock and they both tumbled over the cliff. Roger was eventually found and airlifted out, and is presently healing well of his injuries. Legend managed to scramble back up the slope and went to the next checkpoint on his own. He had minor injuries. A rider that was just behind Roger saw the whole thing. That rider went on to finish ninth. The Morab community is relieved to hear that both rider and horse are going to be ok.

This South Dakota Morab gelding came to the 2004 Tevis, and ended up with a strange rider - HAWK had never done a 100 miles before. In fact, he'd only done a few 50's. With 244 starting, "Hawk" finished 127th out of 129 finishing, but his rider had stopped for an hour waiting for his wife to catch up on another horse. She never showed up, and Hawk and his rider finally went on to finish. They would have come in much higher in the numbers if that had not happened. This is the lowest that a Morab has finished that we know of. The owner, Kerry Greear, is excited about Hawk and his future in the endurance & competitive trail world - and she has every right to be! The pair is already entered to ride the 2005 Tevis as a celebration for Kerry's 50th birthday. Kerry and Hawk are pictured here after their very first crossing of the famous No Hands Bridge on the Western States Trail where the Tevis is held. Hawk is IMR registered, and a winner of the Pardner's N Performance Award with the AERC.

UPDATE: Hawk and owner/rider, Kerry, did it! They finished a tough Tevis Cup on July 24, 2005, in 69th place! This is Hawk's second Tevis Cup, finishing both times. A year later, in 2006, Hawk shocked everyone when he came in second at the Bighorn 100 and then garnered his first BEST CONDITION!

ASTRO ARIES, not only holds the record for 5,000+ miles in one year, he also completed the Tevis Cup. See more information on Astro on the Legends page.

NUGGET, a Multiple Best Condition 15 hand chestnut gelding was in the 2000 Tevis, and was the highest placing Morab to finish that year when he came in 23rd. That's with 259 starting, (8 juniors), and 126 finishing. Pretty impressive! Nugget also has the distinction of completing the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Ride, clear over on the other side of the country from the Tevis in California! He was 2nd in that ride. In 11 years of endurance riding, he was pulled only twice.

APRIL, a California Morab, is one of the gifted Morab mares to try the Tevis. Sadly, her one time to enter she was pulled due to deydration. The rider followed the head vet's advice, and preloaded with electrolytes - bad mistake. Thankfully, April was back to her old self as soon as she was rehydrated with an IV, but was not allowed to complete the ride. There were four other Morabs there in 2000 with April - they placed 23rd, 25th and 51st, and the fourth one was pulled. See April's story on the "My Morab Story" page. She is into her 20th year of AERC rides, and has already completed 3 rides in 2005. This is another Morab that is racking up the years and still going!

MPH RAJAMAH, a California Morab mare, PICTURED AT RIGHT ON COUGAR ROCK AT THE TEVIS IN 1991. Raja lived to be 22 years old, and was pulled from only one AERC ride - and that had to be the Tevis. Due to some bad fly spay the week before, she developed a spot on her back, and was pulled for that at 58 miles. Raised from a foal by her  breeder/owner/rider, she was registered as a Half Arabian and was out of a Morab mare.

In 1999, PR TULIP, a 15.1 California Morab gelding was not able to finish and was pulled. He came back to the Tevis in 2000, and was pulled again. Despite this, this amazing Morab has completed 361 rides out of 377 in a 15 year AERC endurance career. Tulip is proof that an endurance Morab can last for years. As of July 2007, he's garnered an astounding 18,875 AERC miles! More than any other AERC horse of any breed. Completing the Tevis has eluded him in an otherwise brilliant record. Tulip earned a 2004 and a 2006 XP Gold Medal Award. To be eligible for this award, you must complete the following rides on the same horse: Cuyama Oaks 3-Day, 155 miles. Mt. Carmel 3-Day, 155 miles. Cold Springs 5-Day, 250 miles. Bryce Canyon 5-Day, 250 miles. Grand Canyon 5-Day, 250 miles. Total: 1060 miles. Tulip and his rider, Les Carr, were one of only three teams who won the 2004 Gold Medal. Tulip is a registered Morab, and is a MORAB LEGEND IN THE MAKING.

IZA, a 14.3 Morab mare from Montana, tried the Tevis in 1997 for the first time - and finished 10th. That was the year that Kooter and his sister were also in the ride when they finished 3rd and 34th respectively. In her years of endurance from 1992 to 1999, Iza finished every time.

KALOS is another Morab who has a long track record of successful endurance rides, including several Best Conditions. Out of 111 rides he's started, he's completed 103 of them - the 2002 Western States Trail ride was one of the very few where he got pulled.

MOVIN ON BLUES has now started and finished the Tevis Cup SEVEN times in a row. He was pulled only ONCE. His six Tevis finishes were 51st, 64th, 81st, 33rd, 76th and 54th. He's not a big horse at 14.1 hands, but he's as steady, consistant and reliable as they come. And tough as nails. His most recent Tevis finish was in 2006.

BEAU is a Tevis Morab that we just discovered in July 2005. Bob Suhr, Julie Suhr's husband, rode his first Tevis Cup in 1976 - he chose Beau for this job. They finished in fine shape. We are trying to contact Julie to get more information on Beau. We found her account of Beau and Bob at the Tevis in her book, "Ten Feet Tall, Still". There is a picture of Bob and Beau on Cougar Rock in the book, and we are hoping to get permission from Julie to use the picture on this website.

RED SANS LEGEND+BA - In 2006, Legend entered and finished his first Tevis Cup, following big brother Tamarron Red Rapture+BA to the finish in 30th place! All Morabs entered also finished - 100% completion rate for the breed. Legend came back for 2007 without Big Brother, and was poised to finish in the Top Ten when he and his rider, Roger Yohe, had a tragic accident about 75 miles into the ride. They are both going to be ok, and we won't be surprised to see both of them at the starting line in 2008. This is the only *incident* that we know of involving a Morab in the Tevis Cup history.

As we find more Tevis Morabs, we will include them on this page.