Although from this courageous lineage have descended all light breeds of horses known to the world today—the Thoroughbred, Standard Bred, American Saddle Horse, Morgan, and so on down the line ... still we cannot tell you the origin of the purebred Arab. That belongs to the dim and distant past. God gave him to us and is preserving this precious blood through the generous hearts of a handful of large breeders, mostly located in the United States. Why the United States? Because, with the advent of the automobile in Arabia, the Bedouins learned they could travel faster and farther in “war cars” than by Arabian horses; so they discontinued the use of horses in warfare. This resulted in diminishing the breeding of pure Arabians in the desert. Then, during World War II, many of the large European Studs, which had been established from desert horses, were completely demolished. To give you a word picture of the purebred Arab, the United States Department of Agriculture, in its bulletin, “Breeds of Light Horses,” has this to say: “A typical Arabian horse has a wedge-shaped head; small nose; dish face; wide, deep jaws; eyes set low, wide apart, and near the middle of the head; a relatively large brain capacity; one less lumbar vertebra than most other horses, giving a short weight-carrying back; one or two less vertebrae in the tail, which is set up on a high croup and gaily carried; ribs spring wide and deep; large knee, hock, tendon and hoof; dense bone; small stomach capacity, with small feed requirements and the ability to assimilate rough feed; and a marked prepotency in the Stud. “Generally the Arabian horse in action shows only the walk, trot, and canter. The usual height is from 14 to 15.1 hands, and the weight from 850 to 1,100 pounds. Bay, gray and chestnut are the predominating colors, with an occasional white or black. White marks on the head and legs are common, but purebred Arabians are never piebald or spotted, notwithstanding an erroneous impression created by circus horses that are commonly called Arabians.” [Illustration: Arabian tents and horses] [Illustration: BLYTHE SPIRIT] The love for the purebred Arab horse is so great that there are hundreds of Arab owners, but only a few large breeders. Among these few large breeders is The Van Vleet Arabian Stud, owned and operated by The Trinidad Bean & Elevator Company. Started by L.W. Van Vleet, President of the company, it is located on The Lazy VV Ranch near Nederland, Colorado. This ranch is now the mountain home of over 90 purebred Arabians.