That’s right. My name is Van, and as is particularly appropriate for the owner/manager and blogger in chief of an online polo club, I got that name from a horse. My dad’s father, Joe H. Smith, was a legendary horseman, and when he traded a span of mules for a mare and her foal from a local horse dealer in 1911, he was definitely onto something.

In those days he was ranching owned and leased land just on top of the caprock in southeast Dickens County, Texas. The land was not yet completely fenced, so he and his brother Charlie maintained a pack of staghounds and chased antelope across the grassy plains.

The paint horse that he bought as a foal came along nicely, and Grandad slowly realized that this was no ordinary horse. He seemed inexhaustible, as well as cagy and smart. He understood the hunt as well as his rider did. But there was one more thing; he was extremely adept at learning, and kept a steady, persistent head when confronted by new tasks, which his rapturous owner delighted in showing him. And he needed a bigger stage.

Here is the article written by my dad, Joe H. Smith Jr. in The Cattleman Magazine in September, 1950, with additional pictures of this remarkable horse, performing with his rider, World Champion Cowboy Leonard Stroud. I consider it a great honor to be named Van, after the paint horse, the most famous western horse in America until Tom Mix’s Tony became even more famous by starring in many of the early western movies.

I hope you enjoy this article, the manuscript and the pictures as much as I do.