Robert Painter first became acquainted with the Barb horse when he was given a mare to train and use for ranch work the summer he was fifteen. He didn't know the breeding of the mare but perceived that she was different from any horse he had previously known. After being turned down on an offer to trade his summer wages for her, he began a lifelong search and study of horses like her. Some ten years later this search led him to such locations as the Book Cliffs of Utah, Oregon, Old Mexico, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. He found horses that matched the original mare, and also found that the horses were Barbs. As these horses became available, he added them to his original stock.

Robert spent many hours among wild horses, and explored various ranges where wild horses, Barbs among them, lived. When he investigated an area he not only examined the stock that was there but also visited with farmers and ranchers of the area. Many times they knew the history of the horses. In the early 1900's, when horses were still in demand more as using than pleasure animals, ranchers and military remount officers shot many of the wild stallions and turned out draft horse stallions to increase the size of the smaller wild horse, or thoroughbreds, to add a more refined look, or any other stallion they felt would improve the wild stock. Any time this had happened, Robert did not include those horses in his own herd.

All through the years he has studied many horses, getting the conformation, characteristics, and size well internalized, so if outside blood had been added to the wild herds, he would recognize it. He also spent time looking at bones in the various areas where the wild horses ran, determining if the skeletons were consistent with the Barb. At one point the bones of some of the Barbs were analyzed by a zoologist, who identified several unique qualities that differed between the Barb and other breeds. If the bones, the verbal history, and the horses all fit the research, he made an effort to procure some of the horses for his herd.

Also, many hours were spent reading the history of peoples who had the horse, and old articles about their existence, both in the U.S.A. and in Africa and Europe. That reading helped identify origin, use, and conformation.

He has worked with many other breeds and types of horses throughout the years. He is quick to acknowledge that a good horse is a good horse, regardless of its appearance or ancestry, but his experience has resulted in a special and lifelong respect and appreciation for the Barb.

His goal has been, and still is, with the help of his wife Louise, to preserve the horse as it was originally - not to "make it better" by adding size, or refinement, or a special head, or anything else that would change the horse that for centuries was probably the primary horse used for rigorous campaigns of conquest ranging from Asia, through Africa, Spain, and to the Americas.

There is additional information that could be provided to serious inquirers.

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