"Red Water"
Kara Robbins
Hillcrest Elementary School PTA
Brookings, SD

Read This Artist's Statement

Red Water
"Easy boy," that was my father Hank Carl. I jumped back when the Rising Ridge Ranch. The ranch had been in our family for about the pure red stallion jumped against the panels of the small corral at 50 years. I stared at the red stallion. I was drawn to him somehow, someway that I didn't understand.

Earlier that day my dad and his helper, Buck, went out to check on Rising Ridge's cattle. When they came back from the range they had this beautiful red stallion. They said that the stallion was threatening to hurt some of the cattle so that his herd could get good grazing grass. They decided that they would rope him and bring him in so he wouldn't hurt the cattle.

The stallion's long forelock hung over his eyes. Through the forelock I could see the fire that burned in his eyes. For a moment our gazes met. They locked for only a second. While our eyes were locked, dad stretched his arms down and pulled off the rope that was causing the entire ruckus. "Leave him in the corral for tonight," my father said. Buck nodded and then pointed to me. Then he gestured toward the barn. I knew what that meant, I was supposed to feed and water the stallion. Usually that was Buck's job, but he was getting old so I did the watering and feeding for him.

"Whoosh," said the large hay bale as it whizzed down from the hayloft. I jumped down after it and landed on my feet. I had down this many time, though it wasn't very lady like. My auburn hair flew way up in the air and I screamed with the thrill. Once I was earthbound, I put the water and the hay in a wheel barrel and then went out to the corral. "Hey there pretty boy," I said and then smooched to the stallion. He rolled his eyes showing whites and then tossed his forelock. I tossed down the hay and hung up the water. Then I sat down on an old stump by the corral and watched the stallion.

"Amanda get inside right now! Supper's gettin' cold," I stood up. I could tell that Mary Carl, my mother, was mad. I had sat there watching the stallion for about an hour. We grew to know each other a little more. I could tell that he knew that we had a little connection. Somehow he had told me about his life. He also told me his name. His name was Lah. That is Flame in Arabic. Before I went in I looked at his body. He had a beautifully dished face of an Arabian and was very muscular. "Amanda," that was my mother's warning tone. I ran inside. When I was at the door, I looked back at the stallion. He let out a high-pitched whinny. I just smiled and then went inside.

The next day I had gone outside early to be with the stallion. I wanted to watch his movements and get to know him more. Now it was about noon when my mom called. " Amanda, sweetie, your father wants to talk to you," that was my mother. "O.K.," I yelled. I sprinted into the house very curious. Dad rarely ever wanted to talk to me when there was work to be done. I ran in the door and saw my dad eating breakfast. "Yes?" I asked. My dad said," I saw that you really like that stallion. You have been wasting time instead of doing your chores. I'm very disappointed. But, I'm going to make a deal with you." I was trembling with excitement. I'm going to give you that stallion," he said then paused," Only if you do your chores. If you skip out one day, he's gone. I can get some really good money for that stallion." I nodded my head and we shook hands in agreement. Then I bounded outside to take care of my new horse

Over the months I got to know Lah very well. Finally I thought I was ready to enter his pen and put a halter on him. I opened the gate and closed the latch. "Lah, pretty boy," I said. Lah swung around and faced me. He looked startled, and then knowing whom it was he calmed down a little. I started walking toward him, but he pinned his ears back and threatened to bite. I stepped back, surprised. I thought that he was going to let me pet and groom him. So I just sat down. I had heard that's what you do when you are trying to get a wild horse to know you. It gives them curiosity.

I sat there for about an hour. Then Lah came up and gave me a nudge. I slowly moved my hand around to let him sniff it. He gave a snort then trotted away, but then came back right away. It had worked! He was very curious. I got to my feet and started walking toward him. He just stayed where he was. When I placed my hand on his hide he flinched, but then nuzzled me. I gave a little laugh and he startled and trotted away. He returned once again quickly. He sniffed at the halter I had in my hands. Once he seemed accustomed to it I put the lead rope over his neck. He started shaking his head crazily and thrashing around. He would rear and rear and run around the pen. I jumped out of the corral when he started. I went to sit on the old stump by the corral until he was over with his show.

It took about thirty minutes for him to settle down. Then I went in the corral and fed him an apple. While he munched on it I clipped the lead rope on his halter. Then I started to lead him around. He followed right along with me. I was thrilled. Usually it took a couple of day or more, but this only took me one try. After an hour I unlatched the gate. I was going to put him to the real test. I walked outside and left the gate open. I then put all my attention to Lah. He stood there, looked around then headed back into the pen. I stood there, mouth agape, why hadn't he wanted to run? I put him back in the corral and shut the gate. I gave him extra hay and a little oats tonight then when inside.

About three months later, after I had taught him almost every thing a horse should know, I took him out of his corral. I then put dad's hackamore on him. A hackamore is almost like a halter, but gives pressures so a horse turns. Then I swung up on his back. Once I was seated properly Lah bolted. I quickly leaned forward and held onto his mane. I was not ready for this. Out of all of the times I took him out of his pen he had shone no interest for going anywhere else. I figured I couldn't turn him around so I just hung on. I had a pretty good idea where he was going. Up to the mountains in the east. That was where most wild horses were.

We rode for about two hours. Lah was lathered in sweat, but still kept his usual pace. Then he reached the rocky edge of the mountains. Not many people ever came here because of the cougars and bears and other dangerous creatures. We went up a steep hill to what seemed to be a dead end, but Lah started going down some secret path. I had to sit back or else I would have gone over his head. I wouldn't want to be stranded out here with all of these deadly creatures. Then we entered this low roofed cave. After about thirty minutes of ducking my head from the rock ceiling, we entered one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. It was the greenest grass I had ever seen. The healthiest trees. The water was so pure. Then Lah stopped. I could tell that he was singling for me to get off. I slid off his back. Then I walked over to get a drink from this little stream that came out from the wall. I screamed. The water was red. Pure red. Blood red. I leaped back. Then I ran and grabbed Lah. He turned on me with flaming eyes. I jumped on his back. "Time to go home." I said. Lah obediently left the valley and headed home.

Once I got home, Lah stopped about a mile away. I knew what this meant. I took the hackamore off his head. He was always free and had to live in the wild. He would never of loved it at the ranch. I then gave Lah a final pat. Then he turned on his hindquarters and ran back toward the mountains. I then started to walk the last mile toward home to tell my dad what happened. I would never tell him about the secret valley though.

Right before I was ready to go to college, I decided to go back to the secret valley. I had named it Red Water Valley for the blood red stream. I took my dad's endurance horse and started out to the mountains.

It took me about a day to get there. I camped out on the edge of the rim of the mountains. In the morning I would make my way to the valley.

That night I was awakened my something moving down from the mountains. I say a flash of red. "Could it be," I wondered to myself. Then I saw him. Lah. Still strong as ever, even though he was becoming old. He gave a hearty whinny and I got up and ran to him. Then he lowered himself so I could jump on his back. Once I was on we ran into the hills. Once we got to the secret valley the stars shone bright above. I got off Lah and went over to the red stream. I slept by it that night.

When I woke up, my dad's endurance horse was there. Lah must have went back and got him. I then looked a Lah. He pushed my dad's horse towards me. "Time to go," he was saying in his own language. I smiled, gave Lah a hug and kiss then mounted and started to leave. I quickly looked back at the red stream. All of a sudden clear water started flowing into the red water. I smiled. That was the sign that everything had been set right.