A dynamic oil painting by Frederic Remington depicting a group of riders fleeing across a dusty plain, captured in 1889.

Frederic Remington painted A Dash for the Timber in 1889, marking a significant moment in his career as an illustrator and painter of the American West. The composition depicts a group of eight riders on horseback, galloping at full speed across a dry, dusty plain. They are pursued by a group of Apache warriors, visible only as a faint cloud of dust in the background. The riders are positioned in a line, moving from right to left, with their horses captured in various stages of a full gallop. One rider is slumped over his horse, suggesting he has been wounded in the skirmish.

Remington utilised his experience as a field illustrator to capture the physical exertion of the horses and the chaotic energy of the retreat. The palette is dominated by the earthy tones of the desert, with the blue sky providing a contrast to the dust kicked up by the hooves. The painting is notable for its sense of motion and the technical accuracy with which Remington rendered the anatomy of the horses. He avoids static poses, opting instead for a dynamic arrangement that conveys the urgency of the situation. The work is held in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. It remains one of the most recognisable images of the late nineteenth-century American frontier, reflecting the artist's interest in the conflict between settlers and indigenous populations during the expansion period.