I was 21 years old when Dee Hubbard called from Wichita, Kansas and discussed doing some promo photography and a portrait of their stallion Diamond Charge. Linda and I drove from our home in Colorado to Kansas then turned north on highway 81 where the Red Bee Ranch was on the west side of the road.
Diamond Charge was the headliner stallion at Red Bee, owned by Dee Hubbard and Art Lankin. He was the first to run top AAA at all 4 recognized distances and still to this day holds the track record at Ruidoso downs. His speed index was 100. He is registered as a brown 1958 son of Hy Diamond out of Lovely Lupita by Depth Charge. Most call him black, but with close observation he has some rust colors in his flanks which means he is not black. He sired 4 AQHA Champions, 1 Supreme Champion, with 108 race winners and 20 stakes winners.
After my Red Bee work I had an appointment to do some things for the Bob Moore Farm near Wichita. When Dee found out, he was not happy. Apparently Moore was a troubling competitor on one of their businesses. Dee made it plain that he was going to make my pockets jingle big time, but if I was going to also work for Moore, all Red Bee deals were off. He was a tough business person, but you always knew where you stood. I called Bob Moore and apologized for not being able to do his horses. Dee kept his promise and made my relationship with Red Bee a financial joy--really sweet.
The afternoon we arrived, Diamond Charge was led out. He danced, kicked, pawed the ground and never stayed in one place for over a few seconds. Linda was working to get his ears up. I was moving around hunting just any pose and this was a battle. We worked with him until the handlers were worn down and so were we. I was not sure we had a single usable shot. We agreed to start again in the morning with early light. They said he was easier to work with at first light. They were wrong.
Early we started the battle. It raged on for about 3 hours. I was taking any shot with all 4 legs were on the ground. He was watching in the air for eagles, for rattle snakes, kids on tricycles, who knew? I don't think Diamond Charge ever knew I was there. We rescheduled for one more try in the afternoon. We had to trap this image.
This time we took him a quarter mile away from the barns. He seemed to be a little lost. With a couple hours the photos were captured that were used of him the rest of his promotion career.
Diamond Charge was tall, he was a stunning athlete. Every muscle- ripple was visible as he moved. I worked to capture those fine lines in the painting.
With the blowing wind and dirt of Colorado our windshield was a mess. When Dee saw it he said to show up at his Safelite Auto Glass business and I had a new windshield installed in minutes. Dee owned the largest glass manufacturing company in the USA. Later in 1988, Dee with partner Dr. Ed Allred, bought Ruidoso Downs Race Track. Dee's personal horse racing interests yielded over $6 million in winnings.
The Diamond Charge painting was completed when I was age 22.
Author: Darol Dickinson
