Vol 47 2017 ASIAN HIGHLANDS PERSPECTIVES 2017 Vol 47 G.YANG RTA: A GENTLE WHITE HORSE 1 Rin chen don 'grub རིན(cid:2)ཆནེ (cid:2)དོན(cid:2)འ(cid:31)བ(cid:15) When I was seven (the year 2000) my family had ten horses. These horses were very important, especially when we moved from one pasture to another. Among the horses was G.yang rta - a gentle, white horse. There were five children in my family aged from five to ten. When we moved to a new campsite, we could not walk for a long distance, and Mother could not carry us all, therefore, our dear Gyang rta helped carry us. Mother seemed able to communicate with G.yang rta. Mother was too short to put us in the saddle on G.yang rta's back but, after she spoke to him, G.yang rta would kneel and then she would put two or three of us on his back. Afterwards, Mother did not worry about us and busied herself with herding our yaks. G.yang rta followed Mother and we did not bother using the reins. We regarded G.yang rta almost as a family member and gave him good food. Once my brother became very ill and G.yang rta took him back home. We thought G.yang rta had saved Brother's life. Though G.yang rta was very gentle with our family members, he behaved very differently with strangers. Then G.yang rta got very ill and died. Our family was enveloped in a sad, silent, cold atmosphere. We were all extremely sad and some of us wept. Rin chen don 'grub. 2017. Gyang rta: A Gentle White Horse. Asian Highlands Perspectives 47:84-85. 84 Vol 47 2017 ASIAN HIGHLANDS PERSPECTIVES 2017 Vol 47 NON-ENGLISH TERMS g.yang rta གཡང(cid:2)(cid:28)(cid:15) rin chen don 'grub རིན(cid:2)ཆེན(cid:2)དོན(cid:2)འ(cid:31)བ(cid:15) 85