The diptych of the Red Cow and the first Chinese Horse takes up the top section of the passageway. It also includes a large number of different signs – a rough yellow square, straight lines (of which two are branching and another is hooked), nested signs and, along the outline of the Chinese Horse, a large bracket-shaped sign consisting of 26 black dots. The outline of these two animals occupy a large horizontally-oriented hollow; only the cow's head and neck exceed the limits of this concave space.
The vast red colour field is used to depict the hide of the aurochs and is progressively diluted with black pigments on the head and neck. A number of segments were created with a brush.
Three colours were used in the creation of the first Chinese Horse: red for the neck and the beginning of the breast, yellow for the hide and the body, and black for the structuring lines and the dappled aspect of the hide.
Like most depictions of equids at Lascaux, the tail hangs down to the ground line. Here it is unusually long.