The Forgotten Champion
Gina had owned Rancho Se Air ever since it was passed down to her. Nothing had changed until the old stalls were taken down and replaced with a round pen. When she began to notice strange sounds and events she knew something was happening. When Gina was putting Dudley away she saw something in the extra stall. At first she thought that it was only her pony Silver, but in the wrong stall. Catharine called to Gina, and Gina looked away. By the time she looked back the white figure had disappeared. She wondered if the strange figure was in her mind, or there was really something out there which nobody knew about.Over the next couple of days, Gina kept her eye on the stall. Appearing tack and disappearing grooming items were out in the courtyard. Then, when she looked out the window of her office, she saw a horse. It looked at Gina, snorted, and then, in a high pitched whinny, disappeared. The wind howled. The horses let out howls of a whinny, then all was calm. Gina started to ask around to see is anyone else had seen this "thing".
One night, Gina heard a whinny, hoof beats, and pawing. She raced out of the house and had just enough time to see a shaky figure of a horse and rider in the arena. The horse looked a faded white and had pure black eyes, the girl, looking around 15, was only wearing jodhpurs and a sweatshirt. Their movement together looked like such harmony, almost like music. The phantom spooked, then all was black, the only light was the full moon. Gina went back to the house, now even more aware her "new arrival".
The next morning, Gina went on-line. She looked up "The List of Champions" on the old horse news page. Sure enough, there was her "phantom-horse". The mare's name was Rhapsody, a white Lipizzaner who was always faithful to her owner. "Rhap's" owner's name was not mentioned. Rhapsody's name explained her movement, free and smooth like Bach's most famous symphonies. She was one of the top horses in the whole country, in Jumping and Dressage. Gina minimized the page and went out for her twelve o'clock riding lesson.
When Gina maximized the page again she saw it had been changed. She pulled up another page, but went to a more resent news website. On the front page in big letters said, "Tragedy at the Grand Prix Show". The article read, "Jumping champion goes down with rider after winning first two classes. After trying to clear the 6 foot 3 oxar, champion 'Rhapsody' fails to land and tumbles to the ground, throwing her rider." It was a longer article, so Gina started to skim, "….rider taken to hospital…..horse put down after show".Gina exited the internet and went out to the stall she would see Rhap in on and off, and placed a few carrots and a flake of hay.
It was another windy night, gates were rattling, horses whinnying, thundering hoofs. "Wait!" Gina thought, "thundering hoofs?" She ran out of the house, this time with her camera. There, in the arena, was the team of horse and rider. This time, there was jumps in the arena. Gina took out her camera and aimed it to shoot. The horse rushed by, Gina snapped the picture, then the horse stopped. The mare came back around and snorted at Gina, then, the mare was gone.
She went to get the picture developed at Savon. When she got them back, she saw that Rhapsody had not really been that close. It looked like she was at the other side of the arena. Maybe she wasn't photogenic. Gina got home and got some carrots to put in the stall. But when she got there, the horse, tack, and every thing that had appeared, was gone.
The End
