First Summer with Horses

Kandee loved Flash and was grateful to ride him, but that didn’t keep her from wanting a horse of her own. She couldn’t quit dreaming of having a horse. “We could have even more fun, if I had a horse too,” she told Lou. Lou agreed, but neither girl could figure out how to make that happen. They had enough trouble just getting together. The girls planned to ride Flash almost every day. Usually the changeable weather did not discourage them from riding, but one day was exceptionally gray and rainy. The girls stayed indoors looking out the window at the downpour and gloom. “The weather is so terrible! Why won’t this rain let up?” they wailed. Late in the day the rain subsided, but the clouds were low and visibility was terrible. “We don’t care about the fog. The rain has let up. Let’s ride anyway,” Kandee suggested. The girls decided to ride close to the road rather than through the muddy berry fields because the fog was denser than they realized. This was a different way than they usually rode, but they thought their regular route might be too muddy after so much rain. “We’ll follow the road until we get past the little creek, then we can cut across to the berry field on the hill. Maybe it won’t be so muddy there,” Lou suggested. After crossing the creek, they neared a stone house next to a small pasture. Flash snorted when Lou asked him to turn towards the berry fields. He side stepped and pointed his nose toward the pasture. Lou let him have his way. Flash took them along the side of the small pasture which was mostly covered with blackberry vines. The girls knew they were following a fence line, but they couldn't see the fence because the fog was thick and mist from the ground was creeping up to meet the fog. Flash moved slowly and deliberately along the fence line, then suddenly stood very still, tossing his head and pointing his ears forward with curiosity. He snorted. Close by a twig snapped, then another, followed by total silence, except for rain drops falling from some nearby trees. Lou whispered, “What was that sound?” Kandee answered in a quiet tone, “Maybe a deer?” Then they heard more snapping of branches and berry vines. Flash side stepped closer to the fence and Lou urged him forward into an open space. The fog was so thick it was impossible to see anything. They could barely make out a group of small trees overgrown with wild blackberries on a hill. They heard the sound again, coming from those trees. “I wonder what is making that sound?” asked Kandee. Lou added, “Flash wants to see what it is, too. He’s not afraid of whatever is making the sound, so it is probably nothing we should be scared of.” The girls heard another snap of a branch, then a series of crunches and more snaps, then again silence. Flash nickered softly. The girls saw movement and wondered aloud what it could be. Lou and Kandee, who were riding bareback as always, felt a shiver run through Flash’s body as he softly nickered a greeting. The girls starred into the fog and suddenly as the fog thinned briefly, a beautiful white horse appeared. He just stood on the hill with the fog swirling around him. He was as curious about Flash as Flash was about him. The girls were taking in all the beauty of the moment, seeing a dream, or was it an apparition? They continued to stare. Flash whinnied, and this time there was an answer from this magical horse. The white horse was not an apparition; he was beautiful and real. He came close to the fence and sniffed noses with Flash. Kandee was mesmerized. She dismounted and reached over the rickety fence to pet the white horse. The girls didn’t even notice it had begun to rain again. “Where did you come from?” Kandee asked the white horse, as they picked the blackberries and fed them to the new horse. This new horse liked the berries and soon became very friendly. They noticed the horse was soaking wet and quite muddy. He had a smaller, more refined build than Flash. Kandee wondered if he could be an Arabian. “Don’t you have any shelter?” Kandee asked. “Hey, what are you girls doing?” A man yelled at them from the stone house. He started toward the field pulling on his coat as he walked. The girls were too close and too scared to run. They introduced themselves and told the man that Flash found this horse and they were just making friends. The old man could tell the girls meant no harm. In a strong accent, he introduced himself as Mr. Tony. He said he lived alone and was taking care of the horse for some friends who lived at the beach. He said, “The owners would not like anyone to mess with this horse.” Lou and Kandee assured him that they would never do anything to hurt the horse; that they could tell he was lonely, so they were giving him love and attention. They continued to rub and pet the white horse. The girls asked, “What is the horse’s name?” Mr. Tony said in his thick accent, “I don’t even know. I just call him Whitey.” That evening the girl’s discussed “Whitey.” The girls thought that was a terrible name for such a beautiful and magnificent horse. As they sat on the back porch thinking of him, they wrote on the porch’s blackboard trying out various spellings of wonderful sounding names. They finally decided to call him Mystic Phantom, because he really seemed like a phantom coming out of the mist. Visiting Mystic Phantom became the girls’ favorite destination.