Phase 2 | Trailer Incident

Current Day

Zenith was doing well, considering all he’d been through. Though we weren’t provided details of the trailer incident, it must have been bad. I mean, Zenith is a proud, calm, and loving horse, it must have taken a lot for him to get into the place he is now.

Today was a training day. I had Elijah help me, since I wanted to try and bring a trailer close to Zenith. I wasn’t expecting any miracles, I just wanted to start getting him used to trailers. If we ever wanted to show him, he’d need to be good with trailers. He is a fine show prospect with the way he holds himself. He’d do well in classical dressage. 

There aren’t many competitions for classical dressage anymore, but I honestly prefer it over modern dressage. I feel like dressage has stopped being about how well your horse moves and how calm they are. It’s moved more to what's now considered flashy and I can’t stand that. That’s why I’ll only ever do classical dressage with Zenith.

Elijah was standing at the outdoor arena’s fence. “Elijah, let me warm him up a little from the ground and then we can bring the trailer okay?” I said. “Yeah sure.” Elijah responded. 

I walked Zenith around the arena. I had him on a long lunge line just in case. Zenith was moving well. His injuries from his freakout were almost fully healed. 

The warm up was super simple, mostly walking, trotting, and a little bit of cantering. And of course tons of circles! 

Zenith was moving pretty well, so I walked him over to Elijah. “I think we’re ready.” I said. Elijah nodded. “Alright. So the trailer will come and park at the top part of the arena. As long as Zenith doesn’t run out of the arena, we’ll consider that a win.” Elijah said. “It’s going to be alright.” I nodded. The blood was rushing to my head, and I was getting scared. 

Elijah left, probably to get someone to back the trailer that was hidden behind the stable next to the arena. I grabbed my phone. I quickly dialed Elijah’s number. It rang once, then he picked up. “Elijah no wait.” I said. “Second thoughts much? It’ll be alright.” He said softly. “No, you're good. Go.” He said to someone else. “Elijah, wait. Maybe just start bringing it into view. I think if we bring it all the way, Zenith will freak out.” I said. I was trembling now. Zenith must have noticed because he let out a soft whinny and nudged me. 

“Okay we can do that. Hey don’t pull it all the way, just enough for Zenith to see it alright?” Elijah said. I sighed a breath of relief. Thank god. “Alright, they are moving into position. There are also people on horseback outside of the arena, so if Zenith spooks they can go after him.” Elijah comforted. “Okay.” I said and hung up.

I heard the trailer moving. Zenith must have as well, his ears pricked up and he snorted. He pawed the ground. “Easy Zenny. It’ll be alright. You won’t go in, I promise.” I said softly. I held the lead rope tightly, but I moved to be able to pet his shoulder. “It’s okay buddy. I promise. Nothing bad will happen. It’s okay.” I said softly, still petting his shoulder.

The trailer came into view. Zenith tensed up. “Hey, Zenith. It's okay. It’s okay.” I said softly, still petting him. 

Zenith was still tense but didn’t move. The trailer had stopped. Zenith’s eyes were full of fear. I hated doing this to him, but the only way for him to be okay with seeing trailers is actually seeing them. “It’s okay buddy.” I said and hugged him. Zenith couldn’t hug back, for obvious reasons but the tension in his muscles seemed to loosen a little. There we go.

The trailer started backing up. Zenith seemed to tense a little, but once it was out of view he relaxed. “There you go!” I said, patting him. A stray tear of relief fell down my cheek. Zenith snorted and raised his head. “What’s wrong Zenny?” I asked. Zenith turned his head, and focused on something in the distance. “Zenith?” I asked and tried to see what he was looking at. I saw two horses racing towards us. They were quite far, but I couldn’t see a rider on either of them. No tack either. “Zenith..” I said softly. One of the horses neighed, and Zenith winnied back. 

A few of the people on horseback ran out, and caught the two horses. They brought them closer to the arena where I could see one of them was a pretty white mare with orange patches on her face, neck, belly, and front legs. She was so pretty, and she seemed to be in good condition. Her green eyes flashed at me. The other horse was a bit taller and was completely white. That one was a stallion. Zenith neighed, and the mare neighed back. 

A few years earlier 

“Let’s load up the horses, we have to make it to the show on time or we’ll be eliminated!” Maddy hollered across the yard. “Maddy we are so early. Are you sure you want to load the horses already?” Cindy asked. “Do you remember what happened last time?” Maddy reminded. Cindy sighed. “Okay, I’ll grab Ranger and get him ready, could you grab his mama?” “Yeah sure, Ginger should load easily.” Maddy said heading off to the stables.

Half an hour later, a little foal came trotting proudly out of the stables with Cindy. “Ah, Ranger looks so proud and adorable.” Alex sighed looking at the foal. Though he wasn’t exactly little, he was one and a half years old. “Haha, yes! Ranger is always proud. We’re heading off to a halter class for him, and an endurance run for Ginger. You wanna come?” Cindy asked, laughing at the little foal. “Yeah sure, why not? I’ll bring my truck.” Alex said, still watching the proud foal, who was now trotting around Cindy. 

Ginger came out of the stables a few minutes later. Ranger whinnied at the sight of his mother, and tried to trot over. “Na uh. You two can catch up in the trailer. It’s a three hour drive anyway.” Cindy said, tightening her grip on the lead rope.

After both Ranger and Ginger were loaded up, Maddy and Cindy got into the trailer and headed off, with Alex driving a truck behind them. The plan was to take as many backroads as possible to the show instead of going onto a highway.

Maddy was at the wheel, and Cindy’s job was music and consistently checking the camera that showed the horses in the trailer. 

“Maddy, what kind of music do you want to listen to?” Cindy asked while switching the radio to aux. “Hmm, some country would be nice.” Maddy responded. Cindy switched on ‘God’s Country’ by Blake Sheldon. “Oh yes!” Maddy said laughing. “Got a deed to the land, but it ain’t my ground” Maddy and Cindy sang along off key.

Maddy glanced down to look at the camera. ”Maddy! Truck!” Cindy screamed. By the time Maddy had looked up, she wasn’t able to correct the trailer. The truck hit them in a head on collision. 

Alarms could be heard beeping, horses neighing, and the music still playing. Maddy groaned. Maddy sat up, taking in her surroundings. Cindy was next to her in a pool of blood. Maddy got light headed. “Cindy! Cindy!” Maddy screamed, but it was of no use. Cindy wouldn’t wake up. 

Maddy unbuckled herself from her seatbelt, and tried to get out of the trailer. The doors were locked and the windows closed. In front of her, out of the windshield she could see the truck’s driver getting out. Maddy sighed, maybe he would be able to help. Maddy saw the camera that was out of place, instead of being in the middle of the console, it was now thrown to Cindy’s side of the trailer. She could barely see Ranger, and Ginger was completely out of frame. “The camera should be viewing the whole trailer..” Maddy mumbled. She grabbed a small piece of metal near her, and slammed it into the window. The window immediately shattered, allowing Maddy to crawl out of the trailer.

Once out of the trailer, Maddy looked around. She barely registered the truck driver who was coming towards her. Instead, she turned around and walked to the backside of the trailer. Even in this confused and most likely concussed state, Maddy still thought about the horses and their safety.

When she had made it to the rear of the trailer, she saw the back was already open. “Huh?” She mumbled, getting closer to the trailer. The truck driver came to her. “Ma’am? Are you alright?” He asked. “Mhm.” Maddy mumbled. She went into the trailer, though she couldn’t register it, the trailer was on its side. 

Maddy saw Ranger in the back, and walked towards him. She lost her balance as she walked onto one of the windows installed into the trailer’s side. She fell onto her knees. “Ma’am?” The truck driver asked, and came inside the trailer to help her. Once inside, the driver saw Ranger. “Oh my.” He said. “Ma’am is this your horse?” He asked. “Ranger.” Maddy mumbled. “Ma’am what’s your name?” The driver asked. “Ginger.” Maddy mumbled. “Ginger? That’s your name?” The driver questioned. “Ginger.” Maddy repeated. “Ginger. Ginger.” The driver mumbled trying to think of what Maddy meant. 

Maddy managed to get up, and get to Ranger. His condition wasn’t ideal. He was trapped by a divider that must have gotten loose in the crash, it had to have slammed into his side. Maddy tried to free him, but wasn’t strong enough. The driver came to assist and pulled the divider off of Ranger. The panicked yearling whinnied, and leapt out of the trailer. “Ranger.” Maddy mumbled. “Is the horse’s name Ranger?” The driver asked Maddy. “Ginger.” Maddy mumbled. “That was Ginger? Who is Ranger?” The driver questioned. “Ginger.” Maddy mumbled. “Okay, let’s go outside shall we?” The driver said, and helped Maddy get out of the trailer. 

“Ranger.” Maddy mumbled. “Ranger, is that the horse?” the driver asked. “Ranger.” Maddy mumbled while looking around. An ambulance came, paramedics and firefighters surrounded her. “Ma’am?” One of the firefighters said, and walked to her. He grabbed Maddy by the arm. “Ma’am why don’t you see one of our paramedics?” He said, and tried to walk her to the paramedic. “Cindy.” Maddy mumbled. “Cindy?” The firefighter asked. “Cindy.” Maddy mumbled. “Hey, Jones, check and see if there was another victim.” The firefighter ordered. Jones ran to the front of the trailer. “Dauna, I need some help over here. We have another victim.” Jones called out. Dauna came and adjusted a c-collar to the victim’s neck. 

“Ranger. Ginger.” Maddy mumbled. “Lertic, it was a horse trailer that was turned over right?” One of the paramedics asked. “Yeah I’m pretty sure.” Lertic responded. “I think there were two horses, Ranger and Ginger.” The paramedic responded. “That would make sense, I’ll grab a few guys and we’ll see if we can find them. Thanks Jennifer.” Lertic said. 

“Jennifer, you were right. We found two horses.” Lertic said, while two firefighters behind him helped the horses to the paramedic. “The bigger one is in pretty bad shape, do you think you can help?” He asked. “I’m not a vet, call a vet. The anatomy of horses is completely different to the anatomy of humans.” She responded. 

A few days later 

“The yearling seems to be healing up well, but the older horse still isn’t healing as well as I’d like.” The vet said while patting down the yearling. “The yearling is named Ranger, and the older one is named Ginger.” Alex said. “Of course.” The vet replied.

The vet patted down Ginger, her white coat and patches of orange almost as if the orange was shining through on her face, neck, belly, and front legs. Her eyes were olive green.