The Ghost

From RACHAEL HALL (Member 1990 – 2005) 28 July 2008

Goodbye - The Ghost

For those of you who need a subtle reminder of the fantastic grey 13.1hh mare known to the family as Ghost, then you can’t have been competing in the same classes!! Sadly, in July, Ghost was put down after many years of loyalty. The pony who only had three speeds - neutral, fast and very fast - taught me the meaning of a jump off! Many of you will remember competing either against or alongside her in teams and if we left the fences up we were near impossible to beat.

Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t plain sailing from the start; it took me a while to find the brakes and then there was the small problem of trying to catch her. Oh! And the number of times I hit the deck, it hurts just thinking about it! But we worked it out and as a partnership in my last summer we were unstoppable, winning every class we entered up and down the country.

Ghost was amazing - she could turn on a six-pence, bounce a double (as the fence Ghost’s Leap at Harlton proves) and loved to gallop across open land. I never took her hunting as we would have no doubt been in front of the fox! Ghost didn’t like staying clean, so many a Sunday morning I would be up in the small hours, before it was light trying to clean the stains that she had managed to get under her stable rug!

Ghost was not fussed on Dressage and her outline was not to be desired but I worked hard to improve it, although unusually it didn’t seem to affect her jumping. We improved enough to do an occasional ODE but still the dressage was done at break neck speed and we only left the arena once or twice!!

Sadly after winning countless rosettes and trophies for show jumping, cross-country and the occasional gymkhana I had finally outgrown her, so Ghost was passed down the line to Donna.

Donna and the pony “built on springs” as one judge so eloquently put it continued the trend by winning countless trophies of their own, concluding their reign by qualifying for the Horse of the Year Show 1999. Donna quickly outgrew Ghost because her legs wouldn’t stop growing so it was soon Sadie’s turn.

Sadie had grown up watching Donna and me riding Ghost so by the time it was her turn to ride her she knew the way Ghost ticked! It didn’t take long for Sadie and Ghost to upset yet another generation of Pony Club members by winning various trophies, but their finest hour had to be competing at the National Schools Show Jumping Championships in 2001 held at Hickstead where Sadie, having jumped a 3’6” class in the International Arena, was awarded the Douglas Bunn Junior Rider Award.

Ghost went out on loan for a while as she wasn’t ready to retire when Sadie outgrew her but came home to live out her final years racing the old ponies around the field and winning of course!

Ghost will be sadly missed by us all. God Bless Ghost. You will always be our superstar.