Solo [Windmount Stables] Riding: Easier Said Than Done

[Asen]

33rd of Spring
515 AV

As Asen stepped into the stables, she felt her stomach twist in dread. The stench of horses permeated the air, and she swore she could almost taste it. The massive beasts were all around her, stomping and huffing and pushing. They tested their leads, shook their manes, tried to wrest their reins from their rider's hands. It was hot, too, and it made the air stuffy and difficult to breathe in. The heat was welcoming to the girl with the Dhani blood, who became drowsy in the cold. She enjoyed the warmth.

And they were terrifying. The half-Dhani's hands shook and she rubbed her palms on her thighs. If she wanted to be a good knight, she'd have to ride a horse well enough. That was what motivated her and gave her the strength to force past her fears. She went to the most docile-looking beast she saw, hoping that her judgement wasn't clouded in any way.

Leads, leads. I gotta get a lead, right? she asked herself. Leads were what kept the horse from walking away while the rider was trying to put equipment on them. Thankfully there was one wrapped around the bar of the horses's stall and she took it, accidentally lifting a mass of woven material of sorts with it. It was rough on her skin, nothing like the smooth leather reins.

She frowned, but after she realized that it was, in fact, a halter that went around the horse's head she slipped it over the beast's ears and into place. The lead was pulled through and knotted around the halter, then affixed to the bars of the stall. For half a tick she examined the cluster of hair at the poll, trapped beneath the forehead strap of the halter. She pursed her lips and tugged the mane out from underneath the strap, letting it fall just above the horse's eyes.

Asen rubbed her sweating palms on her thighs again, clenching and unclenching her fingers. What now? Oh, yeah. A bridle. Or is it a saddle? I should probably try to put a saddle on this time so I don't fall off again. Falling off would be a really bad idea. The thing could step on me or... or something.

The squire turned and glanced behind her, then looked around at the stables. Everyone was getting saddled, maybe she could watch them and learn what she was supposed to do. It couldn't be that hard, right? It was just a piece of leather, after all. Nothing too fancy, at least not in her eyes. Everything seemed relatively simple.

[Asen]

Thankfully there was one stablehand, nearer to her than the rest, that was saddling a horse. He'd pulled the piece of equipment from a rack filled with them and draped it across the horse's back. Asen followed his example, surprised by the weight of the leather. She had to brace it against her knee while she carried it back to the horse. It was bulkier than it appeared, too.

The squire practically slung the saddle over the horse, making the poor thing huff and toss its head. She leaned back slightly, expecting it to snap at her. When she turned back and compared her handiwork to that of the stablehand's, she realized that she'd put the saddle on backwards.

Are you petchin' kiddin' me? she asked mentally, shoulders slumping and her face dropping into an expression of annoyance. The half-Dhani swore under her breath as she struggled to turn the saddle around the right way, so the horn pointed forwards at the horse's head and withers instead of at its hindquarters.

Asen twisted around to look back at the stablehand, who by then had realized that someone was watching him. He cast a glance at the girl, raising an eyebrow before returning to his work. He stepped to the side so she could clearly see what he was doing.

He took hold of the strap and passed it under the horse, bringing it up on the other side. The end of the strap slid through the metal loop, which he then jerked downwards to tighten it. The horse snorted and stamped a hoof, but the stablehand was not fazed. He simply repeated the process several times before he tied a sort of knot that laid flat against the rest of the strap.

He'd hooked one of the stirrups over the horn before he began, and then took it from the horn so it covered the saddle's strap. He brushed off invisible dirt and then turned to the squire, gesturing.

"That's how you do it," he said. Asen nodded slowly and turned back to her own horse, hooking the appropriate stirrup over the horn of the saddle. She reached for the same strap that dangled from the horse's other side, ever wary of the sharp hooves. Her searching fingers grasped the strap and pulled it through the loop, watching the stablehand for confirmation. He gave a confirming nod, then continued.

The half-Dhani tightened the saddle with each layer of strap she created, then gave it a sharp tug and began tying the knot. Halfway through her clumsy attempt, however, The boy's hands covered her own.

"Not like that," he said, undoing her lousy knot. He retied it with quick, experienced motions that secured the saddle around the horse, then stepped back to his own horse. He glanced back at her, as if expecting a thanks.

"Ah. Uh, thanks. F- for helpin' me," she stuttered out. The stablehand gave a nod and returned to his work. Asen peeked over the top of the horse's back and scanned the stable for the reins. They were hanging on a bunch of hooks, and she made her way over to them. Her feet scuffed the floor with short little sounds, making her lack of experience obvious.

[Asen]

Asen wrapped her hand around one of the sets of reins, fully expecting it to come away from the one behind it with no problems. This, of course, was not the case as both sets slid off the hook in a tangle of leather straps. It clattered noisily to the floor and the squire's face turned bright red as she wrestled with the reins to untangle them.

After a good five chimes of unraveling the mass, she hooked the unneeded set back on the hook and took the other back to her mount. She failed to see the cruel glint in its eyes as she unhooked the halter and pushed the bit between the horse's teeth, fixing it in place behind its lower jaw with the little belt attached to the strap.

The half-Dhani stood with her hands on her hips and legs akimbo, examining her work. It seemed like everything was adjusted properly. She nodded, moving to the beast's left side and giving it a gentle -- but wary -- pat on its withers. She placed one hand on either side of the saddle, lifting her left foot and stepping into the appropriate stirrup.

With a grunt and a push, she found herself seated comfortably in the saddle. Asen gently scooped up the reins from the horse's neck, allowing her wrists to face the creature's mane as opposed to being exposed to the light of Syna. She pressed her heels into its sides, commanding it to walk forwards. The rolling gait took a moment to get used to, but her hips soon moved in time to its steps.

She managed to make it out to one of the workout arenas without much trouble, though the horse proved to be stubborn when she wanted it to turn in one direction or another. The squire let it walk around for a bit, watching other riders and their techniques. One pulled up next to her, a young man. "You should try a faster pace," he told her, "once you get them going it's way more fun."

The half-Dhani nodded, thanking him as he kicked his mount into a gallop. She pursed her lips, looking down at the living thing beneath her. It couldn't hurt, right? Unless she fell off, of course. She kicked the horse in the side with one foot, prompting it into a jolting sort of trot. The girl bounced around in the saddle like dice in a cup.

She didn't understand why people enjoyed riding. It was uncomfortable, unnatural. She was having a hard time staying balanced, though she found that if she used her thighs to grip the horse it wasn't so bad. The boy, he'd said that faster paces were better. This was a faster pace, wasn't it? Except he'd gone into a gallop, pelting around the arena at high speeds. He was clearly more experienced than she.

[Asen]

The blonde and her mount took several laps around the arena, finally slowing to a walk once more in front of the stables. Another round and they went in, the horse sweating and the girl's abdomen sore from trying to stay balanced on the beast. They'd ridden for a quarter-and-a-half bell, or forty-five chimes. She maneuvered it in front of an empty stall, wrapping the reins around the saddle's horn to keep the horse from walking away.

She lifted her right leg from the stirrup, swinging it over the horse's flanks to settle on the ground. Her left leg did the same, though it didn't cross over any part of the creature. It was simply removed from the corresponding stirrup and placed on the ground. Asen tied the horse to one of the bars of the stall, but not before unstrapping the bridle and sliding it off its head.

She secured the halter knot, then took the reins to the same hook they were on before. After that, she returned to the horse. The half-Dhani scratched at the insides of her thighs, mumbling something to her mount about itchy horse hair, then set the left stirrup over the horn of the saddle to have better access to the girth strap.

Her fingers worked to untie the strap, letting it hang from the saddle. She lifted the leather equipment off the horse's spine, carrying the bulky object back to the rack it belonged to. She hefted it onto the rack and brushed off her hands, nodding to herself. It was good enough.

As she turned back to the horse, she decided that brushing it down wasn't a terrible idea. She snagged a brush and swept it across the creature's sweaty coat, ridding it of surface tangles and smoothing the hairs out. Asen made her way from its neck down to its withers, then across its sides to its flanks and legs. She repeated the same process on its other side, patting the damp thing gently before returning the brush to where she got it from.

The half-Dhani unraveled the lead's knot, pulling the horse into its stall and gently pulling the halter from its head. She stepped out of the stall, closing the door behind her and double-checking the lock. She then draped the halter and lead across the door and between two of the stall's bars.

Yeah, that should be good enough, she thought to herself. She wiped her hands on her thighs once more, glancing around to make sure she did alright. After a quick mental nod she strode from the stables, stretching her legs to rid them of the stiffness gained from sitting in a saddle for so long. She couldn't believe people did that for fun.

[Sayana]

Asen Skills: Skill EXP Observation +4 Riding: Horse +4 Socialization +1 Horsemanship +1 Endurance +1 Lores: Location: Windmount Stables Horses are terrifying Riding: Function of a horse's lead Riding: Putting on a horse's halter Riding: Saddling a horse Riding: Bridling a horse Riding: Mounting a horse Riding: Walk, trot Riding: Dismounting a horse Horsemanship: Grooming a horse Riding: Untacking a horse Shield Points: Shield Points Earned Reason +3 Training Total: +3 Shield Points Comments : Great thread. It was fun seeing Asen struggle through the basics of tacking up a horse. Even though she was a complete novice, I think she was able to watch enough to learn the basics. I gave you a lot of lores from the thorough job you did. Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request in the grade request thread. However, make sure to keep the link so that the DS can review graded threads with ease. If you have any questions or concerns about your grade please feel free to send me a message (like really, I’m all ears if you feel like I missed something). Enjoy.