Failing at Riding... (Garran, Spirit and Nikomas)

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit listened to Garran's instructions, still uncertain. Hearing the explanation for stopping, she tried it, pulling lightly on the reins. Falla responded easily, halting her movement. It was so nice to have a willing horse... She practiced starting, stopping, and turning for a few chimes, slowly growing better and better. Finally, her teacher asked her to face him, then stop.

She was slightly worried about the mare not stopping, and running over Garran by accident, but she ignored the feeling, instead going through with it. She pulled on the left side of Falla's reins, tugging a little longer than usual to turn the horse at a sharper angle. It looked a little awkward for the mare herself, but it was quickly done, and the Frostfawn relieved the pressure. Now that she was approaching her teacher... she again tugged on the leather straps in her hands, stopping Falla. Luckily, her mount didn't plan on trampling her companion, and listened. Garran seemed completely fine with this, moving over to a side, apparently with more information.

After hearing the explanation on dismounting, Spirit ran it several times through her head, to make sure she had everything right. Slowly and carefully, she began to follow the instructions. She gripped the saddle horn, putting most of her weight on it. She then moved her feet as asked, standing up and swinging her right leg over. It was like the opposite of mounting... which was logical. When it came time to slide down, she stiffened slightly, but went through with it anyways. The young groom mentally refused to look at the ground, keeping her eyes staring into the saddle. The ground was so far away....

After a few moments of hesitant sliding, her feet touched the ground and the Frostfawn let go, letting out a deep breath. She rested her head on Falla's side for a moment, sighing deeply, before turning around to Garran. She gave him a slightly embarrassed smile before asking "How did I do?" Her stomach churned slightly, but all in all... riding had been a good feeling! Her smile became a little bigger and a little more truthful at the thought, and Spirit stretched, hearing bones crack in her back.

OOCSo... one more post each I guess?

[Garran Frostfawn]

Garran smiled warmly and gave Spirit a laudatory clap on the back. "Good work! A true Frostfawn you are! Five more lessons and you'll be riding like you were born in the saddle." He gave Falla's neck a good pat too."And thank you too - for being such a clever girl!" he said, laughing, as the mare turned to rub her nose against his shirt. Garran then looked over to Nikomas and Dog, who was already stretched on his side sleeping away, and he pointed at the younger Vantha."And don't think I've forgotten about you, either. Come here and let's see if you can do as well as Spirit." He gave the groom a conspiratorial wink and waited to see if Niko would really take him up on his challenge. Niko laughed and waved away Garran's offer, though, and the trainer smiled in turn and said to the girl, "Well, looks like you're ready to take her back inside and get her untacked. And I know you know how to brush her down. But honestly, I like to do that myself so just take her back to her stall and that will finish up lesson the first."

[Spirit Frostfawn]

Spirit grinned at Garran's praise, happy that she'd done well. Maybe she'd get her own horse one day... and then she could do this more often! Riding was fun, though it could be a little nerve racking at times... She watched and listened to his call to their watcher, but it was quickly dismissed. Sad... she was slightly hoping to watch some one mess up as equally as she had, as mean as it sounded.

She headed back to the stables at her teacher's request, feeling slightly strange that she would untack a horse... then not groom them. It was sort of a process that went hand in hand, to her. She shrugged mentally and went around that task anyways, heaving the saddle off the mare's back, and placing it back on it's original spot. She also removed Falla's bridle, carefully sliding the bit out of the horse's mouth. "Thank you" she whispered quietly, glad that her mount had been such a calm and easy one. Riding a horse that was a little more excitable... would have been nearly impossible.

[Lullaby]

Here is your reward!

Spirit :

Experience

• Horsemanship: +1
• Riding: +2

Lores

• Tricking a Horse to Their Pen
• Archery Pushing Out All Other Thoughts
• A Frostfawn Not Knowing How to Ride
• Tacking Up a Horse
• Meeting Falla, Garren's Mare
• Length of Arm and Hand to Guesstimate Stirrup Length
• Getting into the Stirrup, Hop On Up
• How to Hold the Reins
• Riding a Horse for the First Time
• Reins Are to Guide the Horse's Head, Not to Balance
• How to Dismount Carefully
• Appreciating a Calm Mount

Notes

This was a sweet thread, I laughed at Spirit attempting to get on the horse, and tricking the other into their pen. It was nice to see her exuberant personality really shine through in this. I would suggest denoting thoughts somehow differently than speech and actions, since it tends to get confusing when reading, the most common way is to italicize thoughts.

Also, horsemanship and animal husbandry I know you specifically requested, but in a riding thread such as this, they are hard to award. Since they can be interchanged when dealing with horses, I only awarded horsemanship since you dealt specifically with horses today, and opted out of awarding Animal Husbandry, since I noted you already have competent and the small skill shown would not have counted enough for an experience point at that level.

This was a lovely read though, and I hope to see Spirit continuing these lessons, since you kept it enjoyable and realistic!

Garren :

Experience

• Socialization: +1
• Teaching: +3

Lores

• How to Prevent Getting Kicked
• Staying Away from Archery: For the Safety of Avanthal
• Spirit: A Green Horn to the Stables
• Sharing the Freedom of Riding
• Teaching Spirit How to Mount, Ride, and Dismount
• Dog With Nikomas' Gift of Gab
• Wanting to Groom Falla Yourself

Notes

To quickly explain the experience, I didn't award horsemanship since you are at the competent level and in this thread you really only taught Spirit riding skills, and not particularly focused on caring for animals. At your level, description and challenge are key to being award experience. Also, in your one post, "only stemmed her exuberance for less than half a bell", I think you mean chime here, since half a bell would be half an hour, while chime would be half a minute.

Your description while teaching was wonderful to read, and I learned quite a bit myself! I think Garren would make a fantastic riding teacher as well, since he was so patient and friendly with Spirit. Awesome writing, and I hope to see more from you!

Nikomas :

Experience

• Impersonation: +1

Lores

• Eat, Sleep, Work, Work, Work
• Imitating Laria's Voice
• My Son, Dog

Notes

It was too bad to see so little of Nikomas, since the relationship between Garren and Nikomas was really quite comical. I hope to read more from you in the future, though, since Nikomas seemed like an interesting character.

A quiet song to soothe the heart

Good work, guys. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.