Closed A New Look At The Knights

[Suresslynn]

Fall 30th, 514

"I hate you sometimes, I really do. Would it be too much to ask for you to not toss me off every time you get bored." Suresslynn said as she looked up at her horse from where she was lying on the ground. The Eyktolian bred beast had thrown her off three times that morning and seemed to be feeling more mischievous than usual. Pushing his head away as he snuffled her hair again, the viper pulled herself to her feet and tied her horse off to a tree.

"You stay there for a moment and calm down. I'm not getting back on you for a bell or so." she said wearily as she looked around the clearing, before diving into the grass and examining an herb she had just found. "Nope...not Batonal...ah, well." she said, sitting back up and leaning against a tree. She hadn't had any luck with her herb hunting since she'd met Garland and fought off the Yukman with him. And gotten thrown off her horse. That happened to her a lot, really, but she wasn't that good of a rider and she had no idea at all of how to train her horse out of it. "Well...I'll have to figure you out somehow." she sighed, walking over to her horse and gently stroking his neck.

[Garland]

Garland had decided to walk instead of riding. He had enough of Tryn for a lifetime. Right now, unless his patron knight has other plans, he would just patrol near one of the taverns, listening to the music, maybe meet that Konti singer again.

But just as he was about to go on his default patrol, his Patron Knight shows up with two horses, one black mixed blood horse he knew too well, and his much nicer and calmer cream colored mare.

"Change of plans, Squire Garland. You're leisurely walk turned into a ride through the woods and some hand-to-hand combat soon after. I hope you had a Good's night rest." She said, handing the lead that was for his rowdy horse to him. She was her own brand of cruel and kindness rolled into one, as Garland would describe her.

Garland sighed, tonight was the start of the dare he promised Gunther, the stable hand. He needed to clean the horses and the stables for 30 days every night, right before heading back to the dormitories.

He climbed up on his horse, which said horse tried to buck him off as hard as he could. Garland held on tight, he'll get tired eventually. Garland had his legs held tight around Tryn's stomach.

Catherine climbed on her own horse, and started riding off towards the gates or at least what was left of them, the repairs were on the way, but it was just a skeleton right now, just wood and stone for the materials. The repairs were still underway, but the main outer gate was mostly done.

Garland followed closely behind, he had gotten better, but not by much. He followed his best, but Catherine was slowing down for him.

They were going through the woods nows, the cracking leaves under hoof sounded quite nice to Garland's ears. "Sera, there's a clearing up ahead, we could train the- woooooo!" Garland said before being flinged off into said clearing by his horse, knocking into a familiar Dhabi girl.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn had remained quiet, petting her horse until she heard the sound of other horses approaching. Walking around her horse to see who was coming, she was suddenly knocked to the ground by a rather large armored figure, who thankfully didn't land on her. "What the petching shyke is going on now?" she groaned as she crawled to her feet, looking around until she spied a female sitting on a horse that was a complete stranger, a vaguely familiar black horse, and finally, Garland.

"Ah, your horse is still giving you trouble too? I've been bucked off mine, three times today." the Dhani said, standing up and walking over to Garland to help him to his feet. "And hello to you too, ma'am." she said, waving at the other woman briefly before looking at Garland. "You okay? I mean, you wear all that...stuff, so it's gotta hurt when you get knocked off your horse." she said, looking his armor over with a slightly dubious expression. She still didn't get the point of plate armor, it seemed like it would hinder more than it would help, but if it was the culture here, she had to accept the oddity of it.

[Garland]

Catherine gave a curt nod, she smiled at Garland. She did enjoy his problems with horses, it was entertainment no matter what.

Garland accepted the hand and stood up. "You know it, still a bloody pain in the neck." He massaged his neck grabbed Tryn's lead. "Oh and by the way, I finally named him. His name is Tryn. Have you named your horse yet?"

Garland went over to Lynn's horse and gently rubbed his mane. "Who's a been a bad boy?" Garland had come up with something that would make training much more fun. "Sera, we are going to train with our horses, right? Maybe... We can help Lynn with her horse. And she's a pretty good fighter, she might be a good sparring partner for me."

Catherine gave a small nod and got off her mount. "Alright, let's get started. Lynn was it? Try getting on your horse, try to sit squarely in the saddle, moving your body with your horse. The more tense you are, the more you will bounce. Stay in tune with how he is moving. It will be less likely that you will be to be thrown off balance. Garland, show her what I mean." She said, ordering the squire to get back on his horse.

Garland reluctantly complied and climbed up his own horse. Of course, his horse still tried to throw him off into the tree, Garland's instincts screamed for him to hold on for dear life, but he followed Catherine's advice and just went with the flow of the horse's wild movements. He held on until Tryn had tired himself out.

Catherine nodded and motioned Lynn to try it on her horse. There is no way she could have a rowdier horse than Garland's.

Tryn looked at the desert bred horse, issuing a little challenge to him. Which horse could be the most annoying and wild horse here.

Catherine's horse on the other han(or hoof) just rolled her eyes and started grazing on the ground.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn grinned slightly as Garland said he was still having trouble, but had named his horse, then shook her head when he asked if she'd named hers. "No, not yet. Nothing's come to mind for him, you know?" she said, giving horse a sort of wry look. When Garland suggested that the woman, his patron she guessed, help her learn how to ride, she shrugged and got back on her horse after untying him from the tree. "Your name is Sera, right? You're Garland's patron, aren't you? Like Iros to Archailist?" she asked, revealing in the process her complete lack of understanding regarding the terms used by the knighthood.

For a moment she sat and watched as Garland followed the woman's advice, grinning slightly when she saw he was able to stay on. After his horse stilled, she nudged her desert bred mount into action and he started bucking wildly, as he usually did. This time, with the knights advice, she was able to stay on the Eyktolian horses back and he eventually stopped bucking. "Wow...that worked better than I thought, thank you!" she said, smiling happily...just in time for her horse to rear up on his hind legs and stay there. "And then there's this." she said, now holding on tight with her legs as she tried to stay in the saddle. It wasn't terribly long before her horse came back down to the ground, but then he immediately took off running around the clearing, this time managing to dislodge his rider by ramming her chest first into a low hanging branch.

"Petching....piece of...shyke...." The Dhani rolled around on the ground a bit before once again crawling back to her feet. Her ribs were definitely sore, but she was used that sort of treatment from her horse, and she was able to stand on her own two feet well enough. "Yeah...um...how do I deal with that?" she asked in a mildly exasperated tone.

[Garland]

Catherine gave a small laugh at this, it seemed like a lot of people have trouble with horses. "By the way, my name is Catherine, 'Sera' is just a prefix if you're a female knight." She got up onto her horse and followed Lynn's horse.

Garland followed closely behind, she seemed pretty tough on him only, if he was the one that fell off, she would have given him a small scowl of disapproval. His horse gave a whinny of approval towards Lynn's mount. The two seem to be having a little competition of sorts.

"There could be a lot of factors for your horse to act up. For one thing Rlrelax if your horse is acting up while you are riding. Horses can sense nervousness and tension, and it will affect their performance. Even if you are nervous, scared, or tense, try not to let the horse know it... Though you seem more annoyed that nervous. Maybe it has something to do with your riding position. Check your riding position. Are you clenching the horse with your heels? This may cause him to go faster. Are you yanking on his mouth or holding your reins high and tight? Both of these things may confuse and/or agitate your horse. If you are doing something like this, fix it. Overlapping commands are like one of the worst things that could happen to a squad or company of soldiers, it could confuse them and annoy them. If its not the way you ride, maybe check the equipment your horse is wearing, are his tacks in good condition? Is his saddle on too tight? What about the reigns?" She said and looked at the Dhani girl's horse.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn just shrugged as Catherine corrected her on the naming issue, then watched and listened as the knight told her what might be wrong with horse. When she had finished, the Dhani walked up to her horse and checked her tack. The saddle did look to be on a little tight, so she loosened it a bit before climbing back on her mount. Letting out a deep breath, she tried to nudge her horse into a walk, and lo and behold, her horse actually went along with her.

She was able to make a full circle of the little clearing they were in without too much trouble, a surprising occurrence, but when she tried to stop, the horse picked up his antics again, this time lurching into a gallop around the circle she had just ridden before finally stopping in front of Catherine for no apparent reason than to start snuffling her hair the way he did Suresslynn's. "Well....I was able to stay on this time...and you stop that." she said, reaching forward and pushing the horse's head away from Catherine with a slight grin.

[Garland]

Catherine gave a small laugh. "You are adorable... Hmmm... What else could be bothering you?" She asked, crossing her arms, trying to think of something. She walked around the two whiles fixing her hair. "Maybe the saddle's on too tight... Or maybe you just like messing with your rider." She addressed to the horse, giving him a little scratch on the chin, which was returned with a small whinny.

"Hmmm... Maybe you're riding him too hard. Some horses don't need a strong cue to move. Try a lighter cue, like a small tap with your heel." Looks like Catherine's horse was getting jealous from Lynn's mount's attention.

Garland was just busy trying not to be an interruption between the two. They seem to be enjoying the little bonding time they are having. Garland scratched Tryn's ear, his favorite spot, he lied belly-down on his horse, playing with his horse's ears. "You are not so bad, huh? You're still a dumb mule though." Garland said as a joke. Tryn turned his head and tried biting Garland's hand, but his head wasn't long enough. He gave a disappointed whinny and walked off on his own, with Garland on his back. "Don't wonder off again..." He said with a small sigh, luckily Tryn just wanted to walk around the clearing.

[Suresslynn]

Suresslynn laughed slightly as Catherine called her horse adorable. "Yeah. Adorable. That's what I thought until the first time he pitched me into a sand dune. Wouldn't have minded so much if it wasn't for the cactus I almost ran into." she said with a rather resigned tone as she slid off and inspected the saddle straps again. After a moments hesitation, she loosened the saddle again and climbed back on, gently patting the horses neck before giving a gentle tap with her heels.

This time, the horse moved into a slow, steady walk and she was able to keep it going this way for a while. However, when she tried to get him to stop, he again launched into a wild fit of bucking, but this time things didn't go as they normally did, and her loosened saddle started sliding forward, with Suresslynn still in it. "Okay, okay, okay, stop!" she said in a panic, grabbing the horse around the neck as her head wound up between it's ears, at which point the horse suddenly went still and let out a very confused sounding whinny.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea to wind up here." she said as she slid out of the saddle, carefully keeping her hands on it as she did to keep the saddle on the horses back. Pushing the saddle back in place, she tightened the straps up again and leaned against her mount. "That was...not fun...at all." she said, before looking over at Garland. "You ever have that problem?" she asked.

[Garland]

Garland laughed as Lynn was holding on for dear life. He shook his head as he was lying down on his horse's back. "Not really, I have a different set of problems..."He said before his horse decided that he had enough and kicked his rider off. "See?" Garland said, on the ground. He was about to get up, but Tryn decided he should lie down on the ground for a while, he backed up and planted his hoof on Garland's back, making him stay on the ground.

Catherine shook her head. "Maybe that was too loose... Let's try just walking with the horse. It would do some good for you two to get to know each other more." Catherine brushed Lynn's horse with her hand, she started petting him a bit. "Actually, mind if I take him out for a quick spin, just to see what's wrong."

Garland flailed his arms uselessly, trying to get off the ground. "Help? Anyone?" Catherine shook her head, mostly because he wasn't paying attention to her earlier lesson.