The Simple Things (Solo)

by **Laria** on August 11th, 2011, 2:17 am

36th Day of Summer, 511 AV.

The horse’s movements were smooth beneath her, the canter’s gait smooth like butter. Laria could feel the roll of the muscles with each stride, and hear the rhythmic pounding of hooves as they hit the grassy terrain beneath her. A touch to the right flank with a knee would cause the stallion to turn in right, and she guided him in a wide arc before touching left. The horse turned again, and she steered him in a figure-of-eight, using only her knees as prompts, the reins sitting loose and unneeded in her hands. She had him repeat the movements a few times, before tugging the reins lightly to slow the stallion to an easy trot. Finally she had him walk for a few chimes to cool him off and relax his muscles. The last thing she wanted was to find him the next morning in pain from pulled and aching muscles. Her father would not be happy, and it was unnecessary and unacceptable to put a horse through such a thing.

She dismounted, swinging her leg over the back of the horse and landing lightly on the ground. Laria gathered the reins in her hand and then proceeded to lead the stallion back to her father’s stables. The horse would occasionally nudge her shoulder or nose at her hair, and she smiled. Horse’s affections were always clear to see, they were never hidden.

Reaching the stables, she tied the horse outside an empty stall with a length of rope and un-tacked him. The yvas was placed carefully over the stall door to keep it out the way. After a quick hunt for some grooming tools, she was set to brush him down and clean him up for the night.

She selected a round ‘curry brush’ and started to smooth it over the stallions coat in circular motions. The aim was to loosen any dirt and mud that may have dried itself into the coat, which would then be removed with a second brush. The horse snorted lightly and bobbed its head, obviously enjoying his groom.

by **Laria** on August 11th, 2011, 2:18 am

As Laria dropped the curry brush in with the others, quick, light footsteps sounded down the stalls. She glanced up to see a young Drykas boy approaching her, apprehension written all over his face. She smiled at him and waited for him to reach her. The boy looked from the horse to her, and stopped a few paces away.
“I… Can you show me how to do that?” The nerves were evident in his voice. Laria was unsure why he would be nervous, bust she put it down to his age.
“I want to learn how to look after them.”

She smiled at the boy. “Of course I can show you how to groom a horse. I’m Laria, won’t you tell me your name?”
His face lit up then, and a smile even twitched at the corner of his mouth.
“My name is Cody.” He tentatively reached out to lay a hand on the stallions flank.
“Well then Cody, come over here and take this brush.”
Laria held out her second brush to him. It was an oval shaped brush with stiff bristles, and Cody took it from her carefully.

“Now…” Laria gently took the boy’s shoulders and turned him so that he was facing the horses left shoulder. “…You need to brush him so that all the loose dirt comes off his coat. You have to flick the brush outwards when you finish each stroke.” She reached out and demonstrated, using her hand like it were the brush. “It’s like sweeping a floor.”
The boy nodded and proceeded to brush the stallion near the shoulder. His face furrowed in concentration as he worked, and Laria smiled.
“Flick the brush out a little more. You need to see the dust coming off his coat.”
To be able to see the dust was evidence that the dirt was coming off. If there was no dust, then you were likely to be pushing it all back under the hair.

“Like this?” Cody stroked with the brush before adding a vigorous flick.
“Exactly like that, well done.” Laria picked up a second brush, identical to the one the boy was using, and moved to the horse’s right side. She brushed with rapid strokes, flicking the dirt and dust out of the coat, plumes of it hanging in the air around the trio. When she was finished, she checked the side Cody had done. After a quick touch up, she returned both brushes to the pile and rifled through for the next one.

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by **Laria** on August 11th, 2011, 2:18 am

The next pair of brushes were also oval, but this time the bristles were soft – they had been made from horse hair. She held one out to Cody, who eagerly took it from her.
“Now don’t flick this one. Just brush it nicely in the direction of the hair.”
The brushes were called ‘body brushes’ and it was these ones that would give the stallions coat a clean, healthy shine. They removed the very last traces of dirt and smoothed the coat down.

Laria ducked back round to the right of the horse, and ran the brush over its coat. The repetitiveness was relaxing to her, and coupled with the atmosphere of the stables in the early evening even more so. Sleepy horses could be heard snorting softly, or whickering lightly to one another, almost like horsey whispers. The occasional shuffle of hooves over the bedding was a little louder, but not overly so. Aside from that, the only other noise to be heard was the breathing of the two Drykas, and the rubbing motion of the brushes over the stallions coat.

One she was satisfied that the horse had a sheen to him, she moved back to see how Cody was doing. He had ruffled the hair a little near the end of the flank, so she showed him how to move his arm properly. It needed to flow; he had to think of the brush as an extension of his hand, that way it was easier to imagine he was stroking the horse. She usually found that had the best effect. And sure enough, the young boy quickly had the hair smoothed back out.

by **Laria** on August 11th, 2011, 2:19 am

The mane and tail were the next things to attend to. Since Cody was too small to reach the stallion’s mane easily, she simply showed him instead. She demonstrated that you should always hold the section of mane you want to comb at the base, right where it joins the neck.
“…otherwise you will be tugging hard and pulling on his skin, and your horse will not like it.”
Laria made quick work of the mane, gently teasing out all the snarls and tangles till it fell smoothly over the horse’s neck.

It was the same with the tail. Cody was not able to reach the base, but this time Laria was determined to get him to try. She handed him the second brush they had used – the one with stiff bristles – and sectioned off the tail. It was long enough that he could brush out the bottom half easily, with Laria keeping a-hold of the top.
“Keep to the side of him Cody, never stand directly behind a horse.”
When he had brushed out the knots, Laria fixed up the top of the tail before finding a pick.

“Now, I’m going to clean his hooves, you just watch for this one.”
The stallion’s hooves were rather large, and she had no intention of letting the boy get in the way of one.
“You need to encourage him to lift his foot for you like this…”
She gently ran her hand down the horse’s leg, squeezing lightly when she reached the ankle. The horse lifted its hoof a little, and Laria cupped it from underneath.
She pointed to the centre of it with her pick, where a raised triangle section could be seen.
“Never ever touch the triangle part, which is called the frog. It’s very sensitive and you don’t want to hurt him.”
She then proceeded to carefully scrape all the mud and dirt from around the hoof.
“Always scrape away from you, we don’t want any injuries okay?”

She picked all four hooves clean herself, telling Cody that she would let him try on a smaller horse one day. He seemed happy enough to watch and listen, offering nods and smiles when she spoke. When it was done, she tossed the pick in with the other brushes and grabbed a towel.
“Now you just wipe him down and put him back in his stall.”
She smoothed the towel over the stallions coat in the direction of the hair a few times, making sure that everything was as it should be. The horse seemed rather happy, snorting contentedly at her. She flipped the towel over her shoulder, untied the horse and ushered him forwards into his stall.

Cody helped her put the brushes back, and then thanked her repeatedly for teaching him. Laria promised that she would always help him if he needed it, and he left with a beaming smile. All that was left to do was return the yvas to its proper home, and then she left the now dozing horse and returned to her Pavilion.

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by **Lariat** on August 12th, 2011, 12:51 pm

Laria

Experience:

Horse (Riding): 1 xp
Horsemanship: 3 xp
Teaching: 3 xp

Lores:

Teaching a little boy about how to care for horses
The rewards of honest labor

I liked the thread, very nice wording and detail. If you think I missed anything just send me a pm.