Closed [modded thread] Horses Like Tubers!

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Nicola looked at him with a little bit of surprise at his words, it wasn't as if she was asking him to saddle the horse, or to check the horses hooves. Brushing won't hurt the horse no matter how horribly he did. "Of course I want you to brush Gingham, is what I said right? It's easy and you won't hurt the strider I promise. And I will be right here if you start to...I don't know perhaps start trying to use a sword to brush him or something equally implausible or silly I will stop you."

She did temper her words with a bright smile, "Remember? Start at the neck, brush down with the grain, not against it. Don't forget to clean the brush after..." She waited patiently, her eyes steadily on him, her arms crossing over her breast.

"When you get done I will show you how to feed and water both the horses and how to stable them down.."

[Darius Twoseas]

Darius nodded in response to the other Drykas's mild reprimand. She was right, if he truly did something wrong, she was there to stop him--that was the entire reason he had asked for help. He stepped forward and brought the brush back up to the horse's mane, this time actually turning it into a long, gentle stroke. Gingham was much larger than Alaxel, and so it took him longer. Also, when brushing Alaxel, he had had the other Drykas's help, making it go at least twice as fast as it would otherwise. The dust came off slowly, and each area took multiple passes, as the dirt was thicker than Darius had expected. He was careful to remember what he had been told and always crossed around in front of Gingham. His strokes were longer than they had been when brushing down Alaxel, because this Strider was larger, and he was very careful around her, not really sure of her or her rider's temperament. He decided to clean out his brush about halfway through brushing her, noticing the dirt caught in the brush was beginning to affect the effectiveness of his brush. When he was done, he cleaned it out again. He patted the horse's side when he was done affectionately. She had stayed patiently while he brushed her down, a task that must have taken much longer than she was used to. Then he turned back to his instructor, smiling a little. It was surprisingly satisfying to look after the Striders so far.

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Nicola watched closely as Darius brushed down the other horse, and she nodded approvingly when he cleaned out his brush half way through. She waited until he turned back to her before she spoke, again in Pavi and again in a slowed rate. "See? Told you that it was easy. Why a little child with a bone comb could do it...not sure how their comb would fare afterwards though." She grinned again before she took a hand and signed for the horse to follow her. She turned and jogged back to the man who had loaned them his horse and returned Gingham before she turned and came back once more.

"Horses like Tubers, but you gotta be careful how many you give them. They need their nutrients too so you don't want them filled up on treats." This was said casually as she motioned for him to follow her toward a sack that laid over closer to the edge of the encasement. The sack was tied shut carefully, and a large scoop made of bark was beside it. Nicola grabbed a basket and handed it to Darius, not moving until he took it. "Hold that." Was her only instruction before she untied the bag and inside was grain. "This is precious we give them to our Striders once every couple of days. Its called grain, and it has a lot of good stuff horses need. You are going to go and take that bucket and give each horse here a handful. Its just like feeding them tubers except its fine pebbles, keep your hands flat so they don't nibble your fingers."

[Darius Twoseas]

The woman commented on the job of brushing down the horse. She was talking in the slower, exaggerated Pavi again, and Darius smiled in return. Then he stood still a moment, watching and waiting as she returned the Strider to her rider. When she returned, she began explaining that horses' nutrition was not balanced by simply eating tubers. Darius probably could have guessed that himself, but he had the suspicion that he was bout to find out what they should eat. She motioned him over to the edge of the enclosure, towards a sack laying on the ground. She handed him a bucket to hold and he took it, standing by as she showed him the grain inside and poured some into his bucket. She instructed him to go around and feed all the horses in the enclosure. He looked around a bit blankly for a moment, counting out how many horses there were. He immediately began, stumbling over to one of the Striders and taking a big handful out of his bucket and holding it out to the horse. He tried to keep his hand flat, but the pressure of the horse's mouth bowed it inward a little bit. He went around to each of the horses likewise, the portion sizes vastly different each time as he took different-sized handfuls out of his bucket. Midway through, he sort of lost track of where he was and may have tried to have fed one or two of the horses more than once. He fed Alaxel last and set the nearly empty bucket down as he ate, speaking to him quietly in Common. When Alaxel was done, he returned to his instructor, asking "What do I do with the extra?"

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While he was passing the grain around the horses, Nicola moved toward the little tent that kept all the horse tack dry and protected until it was time to pack up and move again. Inside she retrieved two Yvas and two saddle blankets, she couldn't remember if Darius had a Yvas or not. Fortunately she was used to walking around with horse gear so the Yvas over her arms did not slow her, though it did slow her Pavi naturally. "Go dump the rest back in the pack, and then come on over here. Your going to put a Yvas on your Strider and we are going to go ride."

She grinned as she went over to Driskol, her hand easily and lovingly patting his withers before she expertly tossed the blanket over the horse's back. She adjusted to make sure it covered all the boney parts so that the Yvas did not rub. Then she gently strapped the two straps that kept the Yvas over the front of the horse, once done her hands go to the handles and with a lithe leap she swung her leg over Driskol, mounting him easily. "When your ready jump up, you know how to ride don't you?"

[Darius Twoseas]

Darius was thrilled to see the Yvas she carried. He enjoyed actually riding, however mediocre he was at it for now. He was practically grinning as he made his way back to the pack of grain, dumping the bucket out hastily into it. It was harder than you'd expect to pour a bucket of something into a bag. Regardless, then returned to the other Drykas. He took the other Yvas from her. Though he did have his own, he had temporarily been storing it in his tent and hadn't been expecteding to ride today, so hadn't brought it with him. He was pretty sure he knew how to put on a Yvas, but he watched her put one on her own Strider before he did his. After she was done, he mimicked exactly what he had seen her do, tossing the blanket over Alaxel's back. He was not so expert at it, and the blanket landed askew. He took a moment to straighten the blanket and tried to move it over the same boney parts of Alaxel's back that the other Drykas had been covering, but, not 100% sure what to look for, was only mostly successful. Then he strapped the Yvas on and pushed himself clumsily up onto Alaxel's back. "Yes, I know at least a little bit about how to ride."

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Nicola grinned when he mounted, her blonde braid pushed over her shoulder. One hand lightly draped itself over the handle of the yvas, the other hand a fist planted on her hip. "Then lets ride!" She calls out, her knees pressing against the sides of Driskol to get him into motion. Driskol was already warmed up from her ride earlier, so she went from a stop, to a walk, then trot, and then a canter fairly quickly.

Her body was erect, but not stiff, and she moved with the horse, up when the horse motions swung up, down when it swung down. Her hands remain relaxed and gentle, even as she steered the horse with presses of her knees on either side. "Come on, lets see you run, Race you to the that bush out there!" She cries out once they reached the ends of the tent. The bush she pointed too was about fifty yards away, and she didn't wait for an answer. Her knees pressed twice more and Driskol fell into a run.

Her body crouched low over the yvas, her legs held straight and sure, and her blonde hair tore from its braided confines to stream out behind her. Above it all one could hear her laughter, shouting out for her god Zulrav to hear and bless.

[Darius Twoseas]

Darius felt suddenly a bit more in his element on horseback, probably simply because he was a Drykas. Then again, impaired to this woman, he was a total novice. She seemed somehow giddy to be on her horse-- not that she had been lacking in cheerfulness before. She laughed and set her horse off immediately. She seemed an expert at it, and her horse responded quickly to her movements. Darius tried to follow, but was unsurprised that Alaxel wasn't entirely cooperative. He plodded along carelessly in the wake of the other Drykas and her Strider, taking quite a while to catch up. All the same, he at least went the direction Darius wanted him too. Neither of them were particularly well trained. He did slowly speed up to a trot, but he wasn't particularly responsive. Darius was still getting into the rhythm of riding when the woman yelled out a challenge. He tried to get Alaxel to run out to the bush. At first he was about as responsive as he was before. Then he noticed the other Strider. Suddenly he became a lot more responsive, working his way up to an outright sprint pretty fast. If there was anything that could truly motivate Alaxel, it was competition. And food, but really, that wasn't applicable to this situation. As fast as he was, Darius doubted they would actually be able to beat the woman, what with her head start and superior experience.

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Nicola noted the struggle that the other man had, and her brows raised a little. Perhaps the bond was very new and the strider and rider were just getting used to the others needs and wishes. Her bond to Driskol was old, she was only nine years old when their bond was formed, and Driskol was just foaled. She already knew that Driskol wanted to win, and could feel when he started to draw power from the web to add to his speed. Of course some of the striders needs probably came from her own need to win and to feel the rush of wind against her face.

Once she and Driskol made it to the bush she slowed the horse with a gentle pressing of both her knees, and when the horse was stopped she couldn't help but grin while she waited. Her blond hair was now a disarray around her shoulders, no longer braided though a few of her amethyst beads that decorated it winked from it. "You need to trust that your strider will be able to know what you want. You still need to guide him because of course he can't read your mind. But know that he will be able to sense your need to go faster, slower, or harder. The knee work is mainly just to guide him where feelings and needs can not. For example turning right or left, or warning him that this is an area that holes litter the ground and to be careful."

[Darius Twoseas]

Alaxel ran his hardest, but they they were far behind the other Drykas, full tens of meters behind. Darius wasn't particularly upset by their loss, as it was obvious their competitors had a strong and well-developed bond and far more experience with each other. He had only been bonded to Alaxel for about a season, and hadn't spent nearly as much time as he felt he should have with Alaxel during that time. It was no wonder they didn't respond to each other as well as the other pair. When he did reach the bush, Alaxel began to slow down gradually, Darius pushing his knees in firmly. It wasn't nearly as graceful of a stop as the other Drykas' deceleration, and he had to bring in his press his knee into the right side of Alaxel's body to get him to turn around and walk back to the other rider. Looking back, he saw the other Drykas was waiting, her hair blown out of her braids. She pointed out his over-reliance on the knee work to direct Alaxel, and he reddened a little bit. "I guess I'm just used to riding non-Striders." He signed with one hand, his gestures a little over exadurated as he tried to articulate his point with his basic knowledge of Pavi. "I just bonded with Alaxel in the fall. Up until then I had been riding Drykas-trained horses that weren't Striders.These do actually exist, right? They don't respond nearly as well. Plus, I hadn't ridden for about eight years before last summer." A moment later, his brow furrowed a tiny bit in curiosity. "Is there anything else I need to remember with Alaxel?"