Fanfic:Cor Sorei

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Cor Sorei
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Dressed in simple breeches and blouse, both in varying shades of green of course, Miahala walked into the stables. Her long auburn hair was tied up and then braided, hanging down her back to her waist. Even she now had to confess to the sight of a scant few silver strands winding their way through it, but only to be seen if you were looking for them. She paid them little mind, really.

Mia liked to joke, these days and really only ever with Caden or her children, that she didn't feel a day over a hundred, when in honesty, she felt as young as she ever did.

Walking down the dirt packed aisle of this half of the stables, she moved to the stall at the very end where a dark bay stallion was contentedly pulling apart a section of hay. By now, it was really just remnants that he stubbornly refused to give up on. Miahala smiled at his tenacity, as it was a trait that had served him well in his training, and better than most people would have guessed that it would.

This was Cor Sorei. He was the foal of her own dear N'dore (full name Cor N'dore) and a beautiful, sweet tempered bay mare name Tylla from the Mylls farm. Sorei was a bay so dark that he was almost the same color as his sire's pure black fur. Of the foals sired by N'dore, Sorei had taken the best traits from both parents. N'dore had only sired three foals in his lifetime, though she was soon to let him retire from being her steed. He would go to live at the Mylls' farm and he would likely provide this world with a few more horses of beautiful color and movement.

"Are you ready for the day's work, Sorei?" she asked, standing at the stall door.

At the sound of her voice, the bay lifted his head and gave a soft, rumbling whicker that she took as a greeting and an affirmative. He was a little over four years old and she had been working on his training since he was a yearling. Now he was just about old enough to take his sire's place as her primary steed, as N'dore was getting old for the rigors that her life put her horses through.

Unlatching the door, Mia walked in. Sorei - who's full name meant Night Runner - waited patiently while she hooked a lead rope to his halter and led him into the aisle and the cross ties. She had already taken care of shooing off any stable hands that might try to get in her way. Stable hands and grooms so often rotated and changed over the course of decades that she had to continually retrain each new generation in the fact that no one came between her and her horses.

There was something meditative about grooming a horse and she preferred to see to it herself, when she could.

She brought up a simple wooden box with a handle. In it were all the tools of the groom's trade. Mia pulled out a brush that she ran over Sorei's dark coat. As it was summer, there was no shaggy undercoat and his fur was smooth, gleaming under the tending as she started at the top of his cresting neck, working down his neck, over his back and belly and then down his flanks and rump before repeating the procedure on the other side.

Changing the brush for a comb, she worked out the knots and burrs in the dark mane and tail. He had been sent out to graze in the pasture for two days and had collected a lovely collection of little burrs in both parts of hair, but particularly his tail. He tried to twitch it from her grasp as she combed it out, but her persistence outweighed his. She had established who was dominant in their pair, despite the size, and he gave in.

Sorei tried to give her attitude again when she cleaned his hooves, but she made a soft, stern noise when he tried to pull free his leg and he ceased. Miahala had an image of her children when they were young and she would gently reprimand them. They would calm, ceasing whatever they were doing, but there was that pouting look in their eye, which she now thought she saw in the set of Sorei's head as he let his leg relax in her grasp.

Once the grooming was done, she put on his saddle and bridle. It was not a side saddle, for Mia greatly despised the things. She knew how to mount and ride in one, but avoided it at all costs. The bridle was a particular one for extra control, due to her training of him.

All horses used for the Yards, and for the Tower on the most part, were trained to be desensitized to the presence of people and sounds. They had to be steady animals, particularly for Greens and their Warders, as they would all too often be needed to ride into a battle. These horses needed to be trained to follow commands easily and trained to be guided by rein or knee with equal ability.

Miahala's training, however, was one that went several steps above all the 'classic' training. It was, even humbly to say, of an elite style. It took years of consistent and often intense training and was not required for a good warhorse, even one trained for its rider to fight from its back. Miahala had many decades of experience to wish more than the average from her steeds - it was in her blood - so she always took these extra steps and trained each of her horses for these tasks.

Sorei was to be one more in a long line, but she remembered them all and with great fondness.

Once she had finished his grooming, she went about this business of tacking him up. Her gear was, by necessity and as expected, more complex than the average saddle and bridle and included more than those two pieces - there was also the breast plate, leather straps that came around the chest to attach to the saddle and help in control of the horse, as well as the particular bit and double reins.

With an experienced rider like Mia, having bridle, saddle and all accompaniments upon the horse did not take long and they were soon outside and in the riding ring, which was clear of any other riders for a time. She had taken Sorei out on several excursions past the Tower stables as part of his training, but today would be more of a... final review.

Mia walked him around the arena a few times to help warm him up before the real work began. He was in a particularly high spirit today because he had not been put out to field. Being kept in his stall built up his energy, which was both benefit and detriment for the day's work. He did not give her much trouble, though, because he had been trained to behave, but she could feel the energy and the power in him just by walking beside him around the ring.

It was a unique bond between a horse like Sorei and his rider. The animal weighed ten times as much as the Green and could run her over front to back without breaking a sweat. The muscles of his neck, shoulders and flanks were well pronounced and could do a great deal of ill should he choose to turn the power barely constrained there on her... but he didn't, and she believed that he never would.

The truth of any such relationship was an equal exchange: Miahala respected the horse, and the power contained there in. She knew how she measured up against him, but she had known him and worked with him since he was born. She had, in fact, been fortunate to be there that night. It had harkened back to her youth in Saldaea when a mare would foal. It was a miraculous thing, for a stable full of horses or any sort of animal would know that there was a life being brought into the world and all would be silent until it was done.

Miahala loved her horses, and so they loved her as well. Some might argue that an animal cannot love, but she knew differently. She treated them well, took care of them, and they took care of her.

After several passes on foot around the arena, Mia brought Sorei to a halt in the center of the ring. With one hand on the withers, she swiftly set her foot into the stirrup and 'stood' into it, bringing herself up and swinging her leg over. Sliding her other foot into the right side stirrup, she set her heels down and lifted the reins. They curved easily into her hands, both for being a well worn bridle and for her great experience with it.

They began at the walk. She rode him around one lap, stopped, turned and rode in a circle around the other way before stopping again and backing up. They repeated this, only without the stops - fluid turns and guiding in a full circle and then a figure eight in crossing the arena center. This was repeated at the trot. She alternated walking and trotting for several laps, giving Sorei a chance to settle in and warm up a bit more as they then went through the extended walk and trot, where the front legs would extend further than in the 'regular' walk and trot. N'dore had bred true and Sorei's extensions were flawless.

At the trot, she initiated the half-pass, where she pressed his right side with her right foot while pulling the left foot away. He crossed the ring at the diagonal. Though she couldn't see them, she knew that his feet were crossing as they moved forward and sideways at the same time. Circling around, she did the same again but going in the opposite diagonal.

She ran through the passage (a sort of slow motion, suspended trot) and then the piaffe (trotting in place).

Sufficiently warmed up, she gave a slightly stronger nudge of both feet and Sorei slid gracefully into the rolling three beats of the canter for several laps. She brought him into the extended canter for a time, before a set of canter half-passes. After that, she ran him through his flying lead changes.

In the canter, it begins on one back foot and ends on the opposite front foot. If the horse pushes off from the left back foot, the second beat is the right back and left front, ending on the right front foot. In flying lead changes, mid-canter the horse changes the direction and will change from ending on the right to ending on the left, and then back again as directed with several beats in between.

After a few rounds of the lead changes, she let him continue in the canter. She knew from other day's worth of experience that he could gallop very well, when she had let him move freely across a far more open expanse of land. They would not be doing that today, though.

The beauty of these tasks was that they were formed based on the natural movements and inclinations of the horse. A trainer from ages past oft quoted by those training horses once said: "If one induces the horse to assume that carriage, which it would adopt of its own accord when displaying its beauty, then one directs the horse to appear joyous and magnificent, proud and remarkable for having been ridden. If the rider is not in harmony with the nature of the animal, then it will perform as a burden with no display of pleasure." Mia kept this saying close to her heart.

She brought Sorei to the center of the ring for the final level of his efforts.

These belonged to the highest level of warhorse training, because they were - by far - the most difficult. Training of them was started at long lead until skill and muscle tone allowed for a rider to be carried through them. They were designed as ways to assist or protect the rider when in battle, though they could put the horse at risk in the wrong situation, and so were not often used in battles but as ways to train the horse for battle, though they would remain available as a sort of 'last ditch' effort, as needed.

It also served that the years of intensive training would bring trainer, rider and horse into an equally strong bond, which above all was the most important thing in a horse one trusts to carry one into battle.

The Mezair...

With a series of signals in unique combination and primarily by rein, Miahala told Sorei to rear up and he did. She kept her weight strictly forward and level with Sorei's, so she did not over-balance him. Were that to happen, it could end up with Sorei on top of her... something, certainly, to be avoided.

Once lifted on his back feet, his front feet kicked out repeatedly, almost as if he was making a series of circles with his hooves, before he lowered again. This move, like most of those to follow, required exceptional muscle power and control from the flanks, which was why Sorei's flanks were so notably developed.

The Courbette...

Miahala signaled him to rear again, though this time it was the back legs that did the movement. He then 'hopped' forward several times - three, to be precise - before needing to lower his front half upon the ground again. This required great strength on his part, and great balance on hers.

The Levade...

Several small dancing steps back before he gained his balance, and then Sorei raised his front feet off the ground and held them at a forty-five degree angle for several moments.

The Croupade... The Ballotade... The Capriole...

The final round of maneuvers was a sequential matter. Sorei had been taught to croupade first, in which he leapt vertically from the ground. Upon learning that successfully, he had been taught the ballotade, which was the same as the croupade but for the angle of the feet - in the ballotade, one could see the bottoms of the hooves from behind.

The capriole was the most difficult of all of these maneuvers, and hardest yet with a rider. Not all horses were able to achieve it. N'dore had been among the first Mia had trained who had enough power and control to manage it with a rider, and Sorei had bred true there too.

One at a time, she went through the croupade and then the ballotade. It was a feeling that could not, accurately, be described in words to be upon an animal who could achieve such a thing, especially when it came to the capriole...

Miahala let him rest a few moments, taking a deep breath herself. He had done this successfully before, both with and without rider, and she hoped he would be able to repeat it. She gave the signal and he lifted his front and then back fully off the ground and as he had all four feet in the air, he kicked out with his powerful hind legs before landing soundly on all four hooves.

She could almost have wept with joy as he performed the exceptionally difficult maneuver, with a rider, and quite expertly. She nudged him to a walk to begin cooling him off, but as she did, she leaned forward on his neck and rested her face upon his mane for but a moment, closing her eyes and just enjoying the instant where rider and horse were blessed to be one.

OOC: The 'ages past trainer' quote is adopted from Xenophon, Greek historian and military leader from 400 B.C., regarding the art of dressage riding. All of the maneuvers, including names, written of here are taken from dressage riding and the Airs Above the Ground art of riding.