[NeriHyuga]

it was an incredible dangerous task, but the quickest i could decide on. I felt the power of the kirin, everytime she tryed to get her head up again. I would like to bind the rope around a tree or something, but i needed to wait till fire putted her rope around the neck of the mare. She finished to lay it around the neck and then she tryed to wrap it around the saddlehorn. I used the moment she gave me and pulled backwards to a tree, then i wraped the rope around the tree, so that the mare had no other choice then to hold her head down. "I know it's very uncomfortable, but i promise you it's not for long", i rubbed her crest around the scales like an apology.

But i waited some time to let her calm down, then i moved to her legs and looked at the wound. It looked worse then it is. "It's not that bad, but she need to come with us for sure, i need to tend this wound some more", i answered and looked up, as fire mentioned she should be worried too. I saw the gaze of the mare and i couldn't restrain a smirk. "She is not very amoused about all this", i joked a little, then i used the first aid pack to spray a parisol spray on the wound. I stepped a little back the moment the mare flinched. "Oh come on you dramaqueen, it's just cold", i shelted her, but in a laughing voice, petting her neck softly in the same time. Then i take the bandage and wraped it around the wound, fixing it with tape. "This should make it for the way back", fire would not be able to keep her promise to let her free, for now. But better late then never hm?

"Okay, i will remove the rope from her antlers and will try to put it around her neck, i hope she will not restrain herself to much", it was dangerous again, but we had no other choice. "Could you get armageddon over here? it could be that i need to be quick wraping the rope around the saddle horn", if we managed to do this, she had no chance of escaping again, armageddon was a strong stallion and he would hold her.
Then i moved to the tree and unwraped the rope. The mare felt the loosening pressure and the moment i got the rope free, she shoved her head into the air, giving me a little flight. "Woah, calm down", i grabed armageddon neck the moment i got down again and pulled at the rope, forcing her head down again. I wasn't sure if i would make it to put the rope around her neck, but i had no other choice. I letted armageddon go and pulled the rope till i was at her head, holding it down. "Maybe it would be the best when you grab the antlers with bare hands? otherwise i think she will shove them into my belly the moment she can." no sooner said then done, fire grabbed the antlers and i could remove the rope around them. As wuick is i could i putted the rope around her neck and pulled it tight, then i wraped it around armageddon. I now grabbed the antlers too, so that fire could let go and keep a distance from her. "Okay... all or nothing", i held her head down and in the same time i pulled armageddon to me. The moment i let her head go, i was already on armageddon and moved the stallion back. The mare threatened us with her antlers, but it seemed like she dared to come near the stallion. She striked her tail in anger.

[FireIceHeart]

Watching Neri stroking the Kirin, i was suprised the mare was allowing her to do that. Then again my friend did have a way with horses and i was learning alot the more we did this. Once she had managed to return to her saddle i was still stuck on the ground, armageddon seemed completely at ease even when the mare showed her antlers to him and whacked her tail around.

How was i going to do this..Juniper was hanging back, her ears perked in interest at the scenario unfolding before her. Going back over to her playmate she nosed at the mare and made comfort sounds treating her like a foal. "Juniper be careful" i warned as the kirin almost caught her eye with an antler pulling her head back roughly trying to get free from the rope again, clearly ignoring the pain in her leg as she bucked the best she could. "easy" I say softly tugging on the rope to get her attention, staying calm i held my arms out so she could see i wasn't holding the rope or anything to hurt her, and slowly walked over.

Stopping a few steps in front of her, I slowly placed my hand into my pocket and pulled out a horse treat holding my palm flat as i offered it to her, watching the uncertainty in her stance she leaned forwards to sniff at treat and lipped it slowly before taking it quickly and munching on it with a funny expression on her face before snorting at me, and coming a little closer "I guess you liked that.." I smiled keeping a close eye on the antlers as i produced another treat, gaining junipers attention as she came over and earned a bite from the kirin mare who didn't want to share. Tapping the kirins nose out of habit when Juniper nipped i stared at the mare as she gave me the death glare ..expecting the worse i shocked when all she did was nudge my chest with her nose then snort in my face.

[NeriHyuga]

I wouldn't have tryed to pet her, if i wouldn't be sure that her head was fixed so that her antlers couldn't reach me. In this position the mare had no other choice then to give in to this situation, she couldn't move her legs either because it would hurt her neck. But the touch wasn't something evil and that was what she felt too, calming her down a little bit.
I knew about the fear that wild animal had, trapped like this, it was the thing driving her nuts to an extend that she would hurt herself and us in her fear and anger. So i did not resent about her trying to warn us with her antlers, the moment we let her free. Armageddon himself knew it too, she doesn't want to hurt us, she just wanted us to go away from her. I was the evil person trapping her head in an uncomfortable position and she will not forget this for a long time.
But we had no other choice then doing this, to be able to tend the wound. A fact that mare could not know.

"Woah Juniper, go back girl", that was an sight that made me uneasy. I did not catch a injured Horse to let another one get hurt. That the mare doesn't like it to be trapped was a normal reaction. She doesn't want to hurt Juniper, but the kirin was just scared, she did not know what we would do with her or to her. Because of this i gave her time to see, that the rope wasn't bad. Everytime she bucked and throwed herself against the pressure, i pulled shortly on the rope to increase the pressure for a short time, the moment i got her attention and she stopped again, i removed all pressure from the rope, giving it a little away. She soon understands, that struggling just results in more pressure but that she got rewarded as soon as she calmed down. It was something new for her, but because of this learning effect she calmed herself down and i could give in to her, showing her that the rope wasn't something that would steal her freedom. Now fire could get near the mare and i watched the scene with a little insecure feeling.

But it all went well and i could feel it taking a load off my mind. We were lucky that this was a mare and not a stallion. We would never be able to get near a stallion that easy. Hayato was a real monster the time we tryed to catch him to get him back and we even catched him from the back of our horses, not like here. Hayato would have killed us if we would have been on the ground and i was sure he would never accept a little treat as a truce. I stayed on armageddon and was just looking at the scene. I was sure that the mare would feel tense again the moment i got on the ground, she linked me with bad memories. So i just waited for Fire to get a new friend.
"i don't want to rush you, but we should go now. The sky looks bad and the wind is blowing. i don't want to get into a storm the moment we are on the mountain." i said, looking worried at the windswept trees and the dark sky.

[FireIceHeart]

After hearing Neri mention the storm i whistled over juniper and quickly moved to re-saddle her, just as i had the bit in her mouth, the wind had picked up, making sure the rope was still secure on my saddle horn i gave juniper a nudge and rode next to my friend, the kirin walking behind us, after submitting to the fact she wasn't getting away from us anytime soon.

Having a random thought as we crossed back over ryohei's terrority (none of his herd in sight due to the bad weather picking up) I looked over to Neri "this reminds me of that ..scene from spirit..accept we're the bad guy cowboys" laughing i hummed Spirit: You Can't Take Me and discussed the scene.



As we pasted over the plains a small distant rumble of thunder could be heard, I really hoped we made it out of the crater before this hit to, hearing the uncertain snicker from the Kirin mare i felt the rope tugged she really did seem to have a skittish factor to her..and i just out it down to normal behaviour. "when we get back I think some nice hay is in order for these guys and a big warm stall" i mainly comment to the horses, Once out of the crater it was a straight trek home and i think we were both grateful, more so Neri after Hibari popped up in Ryohei's area hence the other stallions absence, the Kirin had thankfully made him keep his distance.

Making it back to the stable/ranch we were soaked to the bone, the rain having caught up, after a brief stop to replace the bandage around the mares injury. Leading her into the stalls suprisingly went well, watching her looking at her surroundings she flicked her tail, seeing how Armageddon and juniper had settled straight into their stalls, waiting to be untacked. Leaving the kirin mare in peace once she had willingly gone into the stall, i went to Juniper and rubbed her neck "good work today"

A few weeks later, we had started a light lunge training of the kirin... she still fought the rope thinking we were going to repeat the process of how we had caught her, but a few treat bribes later, I managed to loop a make shift halter on her, and refused to pick up the lunge whip hoping to teach her without it.

[NeriHyuga]

I waited for fire to get ready and watched the kirin mare. She seemed to settle down a little bit more, but she looked into the sky now and then. I was sure she could feel the storm coming up. It was very likely that we would get caught up by him. i prepared myself for a cold and rainy way back. Fire soon finished to re-saddle juniper and we could start to ride back. The kirin followed us, it seemed she gave up resisting.

We tryed to hurry as much as we could without overstraining the injured mare and soon we were back at ryoheis territory. Fires thought made me laugh a little. "With the only exception, we don't want to hurt her or break her will", i answered and hummed with her spirits song. i liked this film very much, so i welcomed a little disscussion about it.

The sound of the thunder got me uncertain too, i hate thunderstorms the most. It was like heaven would come down on us, so loud and dark, and because of the light flashing out from the lightning shadows appeared everywere. It was hell for someone as paranoid and shizophrenic as me. But armageddon felt my uneasynes and letted out a motivated whinny, trying to calm me down. "Thanks boy, at least one of us is fearless", i said and petted his withers. "Oooh yes, a big load of hay and a nice tea for ourself. We will be drenched in seconds the moment the rain will pour down" and the moment i said it, the first drops striked my cheek and then the rain poured down as if there were no tomorrow. I looked at hibari, standing in the rain as if he could not feel it, but the Appearance were deceiving, because he made no try to come at us. Maybe the rain lowered his aggression a little bit.

We made it back, drenched but happy. The first task was to rebandage the mares injury, then we leaded her into the stall. All got quite well. I took care of armageddon and then i maked sure all horses would get a good load of hay for the night.

Some weeks later we were still training with her. Her injury was healed and it was time to tame this little mare. She acclimatized herself quite well and she already made friends with diabolo and some other mares in her herd. She lost her fear for humans day for day, watching these creatures playing and taking care of the horses around her. She herself got a little break the first two weeks, so that her injury would heal good and without any stress. But now Fire was taking the quest. I standed before the fence and was watching her try to accustom the mare to the rope and halter. i didn't need to make many comments, she was very good at this task.

[FireIceHeart]

After a few more days of lunging, and getting her use to the weight of a saddle on her back and a bit in her mouth with no rider. The kirin Mare had come along away since the day we had caught her, walking over and giving her the routinely treat and nose itch i smiled "are you ready ..today is a big day..and please don't throw me off".

If you thought i looked nervous i was beyond that as i lead her into the riding ring, Neri was leaning on the fence having come over for moral support, stopping the mare in the center of the ring i pulled myself awkwardly onto the saddle not mounting up properly just testing to see how she'd react with my weight on her back, not getting negative reaction i slowly swung my leg over and sat up in the saddle pulling the reigns gently as i did. This earned me a small jolt, but nothing to drastic, letting out the breath i had been holding i hesitated before giving her a gentle nudge with my heels.

The first few attempts were met with a blank look and refusal to budge, til the Kirin got the idea she was ment to move and walked around the ring slowly, pulling her head away each time i tugged the rein gently. "Neri, would you like to have a go?" I asked as i passed her, the mare picking up the pace as she wanted to run around the ring, following the light touches i gave, even having a playful buck that had me sat firmly in my seat, til she calmed down, slowing her down to stop next to the fence, i hopped off and passed the reigns over, taking Neri's place at the fence so i could see how well the mare moved for myself with a better rider on her back.

[NeriHyuga]

i walked over now and then to look at the training of these two. i gave fire some instructions for liberty training with the mare, it was the best way to gain her trust and to improve it. talking only with body language, a language the kirin knows the best and her reaction was very good and she understands quickly, better as some other horses i trained.
because of this i gave my okay to fires question if she could try to get her used to saddle and bridle, it wasn't easy to fit the saddle to the mares scaled body, but i send an profi over to us and he did the best he could to make a saddle fitting for her back and he even made the saddle a little higher, so that the hair on her back wouldn't get squashed. With this we could train even more and the mare soon allowed the saddle on her back and the bit in her mouth.

Leading us to this day, the final day, the first try to get on her back. I was very curious and full of anticipation. fire did her best and the mare seemed to accept her on her back. She did not try to buck her off, but she tryed to go against her aids the first times. Seeing that we would need to train her some more from the ground, we needed to learn her some more aids, it would lower the risk in making her numb. but soon she moved good and even picked up the pace, that little buck was no problem, she letted herself go and it even helped to get her a little bit more released. "Sure! she looks like fun", i answered, it took some time but now the mare accepted me by her side too and she soon got a liking to my liberty training that was still more experienced then fires.
Now i hoped over the fence and with a short change of my upper part of the body, i sended the mare away just to invite her for coming to me the next second. She followed my instructions and i moved her around a little bit, with the help of my body language and the whip as a extension of my arms i leaded her. Letting her make some lateral work and forward-downward to help her releasing herself. Then i used my hand and whip to send a little pressure on the places were i would have my legs and knees against her body. the same time i used the other hand on the reins and showed her how she needed to hold her neck and then she stepped sideways. I rewarded her movement with lowering the pressure, but keeping the pace with my body language and she moved some more stepps sideways, letting out a satisfied snort.
"She will remember the aids she learned on the ground even in the saddle and because of this she will accept them much easyer. that lowers the risk of her getting numb or trying to go against the aids. Ground work is the heart of horse training", i said to fire and i made sure she would see the aids i gave the horse and so that she could imitate it.
And to show her the results, i cimbed into the saddle. First i leaved the reins long and let her get to know the weight of my body that was different then fires. then i changed my weight a little bit and layed my legs and knees at her body, even if she gesture was new giving it from her back she seemed to understand what i wanted and moved forward in a good tact and pace. Then i began to play softly with the reins and it doesn't took her long to move her head forward-downwards, it wasn't perfect, because she lacked balance, but that wasn't important in this state of training, we just needed to train more from the ground to fix that fact.
It was enough for me and i stopped her, softly stroking her withers, then i climbed down again.
"so your turn again, train a little bit more from the ground before you climb into the saddle, you will soon see that she will be much more relaxed then before", i said and petted her neck again, waiting for fire to come over.

[FireIceHeart]

Training Diary Entry 1:

Kirin has found her balance, more lunge work shows she has a natural high step good for dressage shows??maybe?
Still needs to learn how to stop when told...

That was a few months ago, we've progressed further the more we worked together following Neri's advice when nessecary. We had started to teach her how to jump over fences riderless, and boy can this mare get over the big jumps now. Her tail use to be the problem but she figured out how to lift it high enough to clear the fence (Though show jumping isn''t something on the agenda ..).

Rubbing the kirin's neck i had decided to start teaching her how to bow so it'd be easier to get on her back, with and without the saddle, tapping behind her knee gently with the lunge whips pole, she lifted her leg thinking i wanted to check her hoof, shaking my head i praised her for remembering the hoof lift, then decided to try a different tatic and tapped the front of her knee then pointed to the floor, using my hand gently to ask her to lay down. Once she was her knees i stopped her from going the rest of the way down and repeated the action i did before, watching her ears and body language as she showed interest in what we were doing, before letting her stand back up and doing it over again.

Diary Entry.

Mare started rejecting the saddle..so doing more ground work without it while saddle is altered, turns out something was catching and pulling her back mane too much. If it comes to it, will just use strap and saddle blanket to ride her.

Deciding to take the mare out on a trail ride, was risky to say the least. She really didn't like vehicles going past when we had to ride next to roads and kicked out at them. Thankfully i didn't come off her back and tried to reassure her they wouldnt hurt her as we waited for another car to go past, feeling her tense under me, i made a note to tell Neri when we got back.

Other things we had taught her was how to be patient when it came to feeding time, that the hose wasn't a snake when we bathed her, not to bite the dentist when they checked her teeth (estimated she was about 6 or so years of age from her teeth.) WILL NOT shoe her, but she tends to give the farrier a kick after they mess with her hooves.

[NeriHyuga]

that post made me laugh XD that little witch~
if you want you can make the result post too ^^ i have seen on the other participants that the last tasks are easyer to write if you write them alone and i don't know if i will be able to answer direct =)

[FireIceHeart]

After a long year of hard work, the kirin had finally progressed faster than imagined, we had taken her to a few in hand shows where everyone was stunned that ... a rarity had been bought along let alone be tamed. She gained alot of new traits being with all other horses at the ranch/stable, one being if she didn't get what she wanted when she wanted it, she'd sit down and sulk, or go make herself mucky again.

However, due to all the time i had spent with the Kirin mare..who i decided to called Satu, Juniper had been neglected and it showed she wasn't happy with me, and rubbing her neck i had decided to do what i should have done long ago. Saddling up Satu, i put a halter over junipers head and lead her out towards the crater, once we had reach the gap we always used. i dismounted and led both mares through it, before tying the Kirin to a tree leaving her there as i head out to the plains with Juniper.
It was an emotional goodbye to say the least, hugging my Tharkja i patted her neck softly and gave her a last treat before removing the halter and backing up, pushing her away gently each time she tried to follow me, hearing Hibari neighing loudly in the distance had gained her attention, watching her perk up she replied the call giving me one last look before taking off in the direction of the stallion.

Looking at satu i smiled at her "Just you and me girl, we're going to rule the world" remounting i head back to the ranch/stable, humming a song and telling Neri the news then daring her to race me to the old oak tree out in the fields for some fun. Only giving her 5 minutes to grab Armageddon due to Satu setting off before she was ready...this mare was fun.