[allynabean]

Ehh! My little darling has been adopted! <3 Take good care of him! <3

I will! <33

[Expresso.]

Bump? I'm so excited to see/read his first touch training <3

[allynabean]

First Touch Training

Allyna could barely sit still in her seat. She was sitting in the passenger seat of her family's green truck, with her mom driving. A large horse trailer was attached to the truck, bumping along on the road. They were headed to the Neravontii Stables. Her birthday gift this year was her very own Neravontii! She couldn't wait to see which Neras they had there. Her Mom wanted her to get either a mare or gelding, not a stallion, at least not yet.

As the car pulled into the parking lot, Allyna hopped out and waited for her mom. "Slow down, sweetie. You'll scare the Neravontii!" her Mother called. "I'll try." She said, calming herself down a bit. With her mom following, Allyna walked into the huge barn. Dozens of Neravontii stood in their stalls, waiting to be adopted by their future owners.

"You can start looking at them, I'll go talk to somebody about adopting one." Mom said. Allyna nodded, and as her mother walked off Allyna began walking down the isle between the stalls. She petted a few Nera's noses, passing them. There was one light blue and brown gelding that she had stuck her hand near his nose, allowing him to sniff her. The gelding did so, then suddenly licked her hand. Allyna giggled. She petted him, and he leaned down to lick her face. "You are a sweet boy, aren't you?" She asked. He responded by letting out a sound that sounded like a chuckle, his ears standing up. She could've sworn the gelding was grinning at her. She halfheartedly left the gelding and looked at a few more Neravontii, but when her mom arrived with a worker to help them, She led them down to the mint colored gelding. "This one!" She said and he licked her hand again.

I hope I did this right >3<

[Expresso.]

Ohh I love his first touch story <3 I can't wait to see more <33

[Rondell]

((Just a quick mark - AllynaBean (Allyna) has gifted me this lovely boy, so I now own him, and I want to keep track!
I mean, I know the species is defunct now, but I still think they're cool, and I have plans for him. <3 ))



First Saddle Training

Three owners from new, with me being the third... this guy had been bounced around a lot. Oh, sure, each of his previous owners had cared for him - and he hadn't ever been abused. Yet for some reason, he'd never found that place. That one special place where he'd belong forever. As I watched him unload from the trailer, I hoped that he finally had. Third time's the charm, right? And he was so stunning! Those glove-like markings, accented as they were with delicate greenish flecks, looked lacy and spectacular. His coloration was unique on my farm. And his face... well, it spoke for itself. I was actually quite sad he'd been gelded somewhere along the way! How would he have paired with JuJube? Or Molly? With a shake of my head I chased the thought away and moved over to take my new Nera's lead.

We'd never know, would we? And I loved him anyway, just as he was.

--------------

Three weeks later, and Jynx - as the gelding had been so-named by his first owner - had settled in wonderfully. He'd even become thick-as-thieves with Efialtes, who'd taken to him like he'd been a long lost brother. Between them and Curare, I began to wonder if I was ever going to get another moment of peace. Especially with Wednesday still sneaking up behind me at least once every other day and scaring the tar out of me.

Ah, such a charmed life I lead...

Anyway, on this particular day, having decided our relationship had progressed to a point where I wouldn't get killed doing what I was about to do, I went out to the paddock and tracked down Jynx. As usual, I found him with Efialtes, near the far end of the field, up to mischief. This time they were chasing the neighbor's cat. As soon as I saw this, I shouted loudly and ran after them, waving my hands above my head as wildly as I could. It didn't seem to phase them. Not really. But it caught their attention long enough for the poor cat to slip away. When they decided I wasn't interesting and tried to return to the chase, their quarry had gone. At which point they both looked horribly confused, and turned back to look at me again. This time accusingly. I just smiled innocently and continued walking toward them at a more sedate pace.

After getting the lead on Jynx and prying him away from Efialtes, who wandered off to presumably continue his search for the cat, it was the work of less than a minute to walk the gelding to the bullpen, where a saddle was already waiting for us on the fence.

I went through my usual routine of turning the Nera out into the pen and letting him do whatever he wanted for a couple of minutes. In Jynx's case, he utterly ignored the saddle. Doubtless he'd seen them before - smelled them before - from being around other Nera his whole life. This guy was no spring chicken, after all! Maybe someone had even taken him along on trail rides before, as a companion animal. Maybe he'd been in a halter show. Who knew. The agency's records weren't that detailed. At any rate, it was nice to see that he didn't think the saddle was going to lunge forward and eat him. Then I entered the bullpen myself. Being his usual lively self, the gelding trotted over and tried to slip out the gate, which I prevented him from doing. Balked, he instead turned away from me in one smooth movement and made as if he were going to head for the opposite side of the pen. But as he passed by, he reached back suddenly with his tail and tweaked my nose (or where a human's nose would be) with the psudo-hand at its tip. Only then did he move off, veering to the left and continuing onward to make a complete circuit of the bullpen, the mischievous spring in his step causing little puffs of dust to fly up from his heels as he went. When he reached me again he pulled up short, spraying me with earth, then tossed his head a couple of times as if to say: 'Comeon! Stop being such a stick-in-the-mud!'

My initial thought was: Gods. This was going to be Efialtes all over again.

Thankfully though, I was mostly wrong.

After a minute or so of just sitting there, watching Jynx mince around while I figured out my game plan, I sighed deeply and pushed myself away from the fence, which I'd been leaning on. Then I called the gelding's name to get his attention. He responded instantly, perking his ears and trotting toward me. That was one reason I hadn't tried to change his name - he already knew the one he had. Which was more than I could say for some of my other Nera. As he shoved his nose toward me, hoping for pets, I took his halter in my right hand. With my left, I rubbed his velvety forehead.

"You're going to love this game, big man..."

It was the work of a few moments to hook him into the cross-ties. Jynx had never minded them - I groomed him like this all the time, and so had both his previous owners. In fact, he was so used to it that he calmed right down, settling into an almost sleepy-looking stupor that I nevertheless had reason to distrust. He could snap out of it in a moment if he wanted to. He'd gotten me like that once, right after we first met. I thought he was down for the count, and turned my back on him, which he took as an opportunity to grab a nearby water bucket with his tail-hand and upend it on my head. He had found it hilarious. I, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as amused - my internal electronics were on the fritz for months!

As I slipped the saddle down from its perch on the rail, Jynx's ears immediately swiveled around to listen to what I was doing. Yet as I approached him, he didn't seem to tense up or anything. Even as I hefted the saddle and made ready to settle it onto its back, he simply stood still... listening. This reaffirmed my suspicion that he'd been used as a pack animal at sometime in the past. It was only when I tried to do up the girth that I began to encounter problems. First of all, I discovered that the gelding had puffed up. As much as he possibly could. So I was forced to release him from the ties and walk him around a bit, stopping every so often to tighten the girth another notch. It took a massive chunk of time out of my day. Then, when I'd gotten the girth as tight as I possibly could without Jynx's cooperation and decided to let him wander around the bullpen a bit, to get the feel of the thing... he started shaking. Like a wet dog. For all he was worth.

He was trying to dislodge the saddle!

From my position by the fence, I sighed and fought not to give into the urge to smack my palm into my forehead. Well. This was new, at least... though after a few moments I began to worry that the gelding was going to hurt himself. So I slipped back into the pen and fished a chicken nugget from the baggie in my pocket. I'd long since discovered that the things made perfect Nera treats! Not only are they bite-sized and tasty, but they keep pretty well once they're cooked, and don't seem to mind being accidentally sat upon - they hold together. Plus, Jynx in particular seemed to love them. The instant he caught wind of the thing, he stopped shaking and lifted his head to scent the air. Then he twisted around and bounded over to me, ears perked forward eagerly. He knew what was up! I held the nugget in the palm of my hand and let him lick it up, then fished out another and let him have it, too. I didn't want to take the saddle off immediately - it would be too much like rewarding him for acting a fool. He'd never stop shaking. Instead, I walked him around the pen a bit, keeping his distracted with chicken nuggets until my supply ran dry.

Only then did I remove the saddle and turn him back out into the field.

[Rondell]

First Ride Training

The saddle was on. In fact, it had been on - and off again - several times over the past couple of weeks. While Jynx had lost none of his energy during this time, and while he still was rather bad about puffing up, he had at least stopped trying to shake the saddle off his back. Which was nice. It also made me a bit more confidant about trying to hop onto his back myself; I hadn't wanted him to try and shake me off too! So, this in mind, I led a tacked-up Jynx along behind me, this time to the arena. And I crossed my fingers that things would go as smoothly as possible. Even someone who had trained as many Nera as I had never knew what to expect when doing something like this. Each animal was totally different, and each first ride its own experience.

Anyone who stopped being nervous (in my own humble opinion at least) was a raving nut-ball.

I got Jynx settled fairly easily, having lunged him this morning to burn off as much of his extra energy as possible. Which was why he was already wearing his gear. Yet he was still fairly lively; his step had that old familiar spring to it, and his ears swiveled about madly, taking in the sounds of hie environment as I led him around to give him time to deflate. Every so often I'd stop and attempt to tighten the girth a notch - maybe two if I was lucky - and if I was successful, the gelding would snort with irritation, or stomp his foot, or toss his head. But that was all. What would he have been like if I hadn't lunged him this morning? He was clearly in a mood today!

All too soon, it was time. The girth was set. There were no more reasons to delay. So I led Jynx back around the arena, in one final lap, until I reached the mounting block. Then I gave the gelding a good forehead rub and prepared to hop aboard. He seemed to sense my anxiety, and shifted his weight from foot to foot uneasily.

I swung myself into the saddle as smoothly as possible, with a practiced ease born of having done the very same thing a million times over with other saddles and other Neravontii. Nevertheless, Jynx seemed a bit troubled by my new position atop his back. It wasn't the weight that was doing it - he'd definitely been used as a pack animal before. I'd finally gotten off my butt and checked with the agency. Apparently his previous owner had enjoyed taking him along on trail rides, and even dressing him up for Halloween - information submitted to them when he'd been listed for resale. So he was used to having weird stuff on his back! No, the issue was probably the simple fact that, in all his years and with all his owners, he'd come to expect a certain set of things from non-Nera persons, and jumping onto his back just wasn't one of those things. Sometimes being old and experienced translated to being set in your ways!

Jynx shifted his weight suddenly and took a couple of small, quick steps forward, unsure of how to proceed. I simply hung on for all I was worth. When the gelding sidestepped, craning his head around to get a look at me, I smiled widely and began to speak softly - saying whatever came into my head with the simple wish that my familiar voice would reassure him, especially if I could keep my tone level and even. Which was not easy when the gelding beneath me was doing his best rodeo-Nera impersonation - about the only thing he hadn't done yet was... oh. Not even a second after the thought entered my brain, Jynx reared up on his hind legs and bellowed loudly, as if he'd overheard. Thankfully he didn't hold the position for very long. The gelding wasn't as young as he'd once been, and with age had come a dwindling amount of energy. Thus, when it became apparent that I was clinging on like a limpet despite his best efforts, Jynx fell back down onto all fours and snorted. He also craned his head around again and flicked his ears forward, as if studying the situation anew and trying to come up with a 'Plan B'.

Age had also brought along a certain bit of canniness.

Before he could scrape me off on the fence or something, I began fishing in the various pockets I had stashed about my person. On the third try, I laid hand on a small packet of jerky. This I tore open quickly, watching as Jynx's nose began to twitch curiously. Just as quickly, I emptied it on the ground and stowed the wrapper back in the pocket from whence it came.

Jynx watched me for a few moments longer, then relented and went for the jerky, keeping his ears trained on me all-the-while. When he was just about done with his treat, I carefully slipped off his back and retreated a couple steps to where he see me without making an effort. He instantly brought his head up, stared at me, then went back to snuffling about in the dust to see if he'd missed any. Which he hadn't. So he casually came over and began nosing my shoulder.

Now that I was back on the ground, he seemed to bear me no ill will. That was something, anyway. Maybe there was hope for him yet...

[Rondell]

Art