[sprig]

Username: thealmightytriscuit
Name: Poetry in Motion / Aurelie
Gender: Mare
Eye Color: Purple
Dam:
Sire:

1. First encounter - Complete!
2. Adjusting to the new home - Complete!
3. Introduction of the halter - Complete!
4. Meeting a friend - Complete!
5. Gaining your horse's trust
6. First time with saddle
7. Ground work
8. First ride
9. Free spot

[Thelastsilhouette]

Thank you so much Vintage, she's gorgeous! I have to think of a name for her. Her name will be Poetry in Motion / Aurelie

[Thelastsilhouette]

The First Encounter:

Early morning fog rolled in as Cassandra 'Chthulhu' Evans pulled into the drive of Bear Run, they recently had an influx of wild tolters so Cassie decided she would help out and come take one home to use as her own project horse. She had horses for a couple years now but the ones she had were all pretty bombproof by the time she got them. This one would be her own, this one would show her just how much she learned from her other tolters and how well she would do as a horse trainer. She couldn't see very much due to the fog and squinted through the slightly dirty windshield of her old ford truck, she hit the brake and muttered a curse word as someone popped up out of nowhere in front of her leading a tolter calmly beside them.
The person flipped an arm up in an expression of 'what's wrong with you?' Cassie replied with a hand up as if to say 'sorry' as she decided to just turn her truck off for the moment to keep from possibly injuring someone in the fog.
Cassie took in a deep of air as she stepped out of her truck, it was cool this morning and the humidity of the fog felt amazing today. She looked around but had about the same amount of visibility as she did while in her truck. The faint sounds of snorting horses and something hitting metal rails led Cassie through the fog and to a few large round pens full of wild tolters. Some tolters just got into a small scuffle over space. She felt bad because when Bear Run said they needed help with the wild tolters, they meant it and she could only take one but Bear Run had a lot of friends and she was sure they would find people for all these tolters.
After walking around the pens for a while Cassie noticed that there was a lone mare in one of the pens, she was thinner than the other tolters in the pen with her and she had her back to the others as she stood the closest to the railing of the round pen. The other mares in the pen were giving the lone one mutual avoidance but the lone mare didn't seem fazed by it, her eyes were half closed as she let out a small sigh. Cassie stepped close to the railing, the lone mare was beautiful! and she seemed like she might be pretty easy to tame, the mare looked pretty calm with the situation. "Hey girl, why are you sitting here all alone?" Cassie asked, the mare immediately went out of her calm stance and stiffened, she didn't mind the weird creature getting close to her but now it was growling or something? She pinned her ears back and backed away from the railing, a few of the other mares squealed when the loner moved closer to them, they didn't want her near them.
The loner stayed where she was and kept her eyes on Cassie. The latter watched the mare a bit sadly, the mare was stuck with others who couldn't stand her. "It's alright, you'll come home with me today so no more being forced to stand outside of a herd." The mare kept her ears pinned as Cassie finished talking and went to go get her truck so she could get the mare loaded and headed for her new home.

[Thelastsilhouette]

Adjusting to Her New Home:

Cassie let out a heavy sigh as she pushed her hair off her slightly sweaty face, the mare that Cassie had fallen in love with, the lone gray mare, was proving to be harder to get out of the trailer than she was getting in. At Bear Run the other mares practically charged the mare into the long metal box on wheels, but now that Aurelie was away from the other tolters she stood like a statue in the trailer and refused to move for any reason. Now that they were home at Tipping Ranch, Cassie was feeling like a complete fool, no matter what she did, she couldn't get the mare to move out of the trailer and into the new round pen just for her.
Cassie took some time to catch her breath from her previous attempt at forcing the mare out by swinging a lasso at the mare until she backed out, the mare had just pinned her ears and lifted her head as high as possible. No matter how hard or close or even if she brushed the mare's nose with the lasso, Aurelie stood her ground and refused to move. Cassie grabbed a crop and started to flick it outside of the trailer, making the end snap a few times in hopes of the mare being afraid of this new noise, Aurelie's muscles twitched as she fought with all her might to keep herself perfectly still. Aurelie wasn't going to listen to the flight response of her brain due to her time with the other mares who punished her for any movement towards them at Bear Run even though the cracking of the crop through the air was terrifying to her. After a couple more moments Aurelie's twitching stopped as she calmed herself and noticed that the cracking didn't cause her any physical pain.
Cassie stopped making the snapping noises when she noticed the mare start to calm down, she was desensitizing the mare before even getting the mare out of the trailer, this was a completely new experience for her, Aurelie was no longer scared of the crop and the mare didn't seem to fear the lasso from earlier either. How was Cassie supposed to get her out of the trailer? An idea popped into her head as she picked up the lasso again, the mare wasn't scared by being touched with it so she opened the loop wide and tossed it over the mare's head. Aurelie restiffened, her nostrils went wide as did her eyes, Cassie tightened the rope slightly as she gently pulled the rope, trying to force lead the mare out.
Aurelie panicked at the rope tightening around her neck and finally moved, it was about an inch but Aurelie immediately felt the slight loosening of the rope and realized what she needed to do. Cassie watched in utter amazement as the mare followed her out into the pen, Aurelie didn't like being choked by the rope or else she would've stayed in the trailer still, Cassie knew that without a doubt. Aurelie went to move to close to the railing of the pen when the roped tightened again, the mare stopped and moved herself slightly closer to Cassie to keep herself from the feeling of being choked. Were horses normally this calm? Cassie wasn't sure, dealing with a wild tolter was a whole new experience for her.
Now that Aurelie was out of the trailer and into her new home Cassie let out a sigh of relief, she grabbed the crop and carefully stuck the end inbetween the mare and the rope around her neck. Aurelie flinched but again remained completely still, Cassie used the crop to loosen the rope and slip it over the mare's head, Aurelie moved away when the rope came loose. The mare let out a long sigh of air as if she was relieved to be rid of the rope. Cassie agreed with the mare's relief and closed the pen so the mare wouldn't attempt to get back into the trailer on her own, she finished the moving of the mare by putting a flake of hay in a plastic purple bucket for her. Glad she finally got the mare settled.

Day after Day, Cassie visited and would drop some hay in Aurelie's bucket a well as a scoop or two of some grain, she would then make sure the mare's water trough was full. After a couple weeks Aurelie was no longer skinnier than she was supposed to be and she became used to having the round pen all to herself, which she liked very much.

[Thelastsilhouette]

Introduction of the Halter:
The sun rose late today over frosted grass and tree branches. It was getting close to fall, cold weather was expected soon but it had sprung upon the horses and people of Tipping Ranch quite surprisingly. Yesterday the horses and people were sweating under the sun's glare and today they felt chilly as they woke up to start their routines. Aurelie, out in her round pen felt the chill more than the horses inside their stalls but since she had been nowhere but outside recently she had managed to grow some of her winter coat before the sudden drop had come. The mare shivered slightly as she wandered around the round pen, she wanted to run to help warm herself up but she had no urge to circle the pen repeatedly, going in circles, nothing but constant circles.
Aurelie let out a snort of breath and watched it become a cloud of white hot air amongst the cold before it floated off, she dropped her ears as well as her head. It was cold out, she had a partial winter coat and no real urge to warm her cold muscles.
She shivered some more before she noticed that a familiar face was peering in at her in her solitude, it was the girl named Cassandra, the one who had been visiting her a lot recently. The girl had started off with just feeding her and watching her to coming in and grazing the mare's nose with her gentle fingers. Aurelie had been her usual self during the first few visits, staying still and tense like a stone statue, not willing to run and not willing to fight, she would remain frozen until Cassandra would stop being scary to her. It had taken time, lots of time with whispered words of comfort from Cassandra and the courage from Aurelie to turn away from being afraid and learning to like having Cassandra around.
Aurelie let out a quiet nicker as Cassandra joined the mare in the pen as usual, she brought hay and a rather unusual thing that she had draped over her shoulder. Aurelie happily welcomed the hay and as soon as Cassandra dropped it in her hay bucket she shoved her nose in and tore at the hay hungrily, the mare felt hungrier this morning than she could remember since coming here. The mare ignored Cassandra when the girl moved to her shoulder and started to gently pat her before the girl moved to scratch her neck a couple times, Aurelie was used to Cassandra's patting but the scratches were new and she paused from eating as she looked at Cassandra in surprise. She liked the scratching and pushed her neck against Cassandra's hand to make the scratching stronger, it felt so good.
"You're being a very good girl today." Cassandra commented as she continued the scratching along the mare's neck until she was scratching right behind Aurelie's ears. The mare's eyes were half-closed with enjoyment, she was still enjoying the scratching when she heard odd clinking noises and felt something brush her nose, the mare opened her eyes as Cassandra buckled a crude halter around her face. Aurelie's eyes widened as her body stiffened, Cassandra had tricked her with something pleasant into doing something unusual to her face. "It's alright, Aurelie." Cassandra said soothingly as she reached out to pat the mare's neck, Aurelie shifted away, her wide eyes carefully watching Cassandra now, the mare felt upset and betrayed. Cassandra sighed as she gently tugged the rope attached to the halter, Aurelie was so upset by the halter she didn't even realize the rope that Cassandra held in her hand was attached to the halter under her chin.
The one tug brought about a new change to Aurelie, normally she would become tense and still, now she reared and bucked viciously throwing her tantrum of terror. Cassandra still held the rope, she didn't tug, or try to pull the mare back towards her. Aurelie watched the girl follow after her, letting the mare buck and kick out all she wanted, after a couple nervous tosses of her head Aurelie stopped moving and stood still. After the mare stopped moving, Cassandra walked up to the mare and slowly reached out to pet near the mare's ears, Aurelie shifted away again, this time only a couple steps. "Alright, no more scary things for you today." The girl said as she carefully unclipped the rope from the halter.
Aurelie trotted away and happily watched Cassandra leave with the rope, already forgetting about the halter she was currently wearing.

---

More days of work followed for Aurelie, until eventually Cassandra could put on and take of the halter without the mare spooking. Aurelie eventually learned to follow after Cassandra when the girl pulled on the rope when it was attached to the halter, it was a work in progress still, Aurelie wasn't sure she should completely trust Cassandra as her leader but she did like the girl and would follow her a bit. The mare liked the praise that came after her willingness to follow. A couple weeks later Cassandra brought Aurelie her own special halter, it was the same shade of purple as the mare's eyes and had snowy owl feathers attached to the metal rings of the halter by bits of string. Aurelie wasn't sure about it at first but came to like the halter, it was the same as the old one, it didn't hurt her when it was put on so she soon got used to wearing this one instead.

[Thelastsilhouette]

Meeting a Friend:

After becoming comfortable with being haltered, Aurelie found that she liked wearing the headpiece, it made her feel special, different, unique. The mare had never felt any of those feelings before, as the low horse in both her herd and at Bear Run when they were separated from the horses she had known all her life, she had been treated like she different but never in a pleasant way. She liked this kind of different and would trot proudly around the round pen, shaking her head a bit to make the dangling feathers flutter even more. She loved the feathers very much and did her best to keep them out of hay, dirt and water to preserve their beauty for as long as she could.
This kind of happiness was new and Aurelie was to find she was going to keep meeting more and more new things that changed her out look on life in the best ways.

Aurelie pranced anxiously in her pen as she waited for Cassandra to show up like normal. It had become routine for Aurelie and Cassandra to go for walks around the grounds, every day they had gone farther than before, Aurelie started to listen to the lead rope almost everytime she felt it's tug on her halter and as a reward for this kind of learning Cassandra would show Aurelie more than she had ever seen of Tipping Ranch. Today Cassandra promised to let the mare out into a pasture and see how she did, Aurelie wanted to run and be free so much, the pen was nice and comforting but she wanted to be able to kick up her heels and gallop in a large, open, field.
There she was! The mare caught sight of Cassandra headed her way with a lead rope in hand and a smile on her face at Aurelie's obvious excitement to see her. Aurelie let out a whinny and circled near the round pen's gate before putting her head up and waiting for Cassandra to finish walking over to her. Cassandra greeted Aurelie with a soft brush of her fingers along the mare's gently blowing nostrils, the mare nosed Cassandra's fingers in return before backing away from the gate to let the girl come into the pen with her. Cassandra didn't waste time in opening the gate and clipping the lead rope onto Aurelie's halter, she wanted to let the mare out into a pasture and had almost just let the mare out after Aurelie started to listen to lead rope but she knew getting her to come back to her would be harder, after waiting she had more faith in the mare and suspected that Aurelie would come back to her now.
With a gentle clucking noise to Aurelie, Cassandra started to lead her out of the pen, the mare followed after her with her head high and her eyes searching for the pasture that they would be going to today. "Not yet, girl." Cassandra said when she noticed where Aurelie's eyes were focused, she led the mare through their normal routine around the barns, the outside arena and then around Tippin Ranch's main house. The time taken to finish this walk had calmed Aurelie greatly and the mare lowered head to Cassandra's level. The mare nosed the back of the girl's head and sniffed her hair before nuzzling the girl's shoulder. She wanted to be free now and was doing her best to ask politely.
Cassandra was surprised with the mare's nuzzling, she had spent plenty of time with the mare but had never before did Aurelie initiate touch between them. The girl smiled as she gently stroked Aurelie's cheek. "Alright because you're being so good." Cassandra headed for the empty field nearest the barn, it was empty right now so that Aurelie could run free before Cassandra put another tolter out with Aurelie to start getting the wild mare to readjust herself to other horses being around.
Just inside the fence Cassandra and Aurelie stood looking at the vast field, they sighed in unison before Cassandra turned to the mare and unclipped the lead rope, she gave the mare a couple pats on the shoulder before walking away. Aurelie didn't feel the normal pull of the rope when Cassandra walked away, the mare snorted before heading out into the field at a slow canter. She did a couple large circles around a lone patch of oak trees before heading towards the corner of the field closest to the barn, she ran away from the barn then with the fenceline to her left. She slowed as she neared the girl and came to a stop about ten feet away, she nickered before trotting a couple steps away, Aurelie stopped and turned back towards the girl. She wanted Cassandra to follow after her, to run with her and enjoy the freedom with her. Cassandra just watched instead, she clucked to the mare who responded by walking all the way over to the girl, she nickered again, more quietly this time.
The girl just rubbed the mare's face a couple times, not understanding that Aurelie wanted Cassandra to join her. "This is your time to run, go ahead and explore to your heart's content."
Aurelie watched the girl leave the pasture, her heart grew sad, all this space and she was completely alone. In the round pen she liked being alone because she had all the space she wanted but this space felt like too much space. The mare slowly wandered around the pasture, looking back to the barn every now and then in hopes of Cassandra returning. One such glance made Aurelie perk up, Cassandra was coming back, the mare let out a whinny of happiness before trotting to re-join her human friend. When Aurelie heard another whinny reply to hers she froze, she hadn't seen the other horse that Cassandra was leading out to the pasture until that moment.
Cassandra pushed against the shoulder of the bay mare she was leading out to join Aurelie in the pasture, she had chosen her girl, Gypsy, because she was a friendly mare with no social dominance in her and figured they would be a pretty good pair to have out together. Although Gypsy was showing more excitement at joining Aurelie out in the pasture than she had expected. She hoped that Gypsy didn't show herself to be very dominating. "You have to be a good girl, Aurelie needs a friend so play nice." Cassandra knew that Gypsy couldn't understand her but she wished there was a way to explain Aurelie's previous situation with the other horses at Bear Run.
Aurelie stayed out by the oak trees when Cassandra released Gypsy out into the pasture. As soon as the lead rope was gone Gypsy playfully nudge Cassandra and pranced around, her tail high, she wanted to play with the girl more than she wanted anything else, she didn't even cast a glance at Aurelie. That upset the mare, to be ignored was worse than being picked on she decided as she walked slowly over to them. The mare let out a nicker as she looked at Cassandra, she had stopped off to Cassie's left and Gypsy's right, Gypsy spooked before turning to look at Aurelie with the one eye she did have. Gyspy returned Aurelie's nicker with a nicker of her own, the mares cautiously approached each other, they sniffed noses before walking off. Well Aurelie walked off and Gypsy decided to follow the other mare, this obviously surprised the rose gray mare, she didn't understand what was going on but she didn't try to scare off the other mare.
Cassandra supposed that was as good as it was going to get when letting Aurelie make friends, the mare wasn't used to other horses wanting to be near her and would have to get used to Gypsy being a follower. They hadn't tried to bite or kick each other so Cassandra would take this as a sign of blossoming friendship and left them alone.
Aurelie and Gypsy watched Cassie leave before grazing by the trees, Aurelie inspected Gypsy before letting out a small snort, happy that she had someone around who didn't want to push her around. Gypsy eyed the grass that Aurelie was nibbling at before stealing a few blades, Aurelie nosed her away and went back to eating her spot of grass, Gypsy went back to her own grass instead. So far, Aurelie liked this, the freedom and the new friend.

[Thelastsilhouette]

Gaining Aurelie's trust:

Spending time with Gypsy out in their own pasture did wonders for Aurelie's shy personality. She changed from the lowest mare in the two horse herd and showed that she had a bit of dominance in her, she was a bit pushy towards Gypsy after their friendship progressed but she was never overly mean and would sometimes be found following after Gypsy like a lost puppy.
Cassie still took the time to walk Aurelie around, today was another special day for the mare. She would have her first grooming and start learning about picking up her feet.
Aurelie eagerly nudged the familiar girl's shoulder as a lead rope was clipped to Aurelie's special halter. Cassie smiled at the change that could be seen in this mare already, so gentle even if she was still spooky and wild sometimes, this kind of change was a good thing for the mare. Everyday was getting better than the last for the mare, eventually Aurelie wouldn't feel the need to be frightened of anything anymore, which made the girl hopeful, she hated to see the wild, scared look that the mare would still give at unexpected moments.
They entered the round pen that was Aurelie's for the first part of the mare's stay at her new home, the mare followed Cassie to the middle and waited patiently to see what Cassie was going to ask her to do.
Cassie moved off to one side of the mare as she lazily tossed the lead rope that was attached to Aurelie's halter across the rose gray mare's back. The sudden sight and feel of the rope along her back cause Aurelie to toss her head up high as her eyes widened and she backed away, terrified of this new experience. Cassie pulled the rope until it dropped from the mare's back and again tossed it over the mare's back.
Aurelie focused on the rope as she kept backing away, not really noticing that Cassie was following after her or that the rope wasn't hurting her physically. After a couple minutes of tossing the rope over the mare's back, Aurelie paused, she watched the rope fly over her back again and waited to see if it was going to do anything else. So far it just acted scary but it didn't hurt, if it didn't hurt then why did it need to be scary to her? Aurelie started to lick her lips as Cassie again tossed the rope, it didn't hurt in any way and now it didn't seem scary to her at all.
Cassie stopped tossing the rope and gave Aurelie some rubs along the face and neck as well as praise, Aurelie realized that Cassie was telling her she was a good girl for not being scared of the rope. After a bit more praise Cassie did something new with the rope, she started to toss it lazily against Aurelie's legs, the mare stiffened as she awkwardly backed away, it wasn't as scary as it going over her back but she still felt the need to get away from it.
After some minutes of having the rope lazily wrapping around the mare's legs, she found this wasn't very scary either and let out a sigh of relief. This rope was turning out to be a bit of a dud when it came to being scary and she was alright with that.

Cassie took the time to desensitize both sides well with the rope before moving onto something else that would be new for Aurelie. The girl took a prickly looking thing from a box of odd looking things, she let the mare smell it before gently swiping the brush along the mare's neck. The mare turned to look at Cassie in surprise, this thing felt as good as being scratched! After a couple more swipes of the brush Aurelie was leaning against it whenever Cassie moved to brush a specific area, it didn't matter where it just felt good. Cassie smiled at how easy Aurelie was to brush, the mare obviously enjoyed being groomed with it, after grooming Aurelie's neck, shoulder and part of her back she decided it was time to move onto the last new experience for today.

Aurelie watched Cassie put the brush a way and let out a small sigh of air, she really enjoyed being brushed and wanted to be brushed some more. The mare even decided to tell Cassie so by going over to the box of items and nosing at the brush that had just been used on her. Cassie let out a small chuckle at Aurelie's antics. "Next time, I'll brush you some more. It's time for something else and then you'll get to go back to spending time with Gypsy."
Cassie gently pushed against Aurelie's chest, asking the mare to back up. Aurelie obliged but kept eyeing the box of brushes. Cassie moved to one side of the mare and started to gently run her hand down the mare's leg. The latter turned to watch what Cassie was doing, wondering about what Cassie was up to now, this didn't frighten the mare, it was new and a bit odd but she was learning to put some trust in the girl and her actions. Cassie took her time in petting her way down Aurelie's leg to show the mare that it wasn't scary before gently squeezing the joint right above the hoof. The mare lifted her leg immediately to relieve herself of the odd feeling, Cassie had her hoof for a second before she let it go and praised the mare for being so good.
For each hoof, Cassie took her time and let Aurelie get used to her running her hands along the mare's legs. Each time the mare was calm but quick to pick up her feet, after all four had been lifted, Cassie decided that it was enough for one day. Aurelie was proving to be a trusting mare, she didn't spook half as much at the end of their training session than they did at the beginning.

[Thelastsilhouette]

First Time with a Saddle:
Cassie whistled softly as she groomed Aurelie. In recent days Aurelie was showing her newfound trust in the girl, she could brush any part of the mare' body, touch pretty much anywhere without any negative signs that the mare disapproved. A last swipe of a soft bristle brush across the mare's rump finished up their grooming session. Aurelie's head dropped a little as she turned to look at Cassie, she would stand there all day just to be groomed, the mare nudged Cassie's back with her nose before following the girl over to the bucket of brushes sitting by the rail of the round pen that Cassie and Aurelie used for their bonding time now.
Before it was Aurelie's home but now it was just a place for them to spend time together with just each other. Cassie laughed as Aurelie put her head over the girl's shoulder after the brush was put away, the mare let out a small huff of air still wanting attention and to be scratched. Cassie gently ran her hands along the mare's face, always surprised by the gentleness this mare showed now that she no longer felt the need to fear everything.
By the end of today Cassie really hoped that there would be one less thing that Aurelie would fear, sitting just outside the pen was an old and heavy, western saddle. It was broken and wasn't meant for riding since the seat was cracked but it would do for a first saddle for the mare to try out, it was busted already so the mare could do damage to it however she wants and it wouldn't be wasting a perfectly good saddle.
Cassie and Aurelie had been practicing some word cues after getting Aurelie to follow after with the lead rope a few weeks ago, so after being told to 'stay' Aurelie stood where she was as the girl collected the saddle and pad. The mare eyed the items with wary eyes and backed up a couple steps when Cassie set the saddle down and walked over to her with the saddle pad. Cassie slowly moved the pad towards Aurelie's nose, knowing that it smelled like Gypsy since she was borrowing Gypsy's saddle pad for this.
Aurelie curiously sniffed the saddle pad, it smelled strongly of her herdmate and cautiously lipped it before Cassie pulled it away, the mare's eyes widened when the girl gently rubbed the pad on her neck. The rose gray mare shifted her head away slightly and tensed up, waiting for something scary and painful to happen, nothing happened besides the pad rubbing down her neck to rub along her side and back. Finally Cassie pulled the saddle pad away causing the mare to relax and lick her lips as she watched Cassie move to rub the pad along her back again, this time the mare didn't tense up but watched Cassie intensely wondering what this girl had planned.
Nothing, Aurelie figured, the girl had done nothing but rub the pad on her. It didn't hurt or feel bad, it wasn't as good as being scratched or groomed but it wasn't unpleasant either. The pad was large and awkward but it didn't hurt her. Aurelie felt the pad settle on the middle of her back and waited for Cassie to start rubbing her with it again, but it stayed, the mare turned and looked at Cassie unsure about what the girl was doing. She assumed the pad was for an awkward grooming session and wasn't sure how to feel about it sitting there on her back, Cassie started to rub the mare while ignoring the pad and pretending that it wasn't there within reach.
Aurelie enjoyed being petted and rubbed, relaxing and forgetting about her initial nervousness towards the pad on her back. After a couple minutes of that Cassie went and picked up the heavy, broken, saddle, she had taken the stirrups off for the first meeting. Aurelie's nostrils widened as she stretched her head out to sniff the saddle before Cassie walked over to her with it. The mare went over the saddle with her nose, smelling every part of it, it smelled a bit musty but it also held the smell of many horses on it, the girl didn't try to rub the saddle on her like she did with the pad. Cassie waited a couple moments by the mare's shoulder before slowly starting to do a minor swinging movement as if she was going to put the saddle on the mare.
The mare became nervous again, not sure of how she liked seeing the saddle swinging at her, she side stepped away eyes wide. Cassie wasn't back off with it though and the mare came right up to the rail of the pen before stopping, Cassie swung the saddle a couple more times now that the mare stood still. She stopped the swinging and praised Aurelie and gently patted the mare's shoulder before starting up the swinging again, the mare waited for Cassie to stop swinging it this time, again she was praised. Cassie did the final movement and swung the saddle up and onto the saddle pad.
Aurelie did something unexpected and tried to crouch down under the saddle, hoping to slip out from underneath it. It didn't work and the mare wound up laying on the ground with the saddle still on her. Before she could try to stand up Cassie lifted the saddle off and quickly set it on her again, showing the mare that the saddle when placed on her, could also be taken off again. The mare waited for Cassie to take the saddle off before standing up causing the mare to lay there for a while with the saddle still sitting on her back.
Instead of the saddle being taken off, Cassie sat down beside the mare's shoulder and gently rubbed along the mare's neck where her mane grew. They sat there for a while, the mare calming down eventually just enjoying the time spent with Cassie, the latter enjoyed this time as well and braided a couple strands in the mare's mane before moving to stand up. The mare got to her feet as well, watching Cassie to see what they were going to do now. Cassie patted the mare's neck before carefully reaching under the mare's chest right behind her front legs and grasping the hanging girth strap, she hid the strap from the mare's view as she quickly buckled it, it was loose but still pressed against Aurelie's belly.
Aurelie moved away from the girl this time and did a couple half-hearted crowhops. The saddle flopped a bit but stayed on, causing the mare to buck a couple more times, after her not so eager attempt to get the saddle off the mare calmed down and accepted it. Praise from Cassie followed that as well, she clipped a lead rope to Aurelie's halter and walked her around the pen a few times each way before stopping to praise the more for each circle completed without a buck being thrown in.
After about two hours of working with Aurelie and the saddle, Cassie felt the mare had had enough learning for the day and took the saddle and pad off before letting the mare back out into the pasture she had grown used to. Aurelie watched Cassie take the saddle and pad back towards the barn.
"Hey, Aurelie!" Gypsy, her pasture pal trotted up, happy to see her again. "How was the ride?"
"Ride?"
Aurelie was confused about what Gypsy was talking about, what was a ride?
"Yeah, a ride. The human puts a saddle on our backs, gets into the saddle and we go on a walk, they lead us around and we pretty much go exploring the country or forest together." Gypsy explained with a kind of excitement in her voice, she sounded like she enjoyed going riding which upset Aurelie because she hadn't actually gone on a ride. She only got to be saddled.
"We didn't go riding, Cassie just saddled me up.. Is going riding fun?" Aurelie asked curiously.
"It's actually a lot of fun, you wouldn't expect it to be since the first time being saddled can be scary. There's an indescribable joy to being ridden and spending time with your human."
Aurelie agreed that being saddled had been pretty scary for her, she trusted Cassie not to hurt her with it and had been right to trust her but now she felt like she had been scammed out of something important that Cassie didn't trust her enough to do.
The mare thought hard about it and decided that the next time she saw Cassie and the girl tried to saddle her that she would get the girl to take her for a ride.

[Thelastsilhouette]

Groundwork with Aurelie:

Aurelie nervously shifted as she spent the usual time with her human in the round pen. Today was the first time in a couple days that Cassie did anything with the saddle on the mare's back. She had planned on trying to take Cassie out for a ride but the girl didn't give her much of a chance when the girl brought out some unusual items.
Cassie was spending some time today with introducing the stirrups to her as she attached them to the saddle, the mare wasn't sure how she felt about them though when she moved she could tell they moved as well and she didn't like that much. The mare moved away from Cassie as the girl let go of the right stirrup, she just finished attaching it back to the saddle after attaching the left one moments before. Aurelie's movement caused the stirrup to bump against her side rudely and she flattened her ears to her head as she eyed the stirrup with wide eyes. The mare turned to nip at the stirrup to see what it would do if she nipped it, the stirrup was tough and tasted foul, not like any of the stuff she was used to, she noisily licked as she left the stirrup alone after getting a taste and finding she didn't like it.
Cassie approached the mare and patted the mare's neck before moving towards the saddle, she stood at the mare's shoulder before giving the stirrup a gentle jerk. Aurelie's attention immediately went to the girl, she tried to see what the girl was doing but couldn't see much over the girl's shoulder. Cassie gave a slightly sharper jerk causing the mare to shift away, Aurelie didn't like the jerking. Cassie didn't stop though and kept jerking on the stirrups until Aurelie started to calm down, the mare didn't take very long to calm down, knowing that she could trust Cassie even if the jerking was unsettling.
After a long sigh and Aurelie dropping her head Cassie stopped jerking the saddle and moved to the other side. It took only a couple minutes of jerking on the other stirrup before the mare calmed.
They was doing well so far.
Cassie then moved the stirrup close the mare's side and gently prodded the mare's ribs with her fingers to suggest the mare move away to the side. Aurelie easily shifted away from the prodding, it was a natural response and eased the prodding on her side. Cassie gave Aurelie a gentle pat on the shoulder before gently prodding the mare a few more times, each time the mare moved away without fuss. The mare did well with moving away from Cassie's prodding on both sides. She felt that now was the perfect time to try something a little hazardous but she was eager to try something else with her mare.
Aurelie noticed the height of the sun and supposed that their round pen session would be over now and expected Cassie to unsaddle her and lead her back to her pasture. The girl spent some time playing around with the girth strap and even tightened it a bit but the saddle stayed on and the mare wondered what Cassie was up to now. Aurelie was being patient and knew that Cassie wouldn't do anything super scary when the girl put her foot into the stirrup and quickly put herself into the saddle on the mare's back.
The mare became nervous at the sight of Cassie in the saddle and nervously chewed, the mare started to walk off unsure of what to do. Cassie let the mare walk and gently patted Aurelie's shoulder as she spoke soothingly to her, she kept her legs from bumping the mare's sides as they walked. The walking lasted longer than Cassie expected, she was sure that the mare was probably terrified of having her up on her back but Aurelie didn't try to buck or bolt. After a half hour of one constant circle the mare finally stopped and stood still, licking her lips and ready to listen to what Cassie wanted her to do.

[Thelastsilhouette]

Aurelie's First Ride:

After getting used to Cassie on her back after going through some groundwork, Aurelie was ready and expecting to be led out back to her pasture with Gypsy and Gypsy's mate, Bear. To the mare's surprise, Cassie had another saddle with her today, it was lighter colored than the old, dingy, saddle that was used as a practice saddle. It smelled clean and had a different horse's scent faintly clinging to it. Aurelie obediently let Cassie put this saddle on her wondering what Cassie was going to have her do next.
The girl just attached a couple long ropes to the metal ring on either side of her jaw and led her out of the pen, the mare let out a sigh and lowered her head, sure that they were now headed back to the pasture.
The mare perked up when she saw that Cassie was leading them in a new direction, towards a larger pasture that opened up for miles with trees dotting the landscape. She sniffed in excitement and attempted to prance, eager to explore this new pasture. She even forgot herself and let out a whinny half-expecting to here the familiar calls from her old herdmates. She got no response but still longed to run and check everything out to see everything there was to see.
They stopped a couple feet from the fenceline, Cassie looked up at the sky and checked where the sun was at, they still had a couple good hours left in the day. The mare waited for Cassie to let her free so she could roam but instead Cassie climbed into the saddle. Aurelie stood there, unsure of what to do or if she should do what she wanted and wander, a quick squeeze to her side and the 'walk' command from Cassie got her moving. After a couple more squeezes and she was cantering, her eyes scanning everything, she would turn her head and Cassie would follow with a gentle command to go where Aurelie wanted.
They didn't have a set destination or a set speed, when Aurelie slowed down Cassie let her. There were times where they would come to a stop completely just to enjoy the scenery, the mare agreed that right now this ride was one of the most unusual things she had ever done in her life but she liked it. Gypsy was right about going out riding, with someone like Cassie this was fun and comfortable, if her old herdmates could see her now she wondered what they would say?
After a couple more minutes Cassie gently rubbed the mare's shoulder. "Come on, that's enough fun for one day." Aurelie turned around and headed back in the direction of the home she had come to love. She had a few friends, a good leader, a place where she was safe and well-fed, she could honestly admit that she was happy.