[KathrynKat]

Owner: Rondell
Registered Name: Sugar-coated Skyrocket
Barn Name: Pixie
GS ID: #16
Gender: Mare
Height: 16.2 hh
Age: 5 Years Old
Coat: Palomino Overo
Rarity: Common
Personality Traits: Sneaky | Prefers Vegetables & Fruits | Loves Animals of All Sizes | Sassy Attitude | Stubborn

Training Levels Completed: Level 1
Training Tier: Tier 1
Base Points: 0
Training Points Total: 0

Shows Entered Total: 0
Shows Placed 1st: 0
Shows Placed 2nd: 0
Shows Placed 3rd: 0
Shows Placed Runner Up: 0
Disqualified: 0

Generation: First Gen
Parents: Unknown
Offspring: None Yet

[Rondell]

Owner: Rondell
Registered Name: Sugar-coated Skyrocket
Barn Name: Pixie
Prompt: *waves*

[KathrynKat]

Owner: Rondell
Registered Name: Sugar-coated Skyrocket
Barn Name: Pixie
Prompt: *waves*

grats and enjoy <3

[Rondell]

Level 1 Training
- Adoption Day
- 800-1,000 letters/characters (or 130-160 words) Story.
- Visit to the Adoption Center, how adoption and loading the GS to take it home went.

Rondell hung on the fence-line, nervously drumming their fingers on the freshly-painted wood and wondering just what they'd gotten themselves into now... after all, they had their Neravontii to take care of, and the Grelifcents, not to mention a pair of Tephlans that STILL needed to be trained! Yet here they were, adding another species to their menagerie. And this one had feathers! Big, fluffy, bright, great, massive feathers... what kind of care did those entail? Rondell hadn't a clue. They'd read the manual alright, but it hadn't been much help in that department. Unless they'd missed something. Or... something. The little construct of fabric and metal let out a sigh that didn't sound at all mechanical. Playing it by ear was a thing that happened all too often around here.

Just then, a clipboard-wielding man emerged from a barn off to Rondell's right and beckoned them over. "Everything's set! The guys have finished load'n her up for 'ya, the paperwork looks great, and if you'll just sign this here release we'll get you two on the road!" Rondell took the extended clipboard and began looking over what they'd been asked to sign as the man continued: "I'm sure you'll have no problems with her given all the experience you've had with those other horsy critters of yurs, but if you DO need any help you have our number... thank you..." Here he paused to reclaim the clipboard - pen, papers, signature and all - "... So don't be a stranger!" And with that, the man flashed a toothy smile and vanished back into the barn.

Rondell was left feeling as though they'd just been worked over by a tornado.

After a few moments they shook themselves out of their daze and headed off to where they'd been instructed to park their trailer earlier in the day. The sooner they got their new Galingale Strider home and unloaded, the better.

[Rondell]

Level 2 Training
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time bonding
- 3 Different days (can be within 18 hours apart separate posts)
- 300-750 letters/characters (or 50-150 words)

Day 1

The trip home went smoothly, as did the unloading process. Pixie - so named because her bright colours reminded Rondell of those 'Pixiy Stix' candies they so loved - was quite eager to get out of the trailer! All Rondell had to do was line everything up and open the door. She did the rest herself!

As they stood back and watched their feathered friend-to-be trot around the perimeter of the quarantine pasture, cautiously scenting the air as she went, they couldn't help but smile. Seeing her in motion like this made it very easy to understand why the Aztecs had revered these guys as the children of Quetzalcoatl! Those feathers....

Idly, Rondell folded their right arm across their torso, palm up, rested the elbow of their left hand IN said palm, then proceed to plop their chin down into their left palm. This put them in the position to drum their fingers on their cheek - just below their eye. They often did this when they wanted to think and had nothing to lean on, so the whole operation took far less time to acomplish than it did to describe! They WOULD have leaned on the fence, but it was still too soon to get that close to Pixie. She hadn't settled in yet, and needed her space. It would be a day or two yet before she calmed down enough to be approached. Thus, in the meantime, Rondell stood several yards off and simply watched, daydreaming about feathers and make plans for the weeks that lay ahead.

Time Passes...

Stretching back to their early Neravontii days, Rondell's go-to tactic for getting a jumpy new 'pet' acclimated to their presence has been casual yet persistent (and pointedly indirect) association. To put that another way, they pack a lunch, grab a book, then go out and spend some of their precious free time within seeing distance of the quarantine paddock without actually getting NEAR the quarantine paddock. Thus whatever equid they were dealing with could get used to having them around without feeling threatened by them. They'd even put a picnic table over there so they wouldn't have to sit on the ground! Unless they wanted to, anyway; sometimes it was nice to bring along a blanket and enjoy a nice casual lunch on the lawn. But not today. Today, it had been raining all morning, so the ground was soggy.

Rondell made a b-line for the table without giving it a second thought.

As they sat there munching their turkey sandwich, they watched Pixie eat HER lunch from the corner of their eye. She'd settled down a lot in the past few days, but was still stubbornly refusing to let Rondell too close. She certainly had a mind of her own! Thankfully though, Striders were nowhere near as smart as Neravontii, otherwise they'd be reduced to dodging projectiles by now... They jammed the last bite of sandwich into their mouth and reached for their book. That would've made this whole thing even harder.

Things Change

Over the past several months things had gotten progressively better. Not improvement overnight, but improvement over SEVERAL nights. Pixie had come to realize that Ron wasn't going to hurt her. She'd even come to associate them with GOOD things - food, water, treats... - so would let herself come withing touching distance.

Though Ron didn't push it.

They didn't give into temptation.

Pixie would have to make the first move.

This in mind, every time they'd go to fill Pixie's bucket they'd hold a couple strawberries in their palm and offer them to the mare. Her nose twitched. She may even be tempted. But so far, she'd not accepted the gift. So Ron would pop the berries into their own mouth instead, munch on them while they fed Pixie her oats, then speak to her a bit and retreat to their picnic table to read for a while.

It wasn't until one drizzly morning, four months after Pixie had arrived, that she finally got up the nerve to stretch out her muzzle and eat one of the strawberries. Not all of them, mind - just one. Because after one, her resolve cracked and she danced away a few feet to watch Ron finish the berries and fill her bucket.

Nevertheless, they were thrilled.

Today, one berry. Tomorrow, maybe also one berry. Maybe none. But next week? Next week, who could tell?!

EDIT: fixed a stupid typo that's apparently been hanging around for years.... ^.^;

[Rondell]

Level 3 Training
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time halter training, steps from first seeing it, to wearing it to leading in it.
- 100-250 word stories

Meeting the Halter

Pixie's halter is in a bright pink, just like her accents, and has white, reflective pinstripes running down the center of each strap. Rondell had it custom made! And the first time they held it up for her to see, her head jerked up in terror, her eyes widened, she backpedaled a step or two, and she flat refused to have anything to do with it.

Nothing to do with the company's craftsmanship, I'm sure. Ron themselves thinks they did a wonderful job!

When they left the paddock, frowning slightly, they hung the halter on the fence next to Pixie's feed bucket and forgot all about it... until they came back the next day only to find that she hadn't touched her food at all. At which point Rondell sighed loudly, shook their head, and transferred the thing to a DIFFERENT fence post five feet away.

Pixie promptly came over and ate her dinner for breakfast.

This... was going to take a while.






Persistency

Ron left the halter hanging in Pixie's paddock for a full two weeks, moving it to a new spot every single time they fed her. She hadn't had a bad experience with one - they'd actually called up the place they'd gotten her and double-checked. She was simply extremely cautious and resistant to new ideas.

What fun!

After a week of exposure to her her halter, Pixie didn't seem to be any more appreciative of it. TWO wee kn a later and she would at least eat out of her bucket if it was hanging nearby. But if Ron picked it up... nope! Pixie was OUT!

In the end, Rondell had to get sneaky. And a wee bit mean.

They entered the paddock with the halter tucked into their belt, square behind their back so that Pixie couldn't see it. Once she came over and greeted Ron by snorting cheerfully, and Ron had greeted Pixie by taking her head between their hands and scratching the base of her Crest, the little stitch monster carefully moved around to the Strider's side. While petting her neck with their left hand, they used their right to reach back and free the halter. Once it was in ther grasp they resumed petting Pixie with both hands. When the mare caught on and moved off, they let her go. They didn't want to push her TOO much!

Every day Rondell visited Pixie, they came with the halter on their belt. Sometimes they'd pull their little trick, sometimes they wouldn't.
They didn't want to make the mare suspicious of attention, but at the same time, the halter was important, and her continuing reluctance to even CONSIDER it as a friendly object was frustrating.

Thankfully though, each time Pixie spotted the halter in Rondell's hand she seemed to shy a little less. The bolts became sidesteps which became shys, which became cringes which became flinches accompanied by irritated snorts.

After three weeks of persistence she finally stopped caring at all.





Triumph

Getting Pixie to WEAR the halter was a whole other battle. It didn't take nearly as long as getting her to not be afraid of it in the first place, but it was still an uphill battle because Pixie... is Pixie.

And with Pixie, NOTHING is easy.

Rondell basically pulled the same trick as she had with Bean - because even though Bean was, in fact, their second Strider, the stallion had lightyears ahead of his herdmate in terms of willingness to go along with Rondell's shenanigans. By the time Pixie was just beginning to tolerate the halter's presence, Bean was already beginning his basic groundwork sessions to get him ready for his first show.