A Horse Is A Dog Of Course Of Course?

[Jinyel]

Continued from here.

Once he was sure the mare just wanted to trot in circles and not run away, Jinyel turned around and walked away. The only seemed to perplex the horse, and when he looked over his shoulder, he found her staring at him with her head tilted. It was a very dog-like gesture.

So Jinyel said “Stay,” with the firm tone he would use for a dog, and pointed at the ground by the horse’s feet. The mare tilted her head the other way. He hoped she knew that command, but even if she didn’t, he knew he could find her again. That was the only reason he felt confident leaving her behind.

His own horse and mule remained where he’d left them, and whuffed unhappily when asked to move. Cold times were slow times, and so he kept them at an easy walk as he returned to his quarry.

The green mare took immediate interest in the new creatures. She picked up her feet as she came to investigate, and was perhaps a bit too happy as she came to sniff Ajan, Jinyel’s gelding. Ajan pinned his ears back in caution, but the mare didn’t seem to notice.

“No, stay, easy.” Jinyel raised a hand. “Stay back, easy, girl―”

Ajan whinnied and shied onto his back legs. Jinyel barely held onto the saddle, while the mare finally realized that Ajan was not as eager for friendship as she was. She danced back a few steps, but it only took a moment for her to come forward again.

“No, stay!”

The mare stopped. She looked at Jinyel. Was that one of her commands? Would she listen?

“Back. Back back back.” Jinyel used the same forceful tone, held his hand out, and spurred Ajan forward.

The mare backed up.

“Good, good girl, now stay. Stay.”

She stopped moving. Jinyel tried to approach her, but Ajan wasn’t having it. The gelding seemed thoroughly offended by the green mare, and refused to get any closer.

“Alright,” Jinyel sighed. “We’ll do it the hard way.”

He dismounted and led Ajan to a nearby tree. The mare watched, but stayed put. If spoken with enough force, it seemed she was indeed capable of listening to commands. When Ajan was tethered, Jinyel walked back toward the mare.

“Stay. Just like that.” He reached for the halter again. “Good girl. Stay.”

The horse threw her head, and his hand paused just a few inches from the halter. No matter how slowly he touched it, she snorted and pawed at the ground. He wasn’t a professional animal trainer by any means, but even Jinyel could see a creature on the edge of movement.

“Why are you like this?” Jinyel implored. “It won’t hurt you. Is the carcass really that important. There’s dinner at home. They’ll make chicken if you come back, I’m sure of it.”

The mare’s ears pricked. She snorted again, eagerly this time.

“Chicken?” Jinyel repeated.

The mare took a step forward. Then she took a step back when he touched the halter. Then another step forward when he let his hand drop.

“Chicken,” he said. “Alright. We’ll try a new way.”

[Jinyel]

Jinyel already had flint, tinder, and a few sticks of wood in the saddlebags. Starting a fire took no time at all, and after a few bits of gathering brush from their surroundings, he had flames capable of cooking a chicken.

“Stay!” he exclaimed as he took the chicken from the saddlebags.

The horse nickered unhappily, tried to sneak closer, but stepped back when he grabbed the halter.

“Here. Look. You want it?” He dangled the halter in front of the chicken. “It’s right here. Come on.”

The mare shook her head and began to trot in a circle.

Jinyel sighed. “That’s what I thought.”

The chicken was already plucked, and easily speared on a stick to hold over the fire. Jinyel wasn’t much of a cook, but luckily the only person he had to impress was the horse. And since the horse was already deeply interested in raw chicken, all he had to do was avoid burning it.

The morning aged into noon, with as much heat and sunlight as could be expected in the season. Now that the horse had stopped making a fuss, birds returned to the branches and continued their arguments over what little resources remained. Ajan and the mule both relaxed, although the gelding kept a stern and cautious eye on the rambunctious young mare. She was an adult, yes, but a young one. Someone had clearly trained her, and Jinyel wondered if she had ever been ridden.

Once he built the fire, the outside of the chicken crisped quickly. He didn’t wait for it to cook all the way through, and cut off a long strip of skin which dripped with grease.

“You want this, girl?”

The way the horse’s eyes widened implied that she very much did.

“Well, fine. You can have this one without any tricks. Just this once.”

Jinyel dropped the halter on the ground, then walked forward without it. The mare marched forward without hesitation and lipped the treat right out of his hand. She tried to lick his fingers, but he turned around.

“If you want more, follow me back.”

She did follow, but only until he passed the halter. Then she stopped and looked forlornly at the chicken.

Jinyel cut another piece. She perked up, but gave him a glare when he picked the halter off the ground and looped it through his belt.

“I’m not touching it.” He held up his hands, along with the strip of chicken. “See? Nothing to worry about.”

He walked forward slowly, and although she clearly didn’t like it, the mare allowed the treat close enough to eat.

“There,” he said as she licked her lips. “We’re closer.”

He went back and cut another strip. This time, he held the halter in his free hand. He kept it loose and to the side, as if it was the least important thing in the world. The horse noticed, certainly, but his relaxed posture stopped her from fleeing outright. She was uneasily willing to believe it was harmless, at least long enough for him to give her another strip of chicken.

“There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

He cut another strip, and did the same thing. A third time. A fourth. By the fifth time, he could even hold up the halter to his face and she would tolerate it.

The sixth time, Jinyel gave her a whole wing. The crunch of bone finally distracted her long enough to get the halter around her neck.

“Got you,” he sighed in relief.

[Jinyel]

Once the deed was done, the mare calmed. She wasn’t scared of the halter, she just really, really didn’t like to work. She resigned herself to obedience once it was over her face and impossible to escape.

The noon had slipped on to afternoon by the time Jinyel finally put a lead on her. The chicken was fully cooked by then, and her annoyance was quelled somewhat by the smell. He fed her small strips at a time, and she even kept her manners when the time came to walk alongside Ajan. The mule, as always, had a much lower tolerance for nonsense, and would nip the mare’s flank whenever she got a little too friendly. Whatever her instincts, horse or otherwise, the green mare had at least some urge to fit in with her own kind. If the other two seemed overly annoyed with her behavior, she would correct it.

The Sacred Forest was an odd place for a hunter. Jinyel was aware of the game and resource restrictions, and he hadn’t intended to stay long, but the trees also offered shelter which couldn’t be found on the open grass. For now, at least for the cold season, shelter was as valuable to Jinyel as gold, and he could earn his keep by tracking down escaped oddities like this one.

The trip back was swift and short. Jinyel spotted the stables by late afternoon, and a small gaggle of students out front. At the head of those students was an old woman ― the same teacher who had hired Jinyel to retrieve the mare. Lucky, in that he could end this task swiftly. Unlucky, in that there were so many people.

At least he didn’t have to start off the encounter. The green mare was striking in the sunlight, and the teacher caught sight of them quickly.

“Ho, there!” she called out. “You found her! I was beginning to worry, poor thing. She’s never been out on her own before.”

The students all turned and looked. Jinyel ignored them with all of his might, and followed the teacher’s pointing finger to an open stall. He dismounted, tossed the rest of the chicken into the stall, and untied the lead from the halter.

“Perfectly done, young man.” The woman turned back to her students. “Why don’t you stable your own animals, and I’ll get your money after class. Now, which one of you can tell me how a Grafter would change the coat of an animal?”

[Jinyel]

Rewards Requested

Notes/Warnings: (Any Notes or warnings? Violence?)

Thread: A Horse Is A Dog Of Course Of Course?
City/Area: The Imperial Regions

Knowledges Requested: x1 Mount, x1 Cooking, x4 Animal Training
Renown: As appropriate for finding a lost horse
Do you want this to be considered for Mark Progression? No
If any PC in this thread is in a faction, please list them: None
Faction Points: N/A
Wealth Points: None additional
Collaboration: No
Local Language Thread? No

!	Message from: Pig Boy
	Done!

[Pig Boy]

Jinyel

Feedback

I liked the interaction and the way you incorporated your horse's own personality and willfulness to the way they interacted with the green mare. The green mare being friendly was an interesting point in the story, and when his gelding didn't like that, it lent a bit of credulity to the story. Good job.

Too often in my own stories I treat animals as perfectly behaved, you made this much more interesting.

Thankfully, your pc managed to lure the green mare back to her home. Glad to see the creature in her proper place!

Rewards

• Renown: 5
• XP: 10

Knowledges

• Mount: x1
• Cooking: x1
• Animal Training: x4