(D3, EE, Open) - Horse Care 101

[Togashi Udo]

Udo arrived at the stables in the early evening, when the heat of the day was beginning to fade. Many samurai were at the meal, but Udo wanted to attempt the games and knew he could only take so much of the crowds. Besides, he wanted to learn more about horses.

He stood nearby for a time, watching the attendants work, looking for one that might be in charge (or at least more experienced). Finding one, he approached him/her.

"Good evening. This one was here yesterday and very impressed with the care of these magnificent animals. This one was hoping to learn some by assisting in their care. Is there any task that this body can be put to?"

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OOC: Udo would like to do some stable work to learn more about the horses. Shredder, if you want to do some short roleplaying with me to make it happen, feel free. Otherwise, I'll assume that they put me to work!

Thread is wide open for players, though Udo himself will stay busy working. If you want to meet him, be prepared to help!

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Down the way, Iuchi Saksaha is busy putting up her own mount, the buckskin mare Gio, after riding back in from this afternoon's business out in the Western Fields. She's just got Gio unsaddled and now leads the mare inside, ready to give her a thorough grooming. It's something the heimin stablehands could do, of course, and usually they do, but just now Saksaha has a lot on her mind and could really use some quality time with a big, steady, trusting animal.

As she ties off Gio's halter to a metal ring on the wall, she notices someone... definitely unusual... among the stable workers. In fact, unless there were two of them here...

"Good evening, Togashi Udo-san," she says, with some mild surprise in her voice.

[Togashi Udo]

"Oh. Hello Iuchi-san. What a pleasant surprise. Did you have a good ride?"

It's clear Udo has been working hard. He's shirtless and sweating, absent his straw hat, and probably not smelling amazing. But he's happy to be working and learning at the same time.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Not a bad ride," she says, which is true as far as it goes--the exercise and the wind in her hair, and Gio's cheerful energy as they'd let loose with a canter on the way back in, had been the only truly pleasant part of the excursion.

She rubs the mare's soft nose gratefully and says, "And are you well, Togashi-san? I... um... I did not expect to see our guests mucking stalls," she admits. But he doesn't seem to her to be unhappy about it, either, so it's probably all right? His half-dressed state doesn't escape her, and her dark eyes linger somewhat on his tattoos again.

[Togashi Udo]

"I'm quite well, thanks. Keeping busy. Enjoying learning how to care for horses. I might be a unicorn soon... There are things I should know."

Udo keeps working, though his pace has slowed some.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha selects a wooden tool from a shelf and then runs her free hand down Gio's near front leg, making a soft clucking noise with her tongue; the horse obediently lifts up its foot, and Saksaha begins inspecting and cleaning the hoof. Like most of the Unicorn horses, Gio has no shoes on her large, sturdy hooves.

"That is true. Or you might take a Unicorn girl back to your mountains," she says, her voice a little muffled since her head is bent over her work. "Are there places you might ride with her up there?"

[Togashi Udo]

"There are places to ride, but I'm afraid it is more suited to goats than to horses. Goats seem to have no fear of climbing, and they are much more flexible in what they are willing to eat," Udo laughs.

Udo pauses to watch what Saksaha is doing, trying to let it sink in.

"Regardless, it seems like I should know about horses."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Since you already know about goats," Saksaha agrees with a quick grin. "You are ahead of the other men there."

She finishes the foot she's working on and lets go, moving on to the other front foot. "Horses need more tending than goats," she adds, a loose strand of hair falling across her face as she works on gently extracting a large pebble. Since he seems interested, she explains a little about what she's doing. "For such strong beasts, they are easily injured. If someone did not check her feet each day, my Gio could be lamed even by something this small," she flicks the pebble away, "and a horse that is too lame to follow the tribe... well."

As if to offer its own commentary on the subject, the horse turns its head and whuffs a hay-scented breath onto the top of Saksaha's head.

[Togashi Udo]

Udo nods.

"It seems that the Unicorn have had to make many hard choices. To bond with an animal as strongly as your Clan seems to and then to have to abandon it... But it also shows how attentive you all are."

"I must say, for myself, I prefer companions that do not need as much from me, and yet are happy I am around."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha considers this as she continues tending Gio's feet one by one. "Maybe yours is a solitary spirit, like the tiger's or lynx's. Nobody depends on the lynx, and she depends on nobody."

"But for a tribe on the march, this is not possible. The old depend on the young for strength, the young depend on the old for wisdom. The people depend on the herds, and the animals can't survive well without the people. In this way we passed through the dark lands. Alone, we would be dead, mostly."

She lets go of Gio's near hind foot, the last one, and gives the horse a pat on the flank before reaching to exchange her hoof pick for a brush.

[Togashi Udo]

"Having chatted some with the Moto, I have seen a preference for straightforwardness. Is that true of all Unicorn?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Oh, the Moto." Saksaha half-sighs, half-laughs. Gio sighs too, shifting her weight with a scrape of hooves as Saksaha leans a shoulder against her. "They are close cousins on my grandmother's and my father's side, so I know them best of all the other families. All our people love truthfulness and plain speaking, but it is true, the Moto are least..." she pauses, seeking for the right word, "the least gentle about it. I hope my cousins have not offended you."

Beginning to brush at Gio's dappled coat, she adds, "When the five families of the Unicorn traveled separately, after the battle of the pass, the Moto and Ide stayed together. Some say this may be the only reason they both came back to us."

[Togashi Udo]

"I was not offended, no. I was just wondering if you preferred the same type of talking that they seem to."

"I only going to say that, while I may do fine alone, I don't think it's the best way for me to say. I was sent to the miai to find some motivation, and my sensei hoped I might find it in the Unicorn... or at least some person in particular."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"On the whole... I do prefer it." Saksaha nods and considers the Dragon's words, all the while continuing to generate a small cloud of flying horse hairs with her brush. "Motivation. That is an interesting thing to seek in a wife. I think most men would say they look for..." her own cousin's words come to mind, "a good mother, or a pretty girl, or an honorable warrior... something like this."

She feels a little heat come into her face despite herself and leans into her task; maybe, if she is blushing, he'll think the color is caused by exertion.

[Togashi Udo]

"Most men... perhaps. I am an ise zumi, so things are different for me, I think. Besides, a wife is not there to be an extension of myself; my desire for what she is good at is not important. I'd be happy if we get along well and can assist each other."

Udo shrugs. "Why, what do you look for?"