The Own on Horses
Sep. 14th, 2005 11:03 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
annarti.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
yrae
As in, the Own talking about their horses. Because it was bound to happen sooner or later--the horsies get personalities, yay! Riders are colour coded in the same way they are in the army: Red swordies, blue archers, purple blade archers and orange pikemen.
Ashburn ~ 6 year old mare, ridden by Nimay
I’m going to be perfectly honest and say I chose Ashburn purely for her coat. There is nothing more beautiful than a black horse, and I knew that if I didn’t choose her, then I’d be looking with jealousy at all the black horses in Kazin in later years. Yes, I’m petty, but I have a stunning horse, so I’m happy. It’s an added bonus that she’s fantastic to ride, too. Not the fastest of all our horses, perhaps not the most obedient, but she could be worse. She could be a stallion. She’s very conscious of her beauty, and occasionally when I tell her to do something she doesn’t want to, she looks back at me with this look that plainly says, “I’d better get something good out of this,” but overall she’s a lovely animal.
Sugar ~ 11 year old mare, ridden by Emon
Technically she’s Sugar II, but that’s too complicated. My first horse died a few years back, along with Ulkar’s horse at the time and, most famously, General Rau. That was an ugly, ugly battle. Sugar looks a lot like her predecessor, only with white socks instead of a uniform pale terracotta, and without the same fondness for all things sweet that Sugar I had. And she’s female; Sugar I was a gelding. I’ve almost had her for as long as my first horse, but I still feel some attachment to the old guy. Sugar’s more obedient, but she doesn’t have the same vivacity as my gelding had. She’s almost too compliant, and doesn’t really have much of a personality. I’d still be devastated if I lost her, but I can’t help but wish I’d never lost my gelding.
Shadow ~ 3 year old gelding, ridden by Haenel
The other guys in the Own all tell me that Shadow’s a stubborn horse, but I haven’t really noticed it too much myself. It does take a little bit to get him moving, and I feel like I’m pulling too hard on his bit to try and rein him in, but he’s less stubborn than the camel I was riding up until I got into the Own. Perhaps not the greatest advertisement for him, considering camels are some of the most stubborn animals in the kingdom, but I’m having no problems with him at all. Of course, only after I selected him did the other guys inform me that it probably wasn’t the best idea to choose a white horse in the desert. My thinking was that he wouldn’t get so hot as a darker horse, but apparently it just means he gets sunburnt much more easily, so I have to put sun cream around his eyes and his nose every day I take him out in the sun, poor thing.
Charcoal ~ 10 year old stallion, ridden by Kurae
Charcoal must be in the lead at all times, and he’ll remove anyone who dares overtake him, with force, if necessary. Unless it’s a pretty girl, in which case he’ll tear after her with no reservations, no regard for the humble swordsman on his back, or indeed the rider on the fine mare’s back. He’s earned the nickname of the “swordie horse,” simply because swordsmen are always at the front, everyone else at the back. Charcoal could not stand being an archer’s mount, having to stay at the rear for the duration of the battle. So long as he’s given this simple pleasure, he’s reasonably compliant as far as stallions go. It’s harder to rein him in once he’s in pursuit of a lovely lady, and once I finally do he spends the next hour snorting at me and swinging his head around to try and bite my foot off, but that’s his problem.
Fleet ~ 11 year old mare, ridden by Melraan
She’s not quite the fastest in the Own, but she was right up there with the best of them when I first got her. She just adores running. Every time I go into the stables, she skips to the gate of her stall and kind of jumps up with just her front hooves. Not rearing, more of a kind of eager half-hopping, like an excited puppy. That’s exactly what she is; she’s an excited puppy. An oversized, excited puppy with hooves. She does know her strength though, so she doesn’t try and jump all over me, she’s just very twitchy when I’m fitting her bridle and saddle on, as if I can’t do it fast enough, and then the second I’m in the saddle, before I’ve got my feet properly in the stirrups, she’s off. I wouldn’t say she’s disobedient, just perhaps a bit over-zealous. In Kazin, when there’s an approaching group of warriors, she’d rather tear headlong into battle than wait patiently for them to come to us. She can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but she’s a lovely thing.
Lightfoot ~ 14 year old mare, ridden by Rumal
Lightfoot is I think how everyone perceives horses. She’s a very proud, noble animal, and tends to look down her nose on everyone, but especially camels. She loves being the centre of attention, and insists on being near the head of the group when we leave and enter Ni-Yana, right up there with the General, whoever that happens to be at the time, and of course Charcoal, who must be in the lead regardless. She holds her head high and is very precise with her steps, almost turning her walk into a slow trot, so she’s lifting her hooves up higher than other horses do, which is how she got her name. She’s not the oldest horse in the Own, but, since I’m the longest-serving current member, she has been here the longest. While Dizzy’s designated himself the father figure of the Own’s horses, Lightfoot is their mother.
Fleck ~ 10 year old gelding, ridden by Ulkar
Fleck was actually a stallion when I first got him. Emon and I both lost our other mounts a few years back, in the same battle when General Rau was killed, so we looked for new horses while we were still in Kazin, picking them straight from the stables rather than from a select few who’d been taken all the way to Ni-Yana for us to choose from. As such, I’m absolutely certain that Fleck had been sedated somewhat when I was testing him out. The stable hands ensured me he was a mild-mannered thing, perfectly obedient, and that was why they hadn’t gelded him. The very day after I bought him, he went completely crazy. Wouldn’t let me near him, let alone mount him. To anyone who gets into the Own: Never, ever buy a stallion, no matter how calm he may seem when you try him out. They’re nothing but trouble. Fleck was an absolute nightmare, so I had him gelded that day, conveniently at the same stable as I bought him, and he was a changed man. He’s still a rather ill-tempered, stubborn creature, but compared to the wild stallion he’d been before, he’s gentle as a sleeping child. Strangely enough, Gylepi, Nol and Kurae all use him as the reason not to have their own stallions gelded. City people are a strange, strange breed…
Duster ~ 16 year old gelding, ridden by Garuk
We have a certain understanding, Duster and I. He’s been my steed for that long that I find quite often, especially in battle, that I don’t have to do much to control him at all. He stops or turns left when the thought has processed in my mind, but hasn’t reached my hands yet to pull the reins in the respective direction. The other guys all look at me strangely when I say that, but they just don’t know their horse well enough. He’s a bit nervous around large crowds of screaming people too, same as me, so he doesn’t need any prompting to huddle in the middle of the group when we leave or arrive in Ni-Yana. Duster’s a lovely old thing. He’s never been the fastest, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s always been the best.
Dizzy ~ 15 year old stallion, ridden by Gylepi
Being the oldest stallion in the Own, he’s definitely the most obedient of the three, though he still thinks more with his genitals than anything else. Nimay would roll her eyes here in a “typical male” fashion, but she rides a typical female, so there you go. Dizzy snorts and flicks his tail occasionally, but as far as I remember, he hasn’t actually made any moves to cause me any bodily harm. Not for years, anyway. He used to rear on me occasionally for the first year or two, but he’s mellowed a lot more now. He’s still a bit stubborn, and often when I take him out for a ride he tries to pull me back in the direction of the stables, but he’s all right. He’s taken on a bit of a fatherly role amongst the horses now, always making sure the other horses are doing okay. The name, you ask? He used to like running around in circles for no apparent reason when I first got him. I don’t know why either.
Smoke ~ 6 year old mare, ridden by Murali
I’m one of four guys in the Own who’s changed mounts at some point, though my old horse was lucky enough not to have died to force such a change. When Nolryn joined the ranks, I was the one to go, and so my horse was sent back to Kazin. On the subsequent mission, one of the other archers was killed, so I was called back in and got a new horse, namely Smoke. She’s a very smooth-flowing animal, very easy to ride, and never makes a sound. She has a beautiful colour, too. I’ve never seen a horse with her kind of smoky, dusky brown before or since. I’m sure they exist somewhere, but I like to think she’s one of a kind. She’s perfectly obedient, but I’ve noticed she gets a bit skittish in battle and it’s awkward to edge her forward. If anything, she backs away from the action, very slowly, as though she thinks I won’t notice. It’s a good thing I need a bit of distance to shoot anything anyway. She’s not a swordsman’s horse at all, but that suits me fine.
Mongrel ~ 6 year old stallion, ridden by Nolryn
There is a reason why I named him Mongrel, and it’s not just because he looks like small children had fun with his coat. My horse is without question the most disobedient, feisty, irritable and conceited horse amongst the Own. I can’t count the number of times he’s tried to unhorse me, kick me or otherwise injure my person, but doubtless he’s going to keep it up. Gylepi and Kurae, the other two stallion riders in the Own, have told me he’ll mellow slightly with age and control, and I must admit, he hasn’t bucked me off for a couple of years, but the threat is always there. Why did I pick such a mongrel of a mount? Truth be told, I didn’t. Majesty chose him for me. Majesty obviously knows absolutely zero about horses—the first one he put me on broke my arm, and I think it’s a matter of when rather than if Mongrel will do the same sooner or later. Everyone else chooses their own steed from five or six that are brought back to Ni-Yana; I get one. Go figure.
Storm ~ 13 year old gelding, ridden by Kaen
I named her for her colour, not her personality. Storm is, without a shadow of doubt, the smoothest ride ever. Not just amongst the fifteen horses of the current King’s Own, or even every horse that’s ever been part of the King’s Own. He just flows like water, doesn’t jar at all, never starts off with an uncomfortable jolt, only stops suddenly if I tell him to, completely obedient… I could almost tell him to leap off a cliff and he’d do it without question. He has never once disobeyed me, never given a single derisive snort or an annoyed flick of his tail. He’s the perfect mount. The rest of the guys mock me for such a tame animal—he’s definitely the slowest of them all, I’ll admit that much—but such comments are obviously borne of jealousy. Gylepi especially tells me the poor guy’s got no personality, telling him he’s just a form of transportation rather than a “good friend” like his stallion is. Personally, I’d prefer my smooth-riding Storm over any personality-filled stallion that feels like he’s going to buck me off as soon as look at me.
Pride ~ 4 year old gelding, ridden by Yoryl
The “show pony” of the Own. It’s a Kazinian term. They have competitions up there for the nobility where they parade their horses around in circles, showing what control they have over their animals. The horses in such competitions aren’t warhorses though, far from it. They’re simply there for show, prancing around and generally being very ditzy animals, hence show pony. Pride has that same kind of air about him. Lightfoot may play up the crowds in Ni-Yana, but Pride is like that all the time. I hate to think what he’d be like if he was still a stallion. He always holds his head high and has his tail up, and has a distinct prance in his step, however fast he’s moving. He’s not especially quick, but he’s not slow either. He also hates water in any form, but he’s absolutely petrified of large bodies of the stuff. He has to have all three stallions hustling him from behind to get him over a bridge. We like to think it’s because he doesn’t want to muss his beautiful, show pony coat.
Thunder ~ 10 year old mare, ridden by Anganur
All I can say is that 4047, the year I joined the Own, must have been a pretty slow year for horses. All the horses I had to pick from were ordinary, to say the least. Thunder was the best of the lot of them, and I’m yet to decide whether she’s incredibly stubborn or just incredibly lazy. I didn’t really think much of it at the time, since I was used to the stubbornness of camels already, but looking at just about every other mare in the Own, Thunder’s a bit of an embarrassment. She knows the difference between going out for a run and leaving on a mission, and does her best to try and stop me from leaving. I swear she’s got no feeling in her flanks; I have to virtually gut her to get her to start moving, and even then she does it with a derisive snort. She’s fast when she needs to me—and by that I most definitely mean when she needs to be, not necessarily when I need to be. She’s faster than Storm, but the thing is, she almost always gives up on a race halfway through it, so she’s never got a hope of winning, lazy creature.
Coconut ~ 3 year old mare, ridden by Inel
Otherwise known as the “sexy horse.” Don’t ask; it’s an inside joke. Basically, she’s been the water drop in the desert to every stallion since I got her, which was about halfway through the last mission, when my other horse, Spirit, was killed. I… try not to dwell on that. Coconut is a dear little thing, completely innocent to the tricks the stallions try to pull on her. Incidentally, she’s also the fastest of all our horses, so she can outrun all the sex-crazed stallions given enough space in which to do so. I haven’t had her long enough to know for certain yet, but I think she almost enjoys the thrill of being chased, just because she knows she can win with relative ease. On yes, she’s a sexy horse, all right.
Ashburn ~ 6 year old mare, ridden by Nimay
I’m going to be perfectly honest and say I chose Ashburn purely for her coat. There is nothing more beautiful than a black horse, and I knew that if I didn’t choose her, then I’d be looking with jealousy at all the black horses in Kazin in later years. Yes, I’m petty, but I have a stunning horse, so I’m happy. It’s an added bonus that she’s fantastic to ride, too. Not the fastest of all our horses, perhaps not the most obedient, but she could be worse. She could be a stallion. She’s very conscious of her beauty, and occasionally when I tell her to do something she doesn’t want to, she looks back at me with this look that plainly says, “I’d better get something good out of this,” but overall she’s a lovely animal.
Sugar ~ 11 year old mare, ridden by Emon
Technically she’s Sugar II, but that’s too complicated. My first horse died a few years back, along with Ulkar’s horse at the time and, most famously, General Rau. That was an ugly, ugly battle. Sugar looks a lot like her predecessor, only with white socks instead of a uniform pale terracotta, and without the same fondness for all things sweet that Sugar I had. And she’s female; Sugar I was a gelding. I’ve almost had her for as long as my first horse, but I still feel some attachment to the old guy. Sugar’s more obedient, but she doesn’t have the same vivacity as my gelding had. She’s almost too compliant, and doesn’t really have much of a personality. I’d still be devastated if I lost her, but I can’t help but wish I’d never lost my gelding.
Shadow ~ 3 year old gelding, ridden by Haenel
The other guys in the Own all tell me that Shadow’s a stubborn horse, but I haven’t really noticed it too much myself. It does take a little bit to get him moving, and I feel like I’m pulling too hard on his bit to try and rein him in, but he’s less stubborn than the camel I was riding up until I got into the Own. Perhaps not the greatest advertisement for him, considering camels are some of the most stubborn animals in the kingdom, but I’m having no problems with him at all. Of course, only after I selected him did the other guys inform me that it probably wasn’t the best idea to choose a white horse in the desert. My thinking was that he wouldn’t get so hot as a darker horse, but apparently it just means he gets sunburnt much more easily, so I have to put sun cream around his eyes and his nose every day I take him out in the sun, poor thing.
Charcoal ~ 10 year old stallion, ridden by Kurae
Charcoal must be in the lead at all times, and he’ll remove anyone who dares overtake him, with force, if necessary. Unless it’s a pretty girl, in which case he’ll tear after her with no reservations, no regard for the humble swordsman on his back, or indeed the rider on the fine mare’s back. He’s earned the nickname of the “swordie horse,” simply because swordsmen are always at the front, everyone else at the back. Charcoal could not stand being an archer’s mount, having to stay at the rear for the duration of the battle. So long as he’s given this simple pleasure, he’s reasonably compliant as far as stallions go. It’s harder to rein him in once he’s in pursuit of a lovely lady, and once I finally do he spends the next hour snorting at me and swinging his head around to try and bite my foot off, but that’s his problem.
Fleet ~ 11 year old mare, ridden by Melraan
She’s not quite the fastest in the Own, but she was right up there with the best of them when I first got her. She just adores running. Every time I go into the stables, she skips to the gate of her stall and kind of jumps up with just her front hooves. Not rearing, more of a kind of eager half-hopping, like an excited puppy. That’s exactly what she is; she’s an excited puppy. An oversized, excited puppy with hooves. She does know her strength though, so she doesn’t try and jump all over me, she’s just very twitchy when I’m fitting her bridle and saddle on, as if I can’t do it fast enough, and then the second I’m in the saddle, before I’ve got my feet properly in the stirrups, she’s off. I wouldn’t say she’s disobedient, just perhaps a bit over-zealous. In Kazin, when there’s an approaching group of warriors, she’d rather tear headlong into battle than wait patiently for them to come to us. She can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but she’s a lovely thing.
Lightfoot ~ 14 year old mare, ridden by Rumal
Lightfoot is I think how everyone perceives horses. She’s a very proud, noble animal, and tends to look down her nose on everyone, but especially camels. She loves being the centre of attention, and insists on being near the head of the group when we leave and enter Ni-Yana, right up there with the General, whoever that happens to be at the time, and of course Charcoal, who must be in the lead regardless. She holds her head high and is very precise with her steps, almost turning her walk into a slow trot, so she’s lifting her hooves up higher than other horses do, which is how she got her name. She’s not the oldest horse in the Own, but, since I’m the longest-serving current member, she has been here the longest. While Dizzy’s designated himself the father figure of the Own’s horses, Lightfoot is their mother.
Fleck ~ 10 year old gelding, ridden by Ulkar
Fleck was actually a stallion when I first got him. Emon and I both lost our other mounts a few years back, in the same battle when General Rau was killed, so we looked for new horses while we were still in Kazin, picking them straight from the stables rather than from a select few who’d been taken all the way to Ni-Yana for us to choose from. As such, I’m absolutely certain that Fleck had been sedated somewhat when I was testing him out. The stable hands ensured me he was a mild-mannered thing, perfectly obedient, and that was why they hadn’t gelded him. The very day after I bought him, he went completely crazy. Wouldn’t let me near him, let alone mount him. To anyone who gets into the Own: Never, ever buy a stallion, no matter how calm he may seem when you try him out. They’re nothing but trouble. Fleck was an absolute nightmare, so I had him gelded that day, conveniently at the same stable as I bought him, and he was a changed man. He’s still a rather ill-tempered, stubborn creature, but compared to the wild stallion he’d been before, he’s gentle as a sleeping child. Strangely enough, Gylepi, Nol and Kurae all use him as the reason not to have their own stallions gelded. City people are a strange, strange breed…
Duster ~ 16 year old gelding, ridden by Garuk
We have a certain understanding, Duster and I. He’s been my steed for that long that I find quite often, especially in battle, that I don’t have to do much to control him at all. He stops or turns left when the thought has processed in my mind, but hasn’t reached my hands yet to pull the reins in the respective direction. The other guys all look at me strangely when I say that, but they just don’t know their horse well enough. He’s a bit nervous around large crowds of screaming people too, same as me, so he doesn’t need any prompting to huddle in the middle of the group when we leave or arrive in Ni-Yana. Duster’s a lovely old thing. He’s never been the fastest, but as far as I’m concerned, he’s always been the best.
Dizzy ~ 15 year old stallion, ridden by Gylepi
Being the oldest stallion in the Own, he’s definitely the most obedient of the three, though he still thinks more with his genitals than anything else. Nimay would roll her eyes here in a “typical male” fashion, but she rides a typical female, so there you go. Dizzy snorts and flicks his tail occasionally, but as far as I remember, he hasn’t actually made any moves to cause me any bodily harm. Not for years, anyway. He used to rear on me occasionally for the first year or two, but he’s mellowed a lot more now. He’s still a bit stubborn, and often when I take him out for a ride he tries to pull me back in the direction of the stables, but he’s all right. He’s taken on a bit of a fatherly role amongst the horses now, always making sure the other horses are doing okay. The name, you ask? He used to like running around in circles for no apparent reason when I first got him. I don’t know why either.
Smoke ~ 6 year old mare, ridden by Murali
I’m one of four guys in the Own who’s changed mounts at some point, though my old horse was lucky enough not to have died to force such a change. When Nolryn joined the ranks, I was the one to go, and so my horse was sent back to Kazin. On the subsequent mission, one of the other archers was killed, so I was called back in and got a new horse, namely Smoke. She’s a very smooth-flowing animal, very easy to ride, and never makes a sound. She has a beautiful colour, too. I’ve never seen a horse with her kind of smoky, dusky brown before or since. I’m sure they exist somewhere, but I like to think she’s one of a kind. She’s perfectly obedient, but I’ve noticed she gets a bit skittish in battle and it’s awkward to edge her forward. If anything, she backs away from the action, very slowly, as though she thinks I won’t notice. It’s a good thing I need a bit of distance to shoot anything anyway. She’s not a swordsman’s horse at all, but that suits me fine.
Mongrel ~ 6 year old stallion, ridden by Nolryn
There is a reason why I named him Mongrel, and it’s not just because he looks like small children had fun with his coat. My horse is without question the most disobedient, feisty, irritable and conceited horse amongst the Own. I can’t count the number of times he’s tried to unhorse me, kick me or otherwise injure my person, but doubtless he’s going to keep it up. Gylepi and Kurae, the other two stallion riders in the Own, have told me he’ll mellow slightly with age and control, and I must admit, he hasn’t bucked me off for a couple of years, but the threat is always there. Why did I pick such a mongrel of a mount? Truth be told, I didn’t. Majesty chose him for me. Majesty obviously knows absolutely zero about horses—the first one he put me on broke my arm, and I think it’s a matter of when rather than if Mongrel will do the same sooner or later. Everyone else chooses their own steed from five or six that are brought back to Ni-Yana; I get one. Go figure.
Storm ~ 13 year old gelding, ridden by Kaen
I named her for her colour, not her personality. Storm is, without a shadow of doubt, the smoothest ride ever. Not just amongst the fifteen horses of the current King’s Own, or even every horse that’s ever been part of the King’s Own. He just flows like water, doesn’t jar at all, never starts off with an uncomfortable jolt, only stops suddenly if I tell him to, completely obedient… I could almost tell him to leap off a cliff and he’d do it without question. He has never once disobeyed me, never given a single derisive snort or an annoyed flick of his tail. He’s the perfect mount. The rest of the guys mock me for such a tame animal—he’s definitely the slowest of them all, I’ll admit that much—but such comments are obviously borne of jealousy. Gylepi especially tells me the poor guy’s got no personality, telling him he’s just a form of transportation rather than a “good friend” like his stallion is. Personally, I’d prefer my smooth-riding Storm over any personality-filled stallion that feels like he’s going to buck me off as soon as look at me.
Pride ~ 4 year old gelding, ridden by Yoryl
The “show pony” of the Own. It’s a Kazinian term. They have competitions up there for the nobility where they parade their horses around in circles, showing what control they have over their animals. The horses in such competitions aren’t warhorses though, far from it. They’re simply there for show, prancing around and generally being very ditzy animals, hence show pony. Pride has that same kind of air about him. Lightfoot may play up the crowds in Ni-Yana, but Pride is like that all the time. I hate to think what he’d be like if he was still a stallion. He always holds his head high and has his tail up, and has a distinct prance in his step, however fast he’s moving. He’s not especially quick, but he’s not slow either. He also hates water in any form, but he’s absolutely petrified of large bodies of the stuff. He has to have all three stallions hustling him from behind to get him over a bridge. We like to think it’s because he doesn’t want to muss his beautiful, show pony coat.
Thunder ~ 10 year old mare, ridden by Anganur
All I can say is that 4047, the year I joined the Own, must have been a pretty slow year for horses. All the horses I had to pick from were ordinary, to say the least. Thunder was the best of the lot of them, and I’m yet to decide whether she’s incredibly stubborn or just incredibly lazy. I didn’t really think much of it at the time, since I was used to the stubbornness of camels already, but looking at just about every other mare in the Own, Thunder’s a bit of an embarrassment. She knows the difference between going out for a run and leaving on a mission, and does her best to try and stop me from leaving. I swear she’s got no feeling in her flanks; I have to virtually gut her to get her to start moving, and even then she does it with a derisive snort. She’s fast when she needs to me—and by that I most definitely mean when she needs to be, not necessarily when I need to be. She’s faster than Storm, but the thing is, she almost always gives up on a race halfway through it, so she’s never got a hope of winning, lazy creature.
Coconut ~ 3 year old mare, ridden by Inel
Otherwise known as the “sexy horse.” Don’t ask; it’s an inside joke. Basically, she’s been the water drop in the desert to every stallion since I got her, which was about halfway through the last mission, when my other horse, Spirit, was killed. I… try not to dwell on that. Coconut is a dear little thing, completely innocent to the tricks the stallions try to pull on her. Incidentally, she’s also the fastest of all our horses, so she can outrun all the sex-crazed stallions given enough space in which to do so. I haven’t had her long enough to know for certain yet, but I think she almost enjoys the thrill of being chased, just because she knows she can win with relative ease. On yes, she’s a sexy horse, all right.