OOM with Bahorel

[not_his_pa]

William knows that his home isn't much not compared to a grand city like Paris or even Milliways and he wants Bahorel to get something from it. To keep from worrying too much, he's saddled up two horses, his own Diana and one of the Milliways' horses that he knows can manage themselves around cattle. They're tied up in the paddock as he finishes his coffee and reads while his horse gives his shoulder friendly nudges.

Comments

[clayforthedevil]

Bahorel's got coffee too, or at least something that steams and isn't (supposedly) (very) alcholic, courtesy of Madame Bar's whims.(As is the paper cup, a delightful invention built for havoc.)

And William has horses! Very obviously fine horses, at least to Bahorel's eye. Horses that aren't built mainly for hauling say money to him--practically scream it, really--even though he knows from his reading that William's country has a different arrangement for them. He's impressed, and he lets it show as he walks up. "Are these both yours?"

[not_his_pa]

"Diana is, Duncan's one of Bar's horses but I know he knows how to behave himself around cattle,"

He tucks his book into his jacket and stands up to introduce Bahorel to the horses.

[clayforthedevil]

They're friendly enough! Bahorel lets them nose at him for the brief span of their curiosity. "So who's carrying who, today?"

Hey, look! he may not have an Indoor Voice, but he does have an Animal Voice; he's not really loud at all while the horses are crowding him.

[not_his_pa]

"You'll be ridin' Duncan," When he hears his name, Duncan moves his nose towards William.

[clayforthedevil]

Bahorel laughs softly. "Here, Duncan, you're stuck with the new student." Mostly to William, he goes on, " --Not quite new,maybe but it's been a long time--and that was our old carthorse, not a real riding horse like this fine fellow." He trusts William to know what kind of a pace to set with that information.

[not_his_pa]

"Least you know horses and he's a patient one. He's got the kind of saddle I use,"

A western one with a pommel that has a lasso draped on it, it has some tooling but not a lot. William's is a little more decorated, no silver but he's added to the leather. He mounts up Diana and waits to see how Bahorel does.

[clayforthedevil]

Getting on the horse is easy enough! At least with a good steady horse that isn't trying to kill him. So that part goes well!

...staying on may be trickier, depending on the course Will plans to set, but finding that out is the point, right?

Bahorel looks at the lasso and says--none of the first ten things that run through his head. He settles for a slightly wry grin, and saying "Lassoing I've only seen in movies. I wasn't even sure you really did that." Because there is a lot in those cowboy movies that is very obviously ridiculous, but he loves it anyway.

[not_his_pa]

William easily mounts up and picks up his own rope to twirl it a few times, "Yeah, its the only way to move cattle sometimes."

[clayforthedevil]

That looks good! And easy!
And like most things that look easy and natural when done by an expert, it completely falls apart when attempted by a rank amateur.Bahorel laughs at his very flat attempts, and pulls the rope back into order. "You're definitely going to have to teach me that one, then."

[not_his_pa]

"I was plannin' to, its all in the wrist like this," He tries to slow the motion down enough to show Bahorel what he's doing.

[clayforthedevil]

All right!
...well it works a little better! At least the rope doesn't fall into quite such a tangled mess this time. Bahorel sorts it out and starts going through the attempted motions again. He has plenty of patience for actually learning something interesting!

But not for sitting quietly."Do you even remember learning this, or do they have you trained to it before you can walk?" Some things are like that!

[not_his_pa]

"No, I had to learn but I was older. Over this way I've got some hay bales to learn on,"

With a few squeezes of his horse, he moves over to the other side of the paddock where a few hay bales are set up in various arrangements.

[clayforthedevil]

Bahorel's control of his horse is more obviously based on the reins,his seat clearly less settled than William's, but he can indeed get a horse to go in a general direction! And stop more or less when wanted! He had really not been sure about that, it's good to know!

[not_his_pa]

He watches Bahorel and nods, he holds his reins in one hand, "See, you know what you're doin'."

[clayforthedevil]

This is possibly a generous assessment of events, but Bahorel will take it! " Duncan deserves the credit so far, I think. We're just lassoing these bales?"

[not_his_pa]

"Yeah, once you can do that we'll move onto fence poles and even horses,"

He easily tosses a loop up and swings it a few times before tossing it out and over a bale.