How Green Becomes Wood

"He'll be alright. He's gotten pretty fond of Daisy," Xander assured her.

Big John took Daizi around in a complete circle, his pace never changing, ignoring the more temperamental actions of Mudslide as he protested the slow movements. Xander kept Mudslide in check, and he mostly behaved, but he wanted to go fast! To do things! To perform tricks! But he grudgingly plodded alongside Big John in a boring circle.

"How do you feel?" Xander asked. "We've gone around the pen once completely. Do you want to keep going? Or are you done?"
 
"That's good, I'm glad," Daizi replied, once more stroking Big John's neck, "I'd like to keep going. I mean, it's not the most exciting just going in circles but... I've never... been able to do something like this before. There's so much that I can't do, you know?"
 
"I know," Xander said gently. "I'm sorry. At least now you can ride a horse. There's a lady who used to do show jumping with her horses. Not saying you have to do that, just that if you want to, I can at least help you get on a horse if you want to ride."

Big John flicked his ears, listening to the conversation. He didn't understand words, but he liked hearing them and their tones as they talked.
 
"I don't know if I'm ready to try show jumping," Daizi said with a quiet chuckle, deeply grateful Xander didn't immediately start telling her how there was so much she could do so there was no need to think at all about what she couldn't, "I think I'd like to do the riding on a trail. I always like the smell of leaves."
 
"I bet you could do that. We could do that," Xander amended. "It'd be pretty cool. They don't have trail riding here, but remember that place we went to a while back? When you couldn't ride? I bet we could find a good horse for you at that place, and we could do a trail together."
 
"I'd like that," She smiled, "I was so jealous when I couldn't go last time. I understood, and understand even better now, by it sounded so cool. I'd love to ride on a trail with you. Dark can do something with Ivy and Alec, unless you wanted to do it as a full family."
 
"I'd love that, but I hope I don't run into the treeline. It sounds like it'd hurt and the horse wouldn't like it much either." Daizi joked, petting Big John's neck, "I think your father would be rather upset if that happened."
 
Xander snickered. "Yeah, probably just a little tiny bit upset. You know. Like how a volcano makes just a tiny little bit of a fuss."

Big John snorted at the touch, enjoying it, and raised his head up a little more for better petting access.
 
"I don't even know who he'd decide to fuss at," Daizi laughed, continuing to pet Big John as they rode, "Probably me, eventually. Once he was done fussing over me. When he really goes grey, I don't want to hear you or your siblings taking all of the credit. I've done my fair share of work."
 
"Alright, alright, you can have your credit," Xander snickered. "Do you want to try to go a little faster?" He glanced toward Nina at his question, getting a nod of approval. "Like, just a little faster. This is as slow as a horse can go without being at a standstill. If you want, you can give him a little nudge with your knees and click your tongue, and he'll pick up his pace."
 
"I've been stressing that boy out since before you were born," Daizi teased, and then did as she was told to make Big John go faster, "I'd have done that earlier if I knew I could. Just going in a circle it's not that scary. You're very good at this, Big John, I don't have to do anything."
 
Big John obediently picked up his feet and sped up to a medium walk, stretching out his legs to cover ground faster. Mudslide was happy with the change and hurried alongside.

"That's a good speed for him. He can go faster, but the movement gets really jostling," Xander warned her. "Next time, we can try something more interesting than a circle, if you want."
 
"Basically like a very, very simple obstacle course. Like, small things to go around, maybe a pole on the ground to step over, things like that to make it vary from a straight circle," Xander explained. "I can walk next to Big John while we do it so you have a guide, or I can ride next to him on my own horse like I'm doing now."
 
"That sounds like quite the challenge, but it sounds fun," Daizi said, taking a few moments to see if she'd prefer to be guided or to have Xander ride along her but ultimately said, "I guess we can see how I feel on the day."
 
"Yep. We have plenty of time," Xander assured her, "and Big John will look after you. If he doesn't think he can do something, he just won't do it. For both your sakes. This will be super simple, though. Less complicated than Alec's... whatever the heck it was with the living room."
 
"He does seem a very empathetic horse," Daizi praised, giving out the well deserved pets, "and that... I really tried, but I didn't like that. It would've been easier had it only been the cushions moved. I'm glad he and Ivy loved it, though."
 
"I don't blame you," Xander said simply. He didn't know much about how well or badly that went over. He'd left and hadn't seen anything that they'd done. He changed the subject. "Horses kind of freaked me out with how clever some of them are. I didn't know how smart they were until I started working with them, and some are smarter than others."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top