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Post by NPC on Apr 24, 2019 22:06:47 GMT -6
This is your own thread, your own room in the gym, where you can work on any of the stats you desire. No more than 2 in each, and no more than 5 total! Good luck!
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Post by Renathan on Apr 26, 2019 18:20:40 GMT -6
[Renathan is always using Sever Bond in this Area if not with Auburn] After receiving his brand new Gym Membership Card, Renathan stepped outside the door and then gently lifted up the reins that Renathan had on the hackamore of the stallion. Shy Guy was incredibly calm and quiet as Renathan began to lead him out to where the gym master had told him where the outside large-pet training dexterity yard was. The mammalian took his time walking out there, looking out for anything that may be dangerous on the yard, and also checking out the condition of the stallion. He had been careful, of course, before to make sure that he always knew whether or not Shy Guy was in the best condition or not, and his check earlier that day had not shown any issues with the stallion's legs or otherwise, but Renathan knew that today they would be working super hard on the creature's body shape as soon as they got out there, and he did not want the beast to be harmed. The stallion seemed quite calm, he was already in somewhat decent shape, mostly because of all of the training they did, and possibly somewhat because of the extremely active personality that the stallion had. Just the other day, Renathan found the strangely agile equillion (despite his size anyway) standing atop of the barn again; something that Renathan had never before seen in equillion. His other somewhat equine-looking creatures (weren't equillion bovine, however?) did not climb like that; perhaps it was the split-hoof? Renathan was always watching his creatures, but Shy Guy always seemed to be doing something surprising. Luckily, Renathan had already taught the creature to get down when told to do such. Shy Guy made it out to the dexterity training area with his normal calm gait, and Renathan was glad to see that it hadn't winded him or anything else of the sort.
Renathan then spent some time petting the Stallion's nose, having dropped the hackamore's reins again to stop him from moving. He was an incredibly well trained animal, and it showed. Renathan gently petted the side of his neck and then his shoulder, and then moved down to one of his front legs. This would serve to allow the beast to know automatically where Renathan was; so that Renathan would not get kicked or stamped in the head. Renathan was used to working with hooved creatures enough not to surprise him. After checked the front left leg for any kind of soreness, Renathan petted the stallion's mane and moved over in the same, slow, calculated way to the front right leg, gently checking it for any soreness or other such issue. The stallion calmly looked at him with soft blue eyes, protectively. He was quite well trained, and loved Renathan a lot. Renathan knew that the front legs were fine now, and he decided that he would move on to the creature's hind legs. In order to do this, he moved down the stallion's side with his hand flat on it, and then gently moved down the leg, standing in front of it instead of behind it as he bent down, allowing the creature to know exactly who and where he was at all times. He checked the hind leg for any soreness on the right side at first, and finding no such weakness, he moved over to the left side by walking in front of the creature instead of behind, petting the stallion in the same way to let the huge animal know exactly where he was. He goes all the way down the final leg, making sure that there was no weakness or soreness. Renathan was completely happy and put at ease now that he knew that Shy Guy had no weakness in his legs at all. It was now time for him to get to work. After speaking a calming word to the creature and gently petting his muzzle, he walked off to go figure out the area that they were going to be training in, in order to make sure that there was nothing dangerous here. He walked on the grassy part, and it seemed to be kept well-trimmed (perhaps even fake?) and carefully maintained otherwise, with no trash or holes. Renathan continued onto the track, and decided that it was where they would start for now. He bent down and picked up the soft ground from the track. It was perfect to keep from hurting a creature's legs, and Renathan was put at ease. First, they would use the track, he thought, and then they would see if they couldn't set up some poles or something.
Renathan had always been planning on doing this, but he knew that right now, they needed to work on conditioning the creature for the tournament that was going to be starting at the end of the month. He wanted Shy Guy to have the absolute best chance at the fight as possible, and he knew that he would probably be going up against some very serious enemies. Perhaps the huge pliathor, bulky thundergug, or more likely, the powerful wiurns... Shy Guy was well trained, but he was a prey animal at heart. Renathan knew that he would need to be ultra careful with this if at all possible. He wanted the tall stallion to be the most carefully conditioned possible. Renathan knew that it would take a lot of work, but he thought they were ready.
Renathan had the saddle-gear on the stallion for now, because he wanted to see what the creature was capable of before beginning to work on the more dexterity part of the training. For now, his plan was to ride the creature and have it switch between all of its past training to see how fast he would react to those things. Then, he figured that he would have the creature try to weave poles? But where were the poles; and where were they to be set up? Renathan walks up to the stallion yet again, his tails waving, and then leapt up onto it's back the best he could. The stallion instinctively bowed a bit, in order to let him up. Renathan gently gathered the reins into his hands, and then felt the stallion beneath him, already itching to go. Renathan could almost have laughed; he was glad that the creature was ready to go already!
Renathan leaned forward on the creature's back a bit, and then guided the stallion into a walk and then asked him to move into a gallop nearly immediately, counting the hoofbeats that it took to get the large bay stallion to move from one speed to the other. He kept that number in his head for the baseline to this training, knowing that they would most likely need this for a bit later. Until he could find a way to get a stopwatch, he was going to have to use it to keep up with the creature's speed increases. Not speed in the traditional sense of course; but speed in reaction. That was what dexterity partially was, after all, a simple reaction time if one were to think of it in that way. Renathan was used to riding; so it didn't bother him at all to be in the saddle the way that he was.
Shy Guy wasn't even breaking a sweat as Renathan edged him around the circular track. Renathan wanted to go around it normally, once, for safety reasons, so that Renathan could tell if there was anything that might be wrong in the meantime. Renathan wanted to catch it now, in the stallion's movements, before the creature would actually get hurt. Renathan spurred him to stop as soon as they had been around the track once; and then he quickly counted the seconds as they stopped. The stallion would certainly need to work on that slide. That was why they were doing this in the first place; after all. The stallion needed to have faster reaction times first, and then more agility second, Renathan figured that anyway. He knew that they would do quite fine. Renathan patted Shy Guy's neck and then spurred him into a run from standing still.
The stallion was super excited about this; his nostrils only slightly flaring as he broke out into a run; it felt like flying. Renathan couldn't help but feel a bit sad that he didn't find a way to give the creature some real wings. Renathan was sure that Shy Guy would have enjoyed that; but then again, it was already quite hard to keep the Stallion in his enclosure since he was so spirited. Renathan immediately urged him to move to the left and right, in turn, right after each other. The stallion had a hard time at doing it at first, but soon seemed to realize that Renathan wanted him to move from one side of the white line to the other side of the white line. He did this, but not exactly as well as Renathan would have been hoping that it would have done so...
[1511]
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Post by Renathan on Apr 26, 2019 18:48:51 GMT -6
That was the point though, wasn't it? Renathan had cleared his training schedule for the entire rest of the month to only work with Shy Guy, so that they could at least get him fast enough in his reaction time to go faster than most of the bulkier and stronger creatures. Wiurn tended to be decently fast; and the only real way they'd be able to beat one is if Renathan was able to get Shy Guy to attack the opponent fast and furious, and most of all; First. Renathan was nervous that they wouldn't be able to complete that, but he trusted Shy Guy. Shy Guy was an untested fighter, however. He was aggressive and confident, and Renathan had caught him threatening even the sarane with his long and twisted black horn, but Renathan had no idea what to think about it. He figured that this natural aggressiveness would work well in the pit.
The mammalian swallowed as the stallion lurched a bit beneath him, nearly losing his footing. The big stallion was generally quite light on his feet, but the combination of loose dirt that the stallion was not used to, and the switching back and forth between left and right so speedily had caused him to nearly lose his footing. This was an important development; Renathan was hoping that the stallion would be able to catch what had caused him to do that, and would perform much better as they continued. Renathan slowed up the stallion a bit, noticing that he seemed a bit anxious. Renathan was cautious, a bit afraid that he had perhaps hurt one of the huge creature's long spindly legs. The stallion was shaped in a very specific way, and Renathan was always afraid that his long and thin legs were in danger.
The stallion was not holding up any of his legs in any kind of a funny way, Renathan noted, as he slid down from the Saddle to check them. Shy Guy was breathing at a decent clip, but it was not too hard or faster. Renathan gently petted him on the nose to let him know that he wasn't in trouble or anything, and then gently repeated the process from before, touching the stallion's legs carefully with his hands. The stallion was sweating slightly, and the slick feeling was not exactly something that Renathan liked at all, but he was okay with dealing with it for this purpose. This was super important, after all, and it absolutely had to be done! Renathan gently checked the front left leg, passing his hands over the creature's hide to let him know where Renathan was at all times. When that leg was done, Renathan moved over to the next.
The front right leg appeared to be fine as well, and then Renathan moved on to the back ones, running his palm along the side of the creature and down. Renathan didn't mind taking some extra time on this process, and the stallion did not seem too bothered even if he was raring to go. Renathan gently moved to the other side around the front yet again, not willing to make the creature uncomfortable, and then he decided that the stallion needed a drink of water. Renathan trotted over to where a few buckets were sitting next to a water pump, and he carefully pumped the water. Of course the stallion was standing a little ways away, flicking his tail. He was not moving, of course, because the reins were down. Renathan was glad that he had trained the creature that in the past; it was quite useful.
Renathan quietly brought the water bucket back over to the stallion, and glanced up at the sun after the stallion took a drink. They had been at it for about thirty minutes, and it had been a very stressful thirty minutes on the stallion's body. Renathan was happy and surprised that the creature hadn't broken too much of a sweat, but they would have to take a lot more work after this to really get it going, Renathan decided. The stallion needed to be able to do that switching thing not only reliably, but well. The stallion was neither reliable with it nor good at it right now, and they could not afford a slip up in the pit. The pit had loose ground too, and Renathan knew that hooved creatures were at a disadvantage on that kind of ground. Luckily, Shy Guy was a little more used to it than most, or at least he would be after all of this.
Renathan could see by the sun that the time should be correct, and he was keeping up with how much time they had been away from Auburn. Only about an hour and a half now, and that was good. He could afford to spend the rest of the day working on this, at least, and then have a ton of time to spare whenever they went home. Renathan knew that they would probably make very little progress today, he was sure of that one anyway. It took a lot of work to truly condition a creature for battling. Renathan was lucky that they had been helped by the potion on certain areas of the creature's physique. They may just have a shot at winning this, as long as they are diligent. He wasn't even sure why he wanted to be champion anymore; but he did know he wanted to.
Renathan knew that the stallion was done drinking the water now, and he removed the bucket, taking it back over to the watering area. He knew that having the bucket around could cause the stallion to get hurt when they started running and working on the weaving again, and then Renathan knew that it would suck. He wanted to do this diligently, but slowly if they had to. It was partially because he was scared for the creature's leg strength, of course! Renathan patted the now much calm and a bit rested after the little ten minute break, and then hopped up into the saddle, with Shy Guy's help of course. Renathan lifted up the reins again, and then sucked in a deep breath, breathing out quite easily. Yes, this was going to be fine, Renathan knew.
Renathan gave the command for the stallion to run again, intending to run him around the soft dirt track again, to make absolute sure that the legs were in good condition again. Renathan planned that after that, he would start the false-weaving again, weaving back and forth over the white painted line in the dirt. That would probably be the best way, Renathan was sure. The stallion didn't seem to mind, and instead seemed to be excited about being able to run the track again. The stallion absolutely loved running! He had a good place to run at the farm, but he especially loved that this place was so wide and open! Renathan felt a little guilty, because he could feel the elation coming off of the empathic link, and he knew that the beastie was probably not used to getting all of this free reign, it was a bit sad.
As they went around the track, Renathan told himself that he would get the stallion a bigger track at home at some point. He knew that the beastie would need his condition kept up after all of this, anyway! One couldn't just work up a creature into a good body shape and then have the animal locked in a barn forever. Not that he usually kept Shy Guy in a barn or anything, usually he stayed out in the pasture unless the weather was bad. Then Renathan tended to open up the barn and let the stallion inside. The stallion hardly ever wanted to go into the Barn though, he loved the water and the lightning for some reason. Probably had to do with the way he was customized and perhaps even the injection? Renathan and Shy Guy were almost at the start line in the track again.
Renathan pushed forward, and began telling the stallion to move left and right, in turn. The stallion was quite in-tune with his old commands that he now knew to heart, and of course Renathan's own body due to the emotional link. He immediately complied to the dark brown mammalian's wishes, even though it was a bit hard on his body. The huge stallion tried to jump from one side to the other while continuing to run, taking advantage of his gaited movement (instead of a stallion's more common movements) to do so. Renathan could feel the stallion start to slip at one point; but the creature was able to keep himself from getting hurt and possibly even throwing Renathan. This time, Renathan couldn't feel anything to suggest that the stallion may have hurt himself, so Renathan pressed their luck, knowing that they would never get anywhere if Renathan kept worrying so much about the stallion's legs.
[1507]
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Post by Renathan on Apr 26, 2019 19:47:33 GMT -6
If Renathan was worried, then Shy Guy didn't even know the meaning of the word. The giant stallion was quite confident, and despite the slip ups had not actually fallen yet; as such, he had no worries. The stallion was, however, having a hard time weaving at a rate in which was asked of him. After only about three minutes of this, the stallion broke through a sort of limit that he had previously been working towards, his nostrils flaring and legs being raised up as far as he could. He kept weaving from left to right across the white line, but was soon growing exhausted. Finally, Renathan let up on him, feeling a bit bad and letting the bad feeling link through the empathic link. The stallion's body was slick with sweat, and Renathan knew that they needed another break. This time, however, that the stallion seemed to be doing quite well and was definitely doing better than Renathan had previously expected of him.
They may just be able to make some small amount of progress, today, Renathan figured. Renathan dismounts as the stallion slows to a walk, dipping his head uncharacteristically in his movement. Renathan was a little afraid that maybe he had managed to over do it for the first day. He didn't want the stallion to be too exhausted, or to ruin his physique with overwork. Renathan felt his toe pads touch the soft dirt, and he petted the somewhat shivery stallion, feeling his giddy anxiousness through the empathic link. The brown mammalian was a little nervous, by it, knowing that he had not felt this kind of feeling from the stallion before. Renathan dropped the reins so that the stallion would stay there, and then ran over to the water bucket, so that the stallion could drink if he wanted.
After operating the pump until another of the water buckets was filled to the brim with clear, cold water, Renathan moved it over to the equillion. After realizing that the not-quite-equine creature may want to be able to lay down, Renathan lead him over to the grass using the rein, holding the water bucket in the other arm. The stallion was still shivery and jittery; he was not used to that kind of movement at all. Renathan put the water bucket down in the grass, and then allowed the stallion to lay down as well, drinking. It was a good thing that these were not quite equine; because they did seem to lay down at lot more than most horses did, back in his homeland... Renathan wasn't sure if he needed to be worried about that or not. It seemed a bit extreme, but the Vet had not said that it was a danger with equillion.
Shy Guy drank the water deeply, and Renathan realized that he had forgotten to count the seconds on that last bit of training. He could have slapped his own forehead, just thinking about that. He was sweating beneath his mask, himself, surprisingly. He tended not to sweat, and he knew that it was hot. The heat wave had come a bit early for him, or so a furred person would probably think. Not that there were many like him, here in the labs, sadly enough. Renathan looked up at the sky, trying to figure out the time by the sun's position. It was probably only twenty minutes after their last break, but he was driving the stallion incredibly hard. He felt a little bad for doing so, but it had to be done. Shy Guy seemed to slowly be feeling a bit better. Renathan was beginning to grow concerned that they may have to cut this short for today, until they were ready again.
However, as soon as the doubt crossed his mind, Shy Guy seemed to realize what he was thinking, perhaps by triangulating the emotion with the mammalian's movements, and the stallion sent a staunch confidence across the link, as if to say 'no, don't give up on me yet, just let me catch my breath'. Or at least that was what Renathan took from it, not that an equillion would have the mind to be able to give that complicated of a message even across telepathy or something of the like. The mammalian waited until the stallion seemed done drinking the water, and picked up the bucket, ready to take it back over to the water pump. The stallion already seemed to be getting more calm and ready.
Renathan hoped that the equillion would be ready to start again, whenever he came back after putting the bucket up. It seemed that he was getting quite a bit of exercise himself! Renathan ran over to the pump with the bucket and sat it down gently, and then he practically raced back over to the stallion. He wanted to check the stallion's legs again before the started, which he was sure would give the creature enough time to completely rest up and be willing to run again without too much harshness. Renathan moved over to the stallion and got on his knees, petting the stallion with a gentle hand on the nose. The equillion leaned his head into it, closing his eyes, and for a moment there Renathan felt quite calm. Today was a good day, even if it took a lot of work. He was determined, and so was the equillion.
The mammalian petted the stallion's ears, ever so gently, and then moved down to the mane, which was still a little slick and starting to get a bit curled up. Renathan knew that the creature was amphibious, which was probably part of the reason that he required so much more water than it seemed that the rest of his equillion seemed to need. Renathan moved down to the first leg, the left front one, and began to test it again, gently making sure that it was in proper alignment and didn't seem to have any soreness to it. Renathan was so terrified of hurting his legs; perhaps in the future the gym might have something that he could use to help with keeping the stallion's legs in line? He wondered if they might have any wraps for them... Renthan petted the stallion down on the other front leg just the same, careful to make sure that even the slightest movements were documented on the stallion's end.
Today was already quite taxing for both of them, but with the stallion being as confident as he was that he would eventually get this, Renathan was already feeling quite a bit better too. The dark brown mammalian lowered down to check the hind legs, and the stallion stayed very calm and tolerant of him, as he had been taught to be. Renathan was so glad that the creature had been so well trained before they did this. He couldn't imagine having brought Shy Guy here about a year ago, when he was still arrogant and brutish. Renathan shook his head, after he finished checking the bay stallion's hind legs, careful not to pull on the hair of the fetlocks. Renathan then stood up, and looked down at the stallion; as if to say 'are you ready now, boy?' Without really saying anything. The equillion seemed to know what the hands-on-the-hips meant, and stood up without too much difficulty despite his large bulk.
The stallion shook himself off; grass was sticking to his wet body. Renathan chuckled, and swept the grass off with his hand before leading him via the reins back to the soft dirt of the track. They needed to get the show on the road again; and repetition was the best idea! Renathan began to mount the stallion again, with the huge but surprisingly gentle creature bending down into the usual bow to help Renathan get back on. Renathan knew that they would need a while of working to get better; and they were both determined to keep on with it! Renathan managed to get up into the saddle despite feeling a little tired himself. He wasn't quite used to being on a mount that was jumping back and forth and back and forth again and again over and over. It was hurting his legs a bit, and making it a little harder than usual to stay mounted as he usually would.
Thankfully the mammalian was indeed a Ghost rider of sorts, that was what they called people like him that could really ride just about anything, and his riding skills allowed him to ride in situations of duress a lot longer than most did, despite the aching in his body. Renathan held the reins in his hands, and felt the excitement that the animal beneath him had to keep on working. Renathan made sure that they were both ready before urging him to continue; both of their tails flicking, knowing that they were not where close to being done. Renathan leaned forward to offset the weight and force, and then urged the stallion back into a run.
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Post by Renathan on Apr 26, 2019 20:33:07 GMT -6
From what Renathan could tell from countless hours of studying pit fight recordings, the dexterity, and those reaction time, of the creatures was the most important and tantamount thing. The strength of an animal could only be displayed if it was more of a physical fighter, and there was some kind of nearly unearthly quality, perhaps even a state of mind that allowed for an elemental or mental fighter. Renathan knew that whoever moved first in a fight typically won, especially in the sarane battles he was typically used to. Renathan knew, because of that, that it was very important to get his stallion fast. As fast as possible. He needed the creature to be ready to take on whatever, and Renathan knew that because his stallion could call electricity from the sky; all he really needed to be was fast. That didn't mean that the creature didn't know a whole bunch of physical techniques as well, however!
Renathan urged the stallion into a run, reminding himself that he needed to count the time that it was taking to do this. He had to keep his mind on target, and that had gotten harder and harder to do recently. This last winter had really done something to the dark brown mammalian's mind, he felt like; perhaps it was the prolonged loneliness and cold weather? He knew that it had to be that, and he hoped that he wasn't actually sick or something. The stallion moved like silk beneath him, running in a way that felt like flying around the track as a warm-up. Renathan had been planning to start the process again with the jumping back and forth motion again after this, or at least that was the idea. Renathan was quite tired, himself, anyway. He leaned forward on the stallion, and hoped to high goodness that the stallion would do well this go around.
Renathan wasn't sure how much of this he could keep on doing, anyway. His own body was starting to get tired, working on this stuff this hard. Renathan was an experienced rider, but he wasn't quite ready for an upwards of 1000 pound animal to go barreling about back and forth on soft ground, today. Plus, he had carried those really heavy buckets, and Renathan hadn't really been expecting to do that either. As soon as they got around the track on that first test run, Renathan spurred the creature to run even faster this time, and then urged the stallion to do the weaving motion, back and forth over the white line that was on the soft earth of the track. The stallion complied the best he could, absolutely turning it up to eleven in order to try to get fast enough to do what he was supposed to. Then, he started to move back and forth, weaving his body, using that strange gait to his advantage.
The stallion was beginning to foam at the mouth, the acidic spit dripping in rainbow colors in the wind. Renathan ducked his head against the stallion's neck to keep the acid from getting on him. Renathan was easily sick, and he knew that the acid would be a problem. He began considering making the equillion stop in order to keep the creature calm and stop the foaming, but he remembered a stallion he used to ride back home beginning to foam when he was really putting his all into it; it should be perfectly fine. Renathan held on, feeling the stallion as he wove over the line a bit better this time, one on one side and then on the other. He wasn't quite as dexterous as a galabex bounding back and forth and back and forth. Eventually, Renathan feels the stallion slip; and he hoped to high goodness that they weren't about to make a spill. Luckily, as before, the stallion managed to regain his footing quite easily, actually far more easily than he had before. Renathan heaved a sigh of relief, and called the stallion to a stop. It was time to make sure that the creature was okay, after all.
Renathan called for the stallion to stop, and realized that both of them were shaking. Renathan glanced up at the sun before even getting off, and realized quite quickly that they had been really pushing it for about thirty-five minutes. Renathan breathed out a sigh, and leaned forward over the stallion on his neck, gently petting it. Renathan was exhausted, and the equillion was exhausted. Renathan slid out of the saddle, leading the stallion over to the grass so that he could lay down again, and Renathan moved over to the water buckets. He filled up the stallion a water bucket, and then filled up a water bottle for himself. He took the water bucket to the stallion first, knowing that he was more tired than Renathan could probably ever be, and then he took a deep drink of the water bottle as well. They were both quite tired. Renathan leaned on the stallion that was laying down on the grass near him. They both simply breathed, sitting in the soft cool wind, soaking up the sun, and drinking the water of course. Renathan's chest was heaving, but the stallion was already starting to feel quite a bit calmer. Renathan envied his ability to heal up so quickly after such a strenuous attempt at exercise.
Renathan knew that soon they would need to start up again, however, they had no idea what to think about it. Would it be better if they kept it up, or would it be better to go home for today and try again tomorrow? He was a bit intimidated by the mammalian woman that ran the gym, or else he would ask. Renathan shook his head, knowing that most of the Labs Shop and otherwise sorts of personnel were at least a bit personable. He was sure that she was a nice person, but he had no idea if he wanted to ask or check it out to make sure. He didn't want to do something stupid or anything, and get the two of them hurt. Renathan waited and gave them a good rest for a while, making sure that they were ready whenever they did start again. Renathan was beginning to feel like maybe, just maybe, the stallion was just about to make a real good breakthrough. He figured this out because the stallion was sending some kind of curious feeling across the empathic link, and seemed anxious to get started again. Renathan wanted to make sure that they were good and rested, first.
The equillion didn't seem to have any injuries, but still, Renathan didn't want to take any chances. He moved forward, and watched as the stallion's nose flared, making sure that the breathing seemed normal. He counted them, carefully, and realized that he had once again, forgotten to count the leaps across the line. Renathan did face palm this time, chuckling lightly beneath the mask. The dark brown mammalian's tails wiggled until he caught himself from laughing. It was a stress laugh, he figured. Still, he put his hand up against the stallion's neck and counted the pulse quietly. The stallion seemed to have gotten it back down to normal, and he did not seem to be under any distress. That was good; that meant that they would probably be able to keep on today, though Renathan wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to keep trying to ride the creature. The creature's sides and back were slick, and Renathan did not want the saddle to make any sores or anything. Renathan gently reached under the stallion to remove the saddle, unbelting it gently. He moved the saddle over to the grass and laid it down. Then, he removed the hackamore from the creature's face.
The stallion didn't seem to be bothered by this, and instead rolled on his back to scratch it on the grass, as he typically did after Renathan removed the saddle from a long riding day. On the shorter days, he didn't do that, so Renathan figured that it wasn't the saddle that was the problem. The equillion then hopped up, standing straight and tall, and then bent down to gently 'groom' at Renathan's braids. Renathan petted him on the nose and then stood up himself, making sure that the stallion didn't accidentally get anything on his hair, since he didn't really like anything acidic and the poor creature could accidentally hurt him that way. Afterwards, Renathan knew that he would have to find a way to do this without riding him, this time. Just how would they do it? Renathan lead him out to the soft dirt of the track, knowing that the creature would probably know what he wanted it to do just simply based off of the empathic link and Renathan's usual training cues.
The mammalian just knew that they would make a breakthrough soon, just knew it! Shy Guy was sending excitement and readiness over the empathic link, so Renathan was quite confident now.
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Post by Renathan on Apr 26, 2019 21:14:54 GMT -6
Renathan lead the stallion onto the white line, and then moved out in front of him. He figured that they would start off slow this time, to get the creature to see what he was trying to do. Renathan put one foot in front of the other, weaving over the white line. He figured this would be so much easier with some poles, Renathan thought, but he didn't have any to use right now. Renathan stopped, deciding that this was going to be how they were going to do this, here in a minute. Renathan wondered if he might be able to get some from somewhere? He didn't want to make his own and possibly get Shy Guy or himself hurt, after all. Renathan knew that he needed to check the stallion's legs again, to make sure that he wasn't exhibiting a break or tendonitis or something that Renathan couldn't yet detect. Renathan gently ran his hands over the left leg, beginning the process that the stallion was actually growing quite used to again.
Renathan moved his hand from the muzzle, to the neck, to the shoulder, and then down that left leg. He checked it cautiously and calmly, they were not really in any kind of a hurry, especially not when they had been working so hard earlier. It was the reaction time that Renathan was worried about, after all. Renathan decided that the left leg was fine, and lifted up, moving his hand across the front of the stallion and down the right leg, nearly getting his fingers tied up in the stallion's heavily feathered leg. Renathan removed his hand from it to keep from hurting the poor creature, and then moved back up. So far, so good, right? Neither leg seemed to be injured, or swollen even. Renathan moved back to the hind leg, keeping his hand on the stallion's body to make sure that the creature knew exactly where he was.
Renathan checked the hind leg carefully, testing it for any possibility of weakness, knowing that most stallions only got one shot, and leg injuries tended to be fatal, or at least career ending. However, equillion were not horses, they just looked like them a lot, and it was easy to really get caught up in that. Thusfar, the stallion was doing incredibly well not to have gotten injured. He moves back over to the other side, hand moved all the way across the body, and then he tested the other back leg with his hand, gently testing for any kind of soreness, weakness, or even tendinitis that he might could feel and detect. Renathan was incredibly happy to note that the stallion was just fine, not harmed in any way. Renathan wanted to do this right, and make sure that the stallion wasn't going to get hurt during this process.
Renathan then backed away from the stallion and moved back up to the front of the equillion, petting him on the face. The creature was still quite sweaty, but Renathan was sure that he was going to be fine. He petted the creature for a moment longer, and then decided what he was going to do. Renathan stepped in front of the stallion, lining up with the line again, and then began walking in a very particular way after motioning for the stallion to follow him with his hand. He walked with one leg crossing over the other, left and right and left and right, over the white line. This would certainly be a hard but simple exercise that may even help with the creature's conditioning even further than they had worked on before! The stallion followed after him with a nice gait, and then began to gently weave back and forth and back and forth over the line, trying to keep up with Renathan's tempo naturally, based off of the empathic link, knowing that it was what Renathan wanted.
The equillion was keeping up decently well, despite their differences in body layout of course, with the stallion being both hooved and quadrupedal, and the mammalian being of course dainty-footed and bipedal, with paws and toes. The two were quite the pair, it seemed; anyone watching perhaps from the gym itself through a window would see how hard they were working together, and how well that they were doing. Renathan was starting to feel his own legs burn about a fourth of the way down the track, and he knew that if he kept this up; he may just be too hurt to do this again. Renathan sighed and then moved out of the way, knowing that the creature would continue because he wished it, and sometimes Shy Guy knew what he wanted him to do without Renathan having forced him to do it. The creature slowly weaved back and forth across the line, as he had when Renathan had been riding him, despite the fact that he was not on there currently.
He was judging entirely based off of Renathan's own movements, and it was just baffling to watch for anyone that didn't know that their bond was so strong. Shy Guy was actually Renathan's most trained pet at this point, so it would be no surprise to anyone that knew the two of them at all, let alone well. Renathan watched as the creature walked like this, moving his body daintily from side to side around the white line on the soft earth of the track, until he got about halfway down the track. Renathan felt a bit of tiredness begin to build on the other side of the line; certainly because the creature was working quite hard. Renathan knew that speed wasn't everything, after all. It had a whole lot to do with the agility in the body's core, and that the creature would certainly have a hard time even with this. Creatures could only get so dexterous and Renathan knew that, but he wanted to get the stallion as fast and reactive as possible. He really didn't want to see his beloved creature get ripped to pieces by huge carnivore monsters. The mental images of Daughter of Wands absolutely ripping drakes to shreds made him sick when he accidentally replaced the images of the drakes with thoughts about Shy Guy in his mind's eyes. The anxiety seemed to move over to the stallion through the link, rewarding Renathan, who was following at a distance, with a sharp nicker.
Renathan had never heard Shy Guy make that noise before! Renathan forcibly removed the thoughts, and began thinking about things that made him happier. He didn't want to upset his beloved equillion, after all of this work! He didn't want the beast squeamish before he even ever got to the pit. Renathan was quite tired, even following at a distance, but he wanted to see the stallion go around the track at least once at this speed, before he asked him to speed up while doing it. About three-quarters of the way through, and the stallion was certainly exhibiting signs of being tired, but he was ready and excited. He was determined to get through with this, and to make Renathan satisfied with the progress. The bay equillion may not ever understand why Renathan wanted him to do this, but he trusted Renathan enough to actually keep doing it. Their bond was so much stronger than most bonds ever got around here, and Renathan chocked up the entire bond to all of those countless hours of training and exploring with the creature.
Finally, the stallion was done going around the track in the slow and methodical way that he had been asked to, weaving around the line the whole time. This was the first time they had ever gotten around it without having to stop while weaving around the line. Renathan could not be happier! He stopped the stallion, and then lead him over to the water to get a drink from a water bucket. Renathan carefully filled the water bucket himself, and then let the stallion have a good and hearty drink, while petting him. Renathan knew that when they would go home later, that both of them would need baths, Shy Guy with the gentle water hose, and Renathan in the house of course. Maybe even Shy Guy would do well swimming, Renathan figured? That was when it hit Renathan. That was how they could work on the stallion's dexterity even more later, after today! Didn't the gym have a pool? Renathan was super sure about that!
The stallion drank deeply out of the water, and then laid down on the grass again, nuzzling Renathan's hand, wanting more pets. It looks like they were going to have to take another break, but that was fine. Renathan felt like they were really getting somewhere, putting all of this work in, anyway. Renathan pet the stallion on his muzzle and between his ears and above his horn, in all those itchy places the stallion could never really get to. Renathan hoped that they would be able to get all of this done before the deadline for the tournament!
[1525]
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Post by Renathan on Apr 26, 2019 21:58:42 GMT -6
Renathan knew that soon they would have to start up again, and this time he was planning on having the stallion dance around the line, only this time, much faster. He figured that he would start doing it at an increased clip himself, knowing that it was quite important to do so to show the stallion what he was expecting, especially since his 'faster' command was usually done while riding. Renathan knew that riding the stallion would be a bad idea, since the creature was quite slick with sweat, and that he would probably fall off... Yeah, that was a bad idea. Renathan didn't think the equillion would be very comfortable, either, if he put the saddle back on him right now. Sure, they could leave for the day, but Renathan really felt like they were on the edge of a breakthrough, and didn't really want to waste that possibility, even if it might still be pretty far off. Working on conditioning for pit creatures was a lot harder than he thought it would be, but he was ready for it, if not prepared. Renathan still needed to check on the stallion's legs, he knew, but he didn't want to start them off. Renathan looked up at the sun, trying to ascertain the time, and then shook his head. They only had about an hour and a half left, and they would need to come home so that Renathan could give the creature a bath before night fell and the cold chill caused any possible issues. Renathan was already quite exhausted himself, and just knew that if he kept working, they could do this. Renathan turned over to the stallion, petting him on the face as he drank, and then moved down to check the stallion's legs again for any inflammation or other issues. They couldn't afford to mess this up now!
Renathan checked the front left leg, as usual, first. He did this because he knew he'd be able to keep up with which leg he'd already checked beforehand if he always did it the same way. It sounded like a great idea to him, at least! Renathan was a bit slower this time with it, even though he was sure in his ability to tell if something was wrong, because he was exhausted. The stallion was less tired than him, certainly, which was a good sign. It might have had to do with the fact that the creature was huge, it might have had to do with the fact that it was a horse-like creature, or it might have had to do with the fact that Renathan was naturally easily tired, he wasn't sure yet. Renathan managed to be both easily mentally and physically fatigued, at least when it came to the effects of psychics or venomous creatures, or even diseases. It was a severe problem, over all. Renathan pet the stallion on his leg after checking it, nearly getting his fingers tangled up in the really wet fetlocks, both wet with the normal water that the kelpie or brook-horse like animal tended to be covered in when it came to his longer hair, and of course sweat. Renathan untangled his fingers and moved over to the right foot, almost forgetting despite the attempt which ones were actually the ones that he had worked on before. He'd done this so much today to make sure that he didn't accidentally hurt his creature that he was forgetting which ones he was working on! Renathan petted the leg he was now on, down it, making sure to test it for any tenderness or other weakness that the stallion may be trying to hide from the mammalian.
Renathan realized that the creature seemed to be fine, thank goodness, in his front legs, and then moved to the back legs. It was much easier to do when the creature was laid down like this, because he always knew where Renathan was. The stallion rolled over onto his back again to let Renathan get to the legs, and Renathan nearly swatted him for it. He really didn't need to be rolling like that; it wasn't necessarily needed or anything, and it might hurt the critter if he kept doing that. Equillion weren't supposed to be upside down like dogs, silly! Renathan checked both hind legs quite quickly, tapping the stallion on the side gently to get him to sit back up. He was being absolutely ridiculous right now! Shy Guy seemed to have a ton of humor as he sat up, slowly getting to his feet with a mild amount of shakiness. Renathan knew that the poor creature was probably incredibly exhausted, but he was still showing both desire to continue and confidence, something that Renathan would not really have a lot of if their positions were swapped. Renathan was not near as confident as the stallion was, and Renathan didn't know what to think about that really ever. Still, they needed to continue! Renathan patted the stallion on the nose as he himself finally stood up to reach it. It was time to get this show back on the road! Renathan took the bucket back over to the place next to the pump where he had gotten it, and then Renathan lead the stallion back out to the very soft earth of the track in which they had been working during their time here today. Renathan looked up at the equillion, hoping that they would be done soon so that they could go home today and get some rest. Renathan was tired, at least, even if Shy Guy was going to pretend like he himself was not!
Renathan stood there on the white line for a moment, and then slowly began to walk forward by himself, to make sure that he could flit back and forth over the line again and again, back and forth and back and forth. Then, he began to speed up, himself. Back and Forth and Back and Forth and Back and Forth, crossing his legs over as he went faster, nearly breaking out into a sloppy run as he did so. The stallion already had an idea as to what Renathan wanted from him, and had began following at a clip that was slow for Shy Guy, but faster than Renathan would have expected from himself. Renathan got out of the way, and Shy Guy continued moving forward, going quite fast, faster and faster, left and right and left and right, back and forth and back and forth, weaving across the line as he began to move at a nearly-equillion run, but not quite full into a run. Renathan knew that the creature was definitely quite a bit better at this right now than he had been earlier, but he really wanted to get the equillion running while doing this before they got home today. That was the idea Renathan had, anyway! Renathan was still quite pleased to start to see real progress, even though this had been a very long journey even just today. Renathan hadn't worked this hard for this long in a while, himself, and he could feel how happy and excited that the equillion was just to get this chance to be outside of the farm for today. Renathan was nearly done training the stallion traditionally, anyway, and that meant that they spent less time away from the farm working out.
Renathan knew that Shy Guy enjoyed stuff like this, and he was secretly hoping that this would keep Shy Guy off of his roof, at least for just tonight. Maybe they wouldn't try to do this all in one day, the next time though? Renathan figured that he would feel whenever the stallion actually succeeded in whatever they were really trying to do today. He didn't really understand the process as a scientific kind of thing, but he figured that Shy Guy would know whenever something changed? Renathan could already tell that the equillion was much better at weaving than he had been before, as he half-trotted half-ran down around the first loop, really weaving quite well over that white line in the soft earth of the track that they had been working on this entire time. Renathan was sure that if they just kept pushing, that they would make it quite well enough! Shy Guy seemed to be quite tired, but his chest wasn't heaving, and he wasn't foaming at the mouth right now. That was probably a good thing; that foam was poisonous after all! Renathan should not have been surprised when he noticed that the creature had that going on, but he was quite glad that he did now. Not all creatures were susceptible to physical attacks or even to lightning, so he hoped that this variety of attacking options would help them not die immediately in the pit despite the equillion's prey like nature by nature. Most people worked on meat eaters for the pit, why couldn't Renathan had just been like them instead? Renathan could almost have had laughed at this, if he wasn't so tired and nervous.
[1521]
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Post by Renathan on Apr 26, 2019 22:26:27 GMT -6
Something deep inside the mammalian's heart and soul told him that this was it. Perhaps it was the bond that Renathan had with Shy Guy, or perhaps it was something else entirely; the weakness of his mind might have been part of it, but Renathan felt like they would be done if he just let the stallion finish this round and then go again, that they would probably be good to go home today. Renathan worked incredibly hard all the time to get Shy Guy to this point, to get him ready to go to a tournament, and they were so close that Renathan could just taste it. Shy Guy really needed to work on this as hard as Renathan had this entire time if he was going to survive this tourney. There was so much to do! Renathan watched as the stallion continued to move forward, finishing the first loop now and moving on to the other stretch. Renathan watched as the creature seemed to take whatever emotions Renathan was pushing over the link to heart, and begin to work harder, pushing harder, weaving over that line without any slips like they had been doing earlier. Renathan didn't know if that was because he was no longer riding the stallion or if it was something else that was causing the better luck at it. Renathan felt the stallion's confidence swell across the emotional link, and Renathan built on that with his own shared confidence. They were doing this, they had this, he just had to weave over that line just a little harder, just a little better, he could do it! The stallion weaved over the line, left and right, left and right, kicking up dust now that he was moving quite a bit faster, back and forth and back and forth, the dust a bit higher now. The stallion was just on the precipice of really moving better. That better movement was the first step, Renathan just knew, of becoming truly battle-ready.
Renathan watched as the bay equillion's white stripes appeared to blur as he raced around the curve weaving, still not quite running but it was still a really nice movement. He wasn't quite bounding yet either, but Renathan was incredibly sure that the stallion would eventually be dexterous enough to move about like one of his galabex, if they were lucky. Renathan knew that dexterity was super important, especially since this creature would never be able to fly, unlike some of his other battle pets had in the recent past. Renathan swallowed and breathed out a breath he hadn't realized that he had been holding. This was it, right? This was it right? He was almost disappointed when the stallion moved across the last stretch, towards the place where they always began, knowing that he hadn't quite gotten it yet. Renathan swore beneath his breath and of course beneath the mask. Both of them were sweaty and exhausted, more than ready to go home, but they both also knew that they were not done yet, never quite done yet. They had to do it, absolutely had to do it. Renathan trotted over to where the water was, and pumped another bucket of water. He wouldn't bother with checking the legs this time, they really needed to push past the block, try again soon. Renathan knew they didn't have a whole lot more time here, after all! Renathan filled up the water bucket and then moved over to Shy Guy, both of their bodies shaking due to the work that they had done today. Renathan offered the creature the bucket of water and let him drink from it. Renathan then ran out to where he had left the tack and brought it over to the fence, leaving it there for now, knowing that he would pick them back up on the way back to the gym's front room.
Renathan then took the emptied bucket back over to the water pump and then ran over to the stallion again, looking pretty tired. He looked up at the tall stallion's pale blue eyes, and a bit of understanding passed between them, as if they both knew that they needed to try at least one more time. Renathan stood off to the side as the bay equillion stood at the starting line, staring the while line down as if it were his worst enemy. Renathan nearly held his breath, knowing that they were just about there. Suddenly, Shy Guy gathered up more courage and confidence than Renathan had felt from him up to that point, and then raced off, moving from side to side with such fluid grace and what looked to be ease that Renathan had to blink as he watched; he had no idea that the stallion could do that? The difference was strong and distinct, almost unbelievable. It was as if on the back stretch last time, Shy Guy had figured out some secret to moving that would make weaving over the white line just so easy and effortless. Renathan could still see the stallion's body super slick with sweat, he knew that he was tired, but the stallion was running now, moving from side to side and side to side again left and right across the line weaving so well... Renathan knew this was it. The stallion had ran around the entire track within a time that Renathan had not at all been expecting!
Renathan collected their things, and then lead the exhausted but excited equillion to the gym's front building. He knew that it was time to go home, and he was proud of their hard work from today!
[944] [Day 1 Completed]
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Post by Renathan on Apr 30, 2019 9:49:00 GMT -6
Renathan, armed with some new shiny bits and bobs that he had bought from the gym's own shop, was leading his rather large bay equillion stallion out to the dexterity field again. He planned to allow Shy Guy to go swimming for the later half of his work, when it would undoubtedly be hot in the middle of the day. However, it was a cool and dewy morning, with a light cool breeze that was honestly a little chilly for a late spring morning, so it was a good idea to get the field-training out of the way first, the mammalian decided. Shy Guy was quite excited already, Renathan could tell by the shaking of his skin, as equillion and horses both seemed to do often enough when excited, and by the flaring of his nostrils. Renathan had seriously worked him very hard the other day, and it was already showing! Renathan had no idea if it was common for the laboratory creatures to take to training that easily and quickly, or if it was simply a by-product of his and his beloved Shy Guy's bond as master and trainer being incredibly strong. Renathan wondered if there were many other creatures in the labs that were like this; this strong. Perhaps Jack and her Kro? Renathan hadn't seen them interact but once, and he could tell that they were very close and Kro was very well trained! Renathan hoped that some day, Shy Guy would be just as well trained, though he was a bit sad knowing that once Shy Guy was as trained as he could possibly be, that Renathan would not really be able to train him anything else, of course! Renathan had gotten very used to him after all of this time, and the idea of having to stop training him at some point was just distressing. Renathan slowly makes his way across the grass; slowly because he knew that even though Shy Guy's footsteps were so delicate, like most pures, as not to bend any grass blades, that he might still slip, perhaps even moreso due to the delicacy of the movements, from each step he took. He wanted to make sure that his beloved bay pure equillion would be able to pick his way across the grass well enough, even though Renathan had a bit of a sure-footedness buff in this kind of weather, it was quite funny to think of it that way in fact, due to the fact that he came from a very marshy land! The pure was more built for drier forests, and Renathan knew that it would be bad if he were to trip. Renathan was always worried about the stallion's legs, and had been quite afraid that last time they would accidentally break one of them or perhaps even just cause tendinitis in any of his legs... Renathan had been so nervous that it had taken them forever to do the training; all day in fact! That was why he decided to come in during the early morning, this time. The sun was just beginning to come up, after all, making the entire area look dusky but also glimmering, the light shifting off of each and every single dewdrop on each and every single blade of glass. A slight breeze wafted through, picking up pieces of Shy Guy's mane and lifting Renathan's twin tails even higher before rolling over the rest of the grass, making the blades twinkle and sparkle like a true night sky across the darkened ground. Renathan had no idea what to think about how beautiful it was this morning... Renathan's own feet was leaving little empty spots across the ground, all of the water being smoothed away by his slightly strangely textured paw pads, but Shy Guy was not making those; perhaps it was the cloven-hooves or perhaps it was the natural pure thing, Renathan had no idea what to think about that or what to derive from the ideas that soon followed. The russet mammalian was quite bad about thinking about things too much... What did the common-folk call it? 'Over-thinking?' Perhaps that was what was going on now. Renathan tries to move his mind to something else, but his eyes keep getting drawn to the beauty of the area, and the idealism that came from the fact that he, a sentient being, was leaving an undeniable mark on the land, a blemish in the beauty of the morning's effervescent dew, while the pure equillion, while perhaps not being the natural, amazing creature that Renathan had heard about truly living in the wild, was not leaving any marks, and thus not, in Renathan's mind anyway, destroying nature. Renathan's mind was truly racing this morning, wasn't it? Shy Guy nuzzles him in the back to keep him walking. The russet mammalian's creatures often did that sort of thing, nuzzling him along his way so that he wouldn't loose his track in the mind that often wondered. Renathan had not been this way before coming here; perhaps it was the soul bond with Mintaka that had done that? Mintaka was often lost in thought, and perhaps Renathan had began to get a couple of things from him here and there along the way in this journey. Actually, that made a lot more sense than what Renathan had thought it had been, any way. The mammalian twisted back and petted the stallion on his muzzle, thanking him for removing him from the ultimately destructive thought. Sure, humanoids tended to change the world around them at a rather unprecedented rate, but Renathan was sure that it was not actually common for them to destroy things. It was very arrogant for him to think, earlier, that the humanoids would be powerful enough, were more powerful than other creatures, to destroy the world at any point. No other beings had ever been able to do so, and humanoids, though sentient, were not anything special. Renathan finally makes his way across the entire field, to the dexterity field. There had been a ton of spots for Renathan to put poles the last time, but Renathan had to ignore them in turn for the track, since he had no poles to use. After completing their training the other day, Renathan had not been surprised to see that the gym's shop actually sold poles! They were some kind of thing called a 'gym point' which people enigmatically earned somehow by clocking in training hours? It appeared that last time, their training had been worth ten of those hours, because he was given some points to spend at the shop, ten of them. Perhaps that was how it worked? Renathan didn't know for sure at all. Shy Guy had been interested the entire way across the field in the poles, sniffing them and nosing them around. He wanted to play with them, but Renathan knew that he probably would not enjoy the parts that Renathan would want him to do this upcoming time. From what the mammalian knew, weaving through poles for a four-legged creature was incredibly difficult to do with any amount of decorum. Shy Guy was a really special equillion, Renathan knew, he was so large and wonderful. However, that added size was going to be a nightmare for the beast when it came to the weaving through the poles, Renathan knew! Renathan avoided the track this time, knowing that there wasn't a whole lot more for them to do there. The stallion was such a great runner... Though getting his stamina up would be super important at some point. Not quite as important as training him to take punches, though! Renathan knew that over all of those things, dexterity training was the most important. He absolutely had to out-run all of his opponents, or he would not make it very long. Renathan knew exactly how fast battles ended when one of the creatures was so much faster than the other, and there was a chance that his enemies would take to the sky! Renathan hoped that they would not go up against any sarane... That would be a nightmare. The idea of his equillion being torn apart by a sarane drake was a disgusting one that turned his stomach. Renathan swallowed heavily, not wanting to get sick at the idea of it. He glanced over at the stallion as they walked past the buckets and the pump as well. Shy Guy kept looking back, staring at the track as if he remembered how much sweat he poured out onto the dirt, over there. Renathan chuckled a bit; the idea of the creature making the ground saltier over there was a funny thought. It pulled his mind away from the bad thoughts he'd been having before. He didn't want to make Shy Guy afraid of the pit before they even got there by having bad emotions through the link the entire time they trained for it. He was a bit sad that Shy Guy had no idea what he was about to be getting in to, just because of Renathan's own decision making. That was Renathan's cross to bear, since he had refused to use RoTs to train most of his creatures. [1540]
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Post by Renathan on Apr 30, 2019 11:07:55 GMT -6
Perhaps, if Renathan had allowed himself to use RoTs, he could have asked Shy Guy what he actually thought about going into a tournament. The idea was still a bit shocking to Renathan, that he might could have actually asked pets like Shy Guy what they wanted to do with their time, but Renathan didn't really want to just make himself feel badly forevermore about this. Renathan had figured that the rather aggressive young stallion equillion would make an amazing fighter at some point, just based off of his destructive and scrappy nature. Renathan hoped that he would not be wrong. Sure, Shy Guy's name was not exactly an apt one, he was very aggressive to everyone and most things that were not Renathan, after all. Renathan couldn't keep anything around the stallion at all that he didn't want hurt, because he would ram his horn through most things. It looks like that would hurt, but Renathan realized also that it didn't really make sense for such a creature to have a horn unless it had a use. That was a huge amount of energy and resources for a creature to spend on an ornament, if nothing else! Renathan sat all of the things he had been holding in his hands down, on top of the fence, save for the stopwatch and the reins of the equillion of course. Renathan knew that they needed to get the stallion suited up for the training, as soon as possible. Renathan gently removed Shy Guy's tack, save for the hackamore for control, and placed it on the fence. Renathan always rode the stallion here, if only to keep him used to carrying a rider. Mounts were sometimes tricky things to keep trained, unlike most messengers. That brought Renathan's mind back to his izer, which would probably never need to be trained from here on out. Renathan had planned to bring her to the gym eventually to train her, but he was afraid that she would get too strong to be a proper familiar if he wasn't careful!
However, Renathan did not have to worry about that kind of thing here, not one bit. Shy Guy could grow as strong as Renathan could ever make him, and he would really need all the help he could get if Renathan and him were to succeed! Renathan turned around and petted the stallion on his nose, knowing that he was already so huge and strong for an equillion pure that with much more work; he'd be quite a bit more physical formidable than most of the equillion in the labs. He knew that it was time to get this show on the road, even though he was a bit nervous. They didn't need to burn morning-time, after all, because they would need to do at least a little bit of pole weaving, Renathan was sure. Renathan put the stop watch in his pouch for now, so that he could have both hands, and then dropped the hackamore's reins so that Shy Guy would stay tethered there. That was a good idea, Renathan figured, as good as any! The russet mammalian gently petted down his side, and began the process that he used the previous time to check the stallion's legs. He knew that the equillion was doing quite well previously, all things considered, with his legs, so he was a bit less afraid of them than he was before, but he was still ready to be cautious. He didn't want an otherwise untimely trip to the healer's temple right now! Renathan hadn't ever had to be there before, and he sure didn't want to now. Especially not with Shy Guy, Renathan figured that if he was allowed to be hurt before the pit, that he might shy away from the pit whenever they actually got there at some point!
Renathan knew that he needed to finish this today. They didn't have a whole long period of time before the tourney, at the very best less than a month, and Renathan knew that if he didn't do this now, something might happen between then and there to make it impossible to complete. This was absolutely required, he steeled himself, despite the fact that they might have more difficulty than he had thought. Renathan absolutely -refused- to lose this, he was terrified of losing this, and he wasn't going to let himself do so. He hadn't done well in previous tournaments due to that fear, actually. Renathan bent low on the stallion's front, starting on the left front leg as he did previously, knowing that he needed to work quickly. He went down the leg, careful not to get his fingers stuck in the fetlock, and then gently felt for any kind of tenderness, heat, swelling, or any possible break symptoms that Shy Guy might have been trying to hide from him. If Renathan saw anything at all, he would abandon this here today, and work on it again at some other point. He didn't want to do that of course, but he didn't want to hurt his beloved creature at all of course, doing this strenuous work that would have to be done today. This kind of training was incredibly hard to do, and it was hard on the body. Renathan luckily didn't find anything of note on that first, left, front leg. Renathan rose up, running his palms across the stallion's skin to let him know exactly where Renathan was on his body so that he would not be scared of him and accidentally kick him in the head, as was sometimes the occurrence with hooved prey beasts.
Renathan had trained plenty of these hooved beasts before, not exactly many other equillion, but he had worked so hard to get the creature to trust him and then become tamed, and that was super hard. Renathan may work on an equillion in the future, he was sure, and then he knew that it wouldn't really be the same... Renathan kept his hands on the stallion and he moved to the right front leg to check it out, curious to make sure that the creature would be a great working animal if only Renathan could make sure that the leg was okay so that they could finish their training today. Still, he was going to go fast on making sure that his legs were okay, but he was in no way going to accidentally manage to do this wrong. So sure and steady was going to have to be the way that they did this, regardless. Shy Guy was obviously still excited at the idea of swimming, he had not stopped being excited for that this entire time. Perhaps Renathan should have waited to tell him about all of this, so that he would be able to wait without being excited about this? Renathan bent down to check the right leg, running his hands all around it gently. He didn't get his fingers in the fetlock or anything as he went around checking for heat, tenderness, breaks, or swelling, or really anything at all like that. Renathan was getting better at this, he thought! The russet mammalian happily rose up, knowing now that both front legs were quite good! Renathan moved forward and then gently petted the stallion on the side until he got to the back leg, and then he, like most farriers would, took the leg in his hand in one swoop so that the stallion knew exactly where he was and would not kick him. The hind leg on the right side was gently lifted and checked for any of the swelling, heat, breaks, or tenderness. So far, so good, Renathan figured! He then went around the front of the stallion after putting the hind leg back down, keeping his hands on him the whole time to let him know where he was. Then, he repeated the action with the back left leg, the last leg.
Renathan chuckled at his little joke about the 'last leg' in his mind before quickly checking it just as much as he did previously. He lifted it in one swoop without taking his hands off of it, and checked it for breaks, swelling, tenderness, or heat. Renathan happily grinned at him, and put the leg down. He told him that they were all good to go, and the stallion couldn't help but stamp happily for a moment, tossing his head. Renathan gently steadied him with a hand, petting him on the nose and neck. He was a good boy, that was right. Renathan really did love his creatures, and Shy Guy was probably one of his favorites, funnily enough. The mammalian then walked over to the fence, picking up the wraps for the legs. Renathan knew that this was going to be another long work, but he also knew that it had to be done perfectly, absolutely perfectly, to keep the stallion from injuring himself whenever he would be weaving through the poles here in a small amount of time. Renathan was nervous about this, but he knew how to do it. He just hadn't done it in a long time!
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Post by Renathan on Apr 30, 2019 11:56:16 GMT -6
Today. Today, Renathan told himself. The russet mammalian stirred into action, holding the grey wraps in his hands. They needed to go around the stallion's bottom parts of the legs, and he knew that they couldn't be too tight or it would cut off circulation, and they couldn't be too loose or they might trip him and wouldn't be effective at all. There was so much stuff they needed to do, and Renathan was really taking his time to make sure that it would be done right. Sure, they'd only been here for about five minutes in all, but everything felt so slow for Renathan. Perhaps because he was super nervous about it, and perhaps because he was feeling a little sick this morning in general. Perhaps he had eaten something that wasn't agreeing with him, or perhaps it was the closeness of the tourney. He hadn't been to one in so long, and he was nervous. He lost some rather messed up battles the last few times, and he really didn't want to work on Shy Guy only to get him mangled in the pit. Sure, the healers were there, but sometimes there were scars left, if the attacks were quite bad. The idea of a sarane attacking Shy Guy flashed across his mind again, and he shook it out of his head anxiously. He didn't want to think about that right now and really did not need to think about it Right now! He knew that the stallion would get too nervous for him to take him to the pit if he continued with this kind of thing. This was going to be a very delicate undertaking up until that date, because quite frankly, Renathan was a worry-wort and his poor creatures had to deal with it all the time. It was annoying to his creatures, quite often, and Renathan both knew that and felt horridly guilty.
Renathan leaned down, petting the stallion on the way down to let him know that he was indeed going to be beneath his feet, and to please not kick him in the head out of reflex, and then he gently but swiftly began winding the gauze tout against this stallion's lower left leg, letting him know that this was going to add pressure by adding it as soon as possible. That was very important to Renathan, letting the creature know what he was going to be doing, and Renathan was quite pleased when the bay equillion let him know that it was fine by lifting his own leg for Renathan in turn. Renathan knew that the stallion was partial to letting him touch his legs due to the tolerance training that had been done so long ago, but Renathan was still pleased every time it worked well, because he cared for the creature quite a bit. It was perhaps one of his favorite pets, if not his favorite pet (don't tell Auburn!) and he didn't want the creature to be stressed on his account, or hurt permanently ever if he could help it. Shy Guy was supposed to be his war mount, but the idea of the stallion getting downed in battle made him a bit angry. The stallion sensed this in the emotional pool, but the calmness of the creature in turn was very infectious. Renathan could not in any way remain angry for long in the cool, calm pool of the stallion's emotions right now, tinged with the electric excitement of swimming later, Renathan noted. He was getting much better at reading the creature's emotions, and back and forth. It was quite a nice thing, if a little disorienting at times since he had quite a handful of these bonds thusfar.
Renathan finished with the first leg, looking down at it fondly before quickly making sure that the 'loose end' was tucked away from the gauze. Renathan let the leg go, and the stallion tested it against the ground. Renathan watched for a moment to make sure that the stallion did not accidentally have any issues with it, but soon the leg was on the ground just like all of the others, as the stallion flexed it experimentally. Renathan moved to the other front leg after being quite patient, moving over to the other side and now the stallion was standing on the other leg like a champ, with Renathan up on the other limb gently wrapping the other gauze set around this leg in the same fashion. Quick, expertly, more confidently this time, and the leg wrap went on well enough. The stallion knew what was going on this time, and lifted the leg without any kind of issues again, this time the perfect height for Renathan to work at. Renathan quickly fixed it right up, and tucked the loose end down into it again. The stallion put the leg down, and Renathan once again watched carefully for any kind of strange movements or anything else that would bely an underlying issue that Renathan would have to fix. Thusfar, they seemed to be doing fine. Renathan would have to get enough for his back legs next time, if these worked out well enough, Renathan decided. Well, that was done! Renathan decided that quite quickly, and then began picking up the poles. The stallion almost danced excitedly, standing up on his back legs for a moment, and twisting a little half-bit. Renathan shook his head, and took the poles over to some holes in the ground. He began putting each pole in the hole carefully at first, and then he quickly realized that the holes had metal bits in the bottom, and that the poles would need to be screwed into the bits to stay there while the stallion would be weaving through them. That was good; maybe they wouldn't manage to break one!
Renathan carefully twisted each pole into the holes, until there were quite a few in one spot. Renathan began thinking about future training, because he knew that after today it would be a good idea to have him trained in another area of physique; perhaps the ability to take damage? Renathan figured that it would be a good idea. Maybe the poles would be good for that in the future? Renathan sure hoped so, he hoped that it would work out for sure. He didn't want to accidentally pick up something he wouldn't be able to use in the future. Renathan tested each pole with his own body weight, and was quite pleased to see how they were all taking his body weight well enough. Perhaps they were heavy duty poles, since most creatures that would be trained were going to be heavy ones? Like his equillion, he was quite heavy. After testing the poles in this way, Renathan was satisfied that his stallion wouldn't hurt himself on the poles. They needed to get this show on the road soon, there was so much going on between now and the tourney that he couldn't risk accidentally not making his mark here, he needed to get this done as soon as possible. Renathan moved back over to the stallion quietly, and then remembered the stopwatch in his pocket. He would have to learn how to use that, right? He had never used a stopwatch before. He pressed a few buttons experimentally checking here and there about what to use it for. One button made it go, the same one made it stop. There was another that cleared it back down to zero. Easy enough, right? Renathan was pleased enough with this, at least.
The bay equillion was also acting excitable, though Renathan knew that it was not the poles he was excited about, and not the yard either. The stallion's last bit of training for the day would be in the pool, and the stallion Loved swimming! He spent most of his time in Renathan's pool at home, after all, and Renathan had made the mistake earlier of telling him that he would be letting him swim today. He really should have waited for that one, that was for sure! Renathan kept the stop-watch in hand, and looked over at the tack on the fence. Aha; he would have to remove Shy Guy's hackamore! He knew that the reins would get caught in the poles, and that would not be a good thing at all! Renathan removed the hackamore easily, sliding it off of the equillion's face, and he shook his head as he typically did, long ears flipping everywhere. Renathan chuckled and then petted him gently on the face, itching him in places that the hackamore sat on his face. The stallion always enjoyed that; even though the hackamore was a perfect fit, the creature still got itchy beneath the tack often. Renathan scratched his back as well, and then moves the creature to come forward toward the poles. They were going to have to start on the poles at first, and Renathan had no idea how to get the stallion to move through them. He was going to have to lean heavily on showing him how to do it, himself, he was sure.
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Post by Renathan on Apr 30, 2019 13:28:10 GMT -6
Renathan stood out in front of the poles, staring them down wistfully. He really didn't want to have to do this today; he was still sore from the day before's training, but he knew that it had to be done, and rather quickly too. He knew that the stallion would want to cool off in the pool after this, which would be pretty okay. He hoped that it was only lightly chemically treated, because the smell of chlorine when overdone was especially bad and he didn't think Shy Guy would enter water that was like that, at all. Shy Guy was particularly picky about the water he would take to, and absolutely refused anything he deemed too polluted to work with. Renathan was not always sure what things he turned down the most, after all. Renathan laughed a bit at the thought, prompting the equillion to stare after him, pale blue eyes blinking curiously. Renathan knew that look, so he gently petted the creature on the face and told him that it was going to be just fine. He was just thinking, after all, perhaps entirely too much but oh well. That was pretty par for the course for Renathan, anyway. The stallion seemed put to ease after this at least, and Renathan knew that they needed to start soon. Today, Renathan repeated to himself yet again. Today. They needed to get done with this right now. Renathan sighed, and stepped over the wet grass to the poles, and the Stallion followed after him. The russet mammalian stood at the 'start' of the poles, and then began to weave through them himself, slowly at first, his tail nearly wrapping itself in knots around them. He needed to get used to this himself, so that the stallion could know that they didn't have to start out going really fast. The stallion hung back and watched, not moving forward after him yet. Renathan turned around, and went through the poles himself again, this time quite a bit faster but still not super fast, knowing now how to keep his tails from tangling through the poles as he weaved.
Renathan hoped that the stallion would 'get it' so to speak, so that they would have a much easier time doing this. Renathan knew that today was going to be an endeavor, that was for sure, but he hoped that they would get out of today with the creature being quite a bit more conditioned for battle. They had so much stuff going on all the time, and Renathan needed to work on other things, too! For one, he really wanted to go mining, at least a little bit. Renathan was finally beginning to 'get over' his fears of the mines, especially since he was pulling crystals out every once in a while now. Renathan wanted to make a business out of looking for these crystals for people, he figured he'd make enough money to get by while the gemstone workshop was still out. Renathan knew that in order to get out and be able to go mining, however, that he would need to get done with Shy Guy's work here, at least half the way through the training at least. They were on a time limit, after all, and Shy Guy still needed a bit of training after all of this work; he had a few more battle training bits and bobs that he wanted to complete before the tournament, but this stuff had absolute importance over all of that. Right now, there were some rather severe holes in their battle strategy right now and Renathan did not want those holes to be found and exploited by their possible enemies in the pit. Renathan had seen this happen before; with Phoenix falling to that blue drake in the pit, and that had left him feeling quite a bit sour. He really, really was terrified of losing.
So Renathan had decided that under no circumstances would they lose this time, he was sure of it! Renathan finished weaving through the poles one more time, nearly knotting his tails on one but thankfully narrowly escaping that. The russet mammalian's tails smarted, and he hoped the the stallion wouldn't have a similar problem; his tail was super long as well, in fact, it was longer per his body size than Renathan's were! That would definitely make it difficult for the poor creature to do this, and along with the huge body size, Renathan was scared that he wouldn't be able to do this at all. Finally, Renathan caught his breath, and then gave the command for the stallion to follow him this time, and then he shot through the poles himself, weaving in just the way that he hoped that the bay equillion stallion would emulate exactly in his own wiry body movements. Renathan made it to the end and then stopped off at the side, to turn around and see how the stallion was really doing at the moment with the training. The stallion had indeed made it through several poles, but was now stuck between the red and yellow ones, his large body pinned between the two. The stallion wasn't hurt at all, but was instead quite annoyed, and got out of it immediately, sort of dance-walking away and nickering. Renathan realized that this was out of embarrassment when the creature pulled his ears back and showed his canines at Renathan whenever the mammalian began laughing wholeheartedly at him.
Renathan stuck his own tongue out from underneath the mask at the creature, and then decided that this might be a whole lot more fun than he thought it would be; no stopwatch required until a bit later, when the stallion would inevitably learn how to do this well enough. Renathan knew that the stallion was very hard-headed, and would continually attempt to do this again and again until finally he would get it. Renathan knew that a vulticus would have no trouble doing this, but a huge pure equillion was certainly going to have the worst time at this ever. For one, pures were more used to turning into mist, from what Renathan had been told, to actually weave around things with their own body. For another, pures were generally quite small, and well, Shy Guy was artificially huge to begin with, and then was made even larger with a potion that had costed Renathan a small fortune. Shy Guy seemed to do well enough with his bulk, but he was really not used to the bulk in dexterous ventures. However, Renathan knew that this training was going to be super important, that was for sure! The creature's reaction time was going to be the most important part of the battle; the reaction get away from a huge attack, and attack first was the most important aspect of a battle. That and Renathan really had no idea what they would be going up against, he was half expecting sarane. Being able to out-maneuver a sarane until it got off of the ground was the only thing that they would be able to do. Once those dragonlike beasts got into the sky it was basically over with, and Renathan knew that for sure. It was a dangerous venture, and the equillion didn't even know why they were doing this.
Renathan wondered if it would be more humane to have let the equillion know what was going on first, and why this was so important... However, this thought was pushed far away from his mind as soon as he realized that the creature had already began to move through the poles again, getting trapped in the same place. However, Renathan knew exactly what he was doing wrong; he was essentially trying to go through them in the straightest line possible and as fast as possible; and since they hadn't really been doing this long, the stallion was getting trapped really close to the first few poles! Renathan chuckled at this, and the stallion got himself unstuck again as quickly as he could. It was quite a funny sight; watching a huge animal get stuck between some poles when barreling through them as fast as possible. But it had to stop, Renathan knew, so before the creature could try it again, Renathan calmed and stopped him with a touch, gently petting the creature's muzzle. Perhaps they wouldn't quite get to the pool today after all? It depended all on how quickly the creature would get through this part of the training, and right now Renathan knew that he was going to need a lot of work. Renathan walked the stallion to the start of the poles again, trying to decide how best he was going to do this, to teach the stallion how to properly weave through the poles and not quite trip up or get stuck like he was before. It was important for him to learn the technique before the speed, after all, and Renathan hoped that the stallion would get that out of this training eventually. It would save him in the pit in the future, and was incredibly important!
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Post by Renathan on Apr 30, 2019 16:25:47 GMT -6
Renathan decided that this time, when working with weaving between the agility poles, he was going to go slow and weave his body back and forth way farther away from the poles. That way the stallion would probably be able to see what he would have to do in order to begin doing the work himself. Renathan knew that it was super important to show the bay equillion what he was going to need to do, because he may never get it at this rate, and they really needed to move on quite well! Renathan stepped forward and then quickly flashed the sign for 'stay' so that the stallion wouldn't try to fruitlessly attempt to barrel through them again and get stuck between the red and yellow agility poles. As soon as he could see that the stallion had gotten the 'hint' by looking at his facial expressions, Renathan began weaving very, very slowly, and very methodically through the agility poles, knowing that the creature would need the exaggerated movements in order for the creature to understand that he was going to have to actually weave his body back and forth, instead of barreling straight through. Renathan moved from one side to the next, back and forth on his body, back and forth, around each pole, moving and keeping his tail free of the poles. When he got to the end, he carefully and slowly turned around, and then repeated the function, back and forth, and back and forth, weaving through the poles again and again, keeping his tail free of the poles the entire time. Then, he looked up at the bay equillion stallion's eyes to search for the answer as to whether or not the stallion actually understood the concept. Finding nothing promising there, Renathan sighed, turned back around, and did the same thing again.
The russet mammalian began weaving incredibly, super slowly and very methodically through the poles again, red yellow, blue green, red yellow, blue green, and then glanced back once he got to the other side, having had his body moving exaggeratedly back and forth and back and forth to show the exaggerated movements that may help in the long run. Renathan then turned around in a very slow and calculated way again, and then entered the agility poles yet again. Super slowly, super methodically through them again, green blue, yellow red, green blue, yellow red. His tail was kept clear, his body going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, clearing the poles very obviously. Renathan then stopped at the end, and looked up at the equillion. The bay stallion still looked pretty confused and perhaps a bit bored, so Renathan made the hand signal for the stallion to follow him, but this time he had a plan. Renathan moved forward to begin walking through the poles, and the stallion followed after him after a moment of hesitation. He was such a big creature so it would definitely be very hard for him. The stallion followed after him, this time at a painfully slow clip, which in any other situation would seem like it would be bad for agility training, but since it was technique that was important and not exactly speed, Renathan knew that this was both good and important for their continued work. Renathan weaved very slowly around one pole, and the creature followed him, doing the same. The equillion was, as was quite obviously expected previously, not able to keep his tail from being wrapped up in the poles. However, he was able to keep it from hurting him, so Renathan was quite proud. Renathan kept looking back at the equillion in order to make sure that he was doing at least somewhat okay.
So far, it was going quite well! Renathan was super happy, because the huge creature, while not doing super awesome at this, had not yet gotten stuck and that was the main issue that Renathan had been quite afraid of, because the creature had gotten stuck all of the other times before. Renathan slowly but surely worked his way through the poles, and then turned around at the end, watching as Shy Guy very slowly did so as well, touching every pole on the way through, but being capable of getting through them now without getting stuck. Renathan then stood on the other end, and waited for the creature to finish up and line up behind him so that they could perform this yet again. Renathan moved forward and then began going through them yet again as soon as the huge bay equillion stallion had gotten behind him, so that they could continue working on this. This was a lot of work, Renathan knew, but it just had to be worth it, in the end. There was no real way that they could win a tournament without it, he just knew that they had to work on it! Renathan was super slow and particular about how he moved the rest of the way through, weaving his body back and forth and back and forth, and making a bigger show about keeping his tail off of the poles, especially after he realized that the huge bay equillion was having a hugely difficult time keeping his tail from getting wrapped up in the poles in such a horrible way that Renathan felt quite terrible about the whole thing. Renathan was pleased to see the stallion begin to do the same, carefully weaving back and forth and back and forth, the entire body beginning to show a bit of sweat. Sure, they were moving very slowly through the weaving poles, but it was still hard work for such a huge bay equillion to attempt to go through them without getting stuck. Soon, Renathan hoped that the stallion would try to keep his entire body off of the poles while weaving, but Renathan trusted that it would not occur that way for a good long time. Maybe never? Renathan had not realized that this would be so hard for the stallion, but it turned out to be quite difficult after all it seemed!
Renathan made it to the other side of the poles, and turned back to look at the stallion. The equillion was having quite a bit of a hard time getting through this, and Renathan hoped that the creature would eventually start doing better than this. They didn't have a whole lot more of the morning left, after all! Renathan wasn't sure where all the time had went, perhaps it had went with the repetition of the slow movements? Renathan decided that before continuing, it would probably make a whole lot of sense for the creature to be able to get some water now that he was actually breaking a sweat and such. Renathan waited until the huge bay equillion stallion got finished with the poles, and was standing there with his nostrils flaring, before he made the hand sign to follow him, and then lead the creature towards the water pump. Today was certainly a long one, and Renathan was growing quite tired already. However, they hadn't even gotten to the pool yet! Perhaps they wouldn't, if the stallion couldn't get through the poles? Or perhaps he would wait until it was time to start working on the whole taking hits thing, which Renathan knew that he did not feel confident exactly with the taking hits training thing. He hated training his creatures even things like the whole danger dodging thing, so he was a bit afraid to start working on that, anyway. Maybe working on his stamina would be so much easier if he did it in the water, so the stallion could learn to move for longer? That might have actually have been good for the poles... Wait, maybe he didn't have to master the poles until they both got to that point in the training. Huh, there were so many things to have to worry and think about during this harsh, difficult, long training that they would have to endure before the whole tournament thing would happen.
Renathan was concerned about it for a long time. He pumped the water into a bucket and then handed it over to the stallion, and then he quickly reached into his own backpack and pulled out a water bottle for himself. He would use the clean water bottle water for the stallion if he could, but the large creature took way more water than Renathan ever could have done, and he didn't have enough time or enough water bottles to administer this kind of drink to the stallion. So the huge bay equillion stallion drank from the bucket without being bothered by it at all, and Renathan drank out of his own water bottle. The russet mammalian had not even noticed that he had gotten super thirsty himself during the time that they were doing the training, and of course when he noticed it the whole thing actually made a lot of sense to him! He had been doing more weaving than the equillion had been, and he was thoroughly tired. However, they still had quite a ways to go today, even if Renathan was tired, so he figured that after all of this, he would sit down and watch Shy Guy go through the rest of the training, hopefully without any issues at all. Renathan knew that he was quite a bit weaker than the stallion, and that he wouldn't last near as long as the creature would at the pole weaving, even though the huge bay equillion stallion would take a lot longer due to being quite a bit larger than him... Okay, not quite a bit, actually a huge amount, he was easily upwards of ten times Renathan's weight, not that it was quite hard to be that big. Maybe even more than that? The creature was just huge! Renathan finished his water bottle and put the bottle, now empty, back into his backpack. He knew that the equillion would take a lot longer to drink than him, and that was fine by him. Renathan waited until the stallion got done with his water bucket before sitting the bucket very carefully back next to the other buckets. Okay, it was about time to get started again, right? Renathan motioned for the stallion to follow him again, and then he made his way back to the agility poles, knowing that this was going to be very tired by the end of this.
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Post by Renathan on Apr 30, 2019 18:06:22 GMT -6
Renathan was beginning to feel like one last push, just one more, would do well enough for this morning, and then maybe they would come back in the evening in order to get the stallion started on his the next leg of the training, which was going to, quite frankly, suck really badly. Renathan was not looking forward to that, but he knew that they really did not have a lot of time to work on this! Renathan knew that they wouldn't get anything done if he just kept stopping and starting, this had to be ended now. Renathan breathed in deeply, with his eyes closed, and then breathed out a calm breath. The stallion was a lot more calm now, no longer flaring his nostrils or sweating or anything. Renathan felt like it really was now or never. They had come this far; and the poles really shouldn't look so frightening or aggressive to him, they were literally just poles, inanimate objects standing there in defiance to him.
Renathan knew that they had to get this done right now. Renathan stood there, and then made the movement for the huge bay equillion stallion to follow him, and then he slowly began weaving through the poles as slow and methodically as he could. Keeping his tail held high and very clear of all of the poles in order to keep the stallion aware of his own. The equillion seemed to be doing a little better now, still rubbing his sides against all of the poles and not quite clearing them, but certainly holding his tail up high and keeping it from getting wrapped around all of the poles as he went past each one. That was an improvement! They were still going quite slow, not any faster than they had been working through weaving between the agility poles before. Renathan knew that they really didn't need to go very fast at all in order to get the job done, metaphorically. Dexterity was not always about speed, it was more about agility, about reflex time, and Renathan knew that if he could just get the stallion to move his entire body enough to clear all of the poles, he wouldn't mind if he couldn't quite do it fast yet. In fact, Renathan figured that doing the poles in the future might be good for training his stamina to be even better in the future!
Renathan knew that if they succeeded today, that this would be one of the better trained equillion, and probably the best trained pure, that he had seen go into a tourney. Renathan had pored many hours over the tapes and old recordings of the pit battles, trying to figure out exactly how he was going to get this done, and what the stallion would need to do better to make it. Historically, pure equillion were not often used as pit fighters, and Renathan thinks he knows why. Most pure equillion are incredibly docile by comparison to Shy Guy, which was pretty ironic if one figured that the name was an apt moniker at first instead of just something Renathan came up with on the dang fly. Renathan continued to weave through the poles while thinking about this, knowing that he needed to keep his mind off of anything stressful so that Shy Guy did not accidentally associate training with anything bad practically. Renathan knew that it was really easy to get creatures accidentally associating one thing with another, and they still had a ton of training that had to be done! Renathan hoped that in the future, they would be able to get this done as soon as possible. Renathan knew that they had so much stuff to do, and that if Shy Guy were to get his training the rest of the way done, that they would have to absolutely slam through this training as soon as possible!
Renathan grinned softly, beneath his mask, and then he turned around and looked back over the poles to check and make sure that Shy Guy was making it through just fine. There was so much worry in his face at first, and then he realized that the stallion was slowly but surely making his way through, still dragging his sides against the poles, but working quite hard Renathan realized. That was good! His tail was held high up and away from the poles, and was no longer touching every single pole, and only somewhat touching them. Renathan was super proud of that, that was progress! He hoped for more quick progress like this, even if it was bit after bit after bit instead. Renathan waited until the stallion finished weaving his body back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, and finished all of the poles before he went directly back in. Back and forth and back and forth he went, the stallion following after him. Renathan could hear the creature moving through the poles, touching them much more lightly this time, but still going through quite so slowly, super methodically, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth again and again. The repetition was both annoying and terrible while being inherently tangible in the air around them. Renathan knew that practice makes perfect no matter what. It was so super important that they continually repeat this. Renathan talked himself through it like a mantra.
They could do this! But Renathan was growing incredibly tired, himself. He needed to sit down soon and let the animal weave through the poles by himself. He hoped that the stallion had enough self control to do it without too many issue and without trying to go too fast too early. The work was so hard to do, and Renathan knew that they had to do it soon! The sun was already getting quite high up in the sky, and Renathan knew that the heat was getting quite extreme already... It sucked that the hardest parts of the training was going to have to be done this close to the summer months, most of his creatures did not do well in heat, unless they were fire oriented for whatever reason. Usually because of the injections that Renathan tended to use on his creatures more liberally than he probably should. Renathan was beginning to slow down on them, knowing that they may be making the creatures have a harder time and often had unintended consequences that Renathan had no idea what to expect or deal with. Phoenix and Morti came to his mind when he thought of those kinds of things. Those two were still dealing with the consequences of his actions and it was not usually a good thing, especially in Phoenix's case; he tended to set fires unless kept on green grass or plain dirt. It was a bit sad to watch, sometimes, honestly. Renathan breathed out a sigh when he finally got to the other end of the poles, and then he turned around to look back at Shy Guy's progress.
The stallion continued to walk through them, holding his tail high. The tail, despite it's immense length, was no longer touching any of the poles, and that was already a miracle and a half, Renathan decided. There was so much stuff going on all the time, and it was great for Renathan to see this much good progress going on with the stallion. He hoped that the creature would do okay and continue to get much better at this, at least! They were pretty close to done, Renathan figured, and he could practically taste it. He hoped that they would be done today, and not have to worry about dexterity training anymore. Renathan watched as the equillion made it through all of the poles, and though his body touched all of them, his tail touched none of them. Renathan could not have been prouder of the huge bay stallion equillion! Renathan quickly gave him a pet on the nose for doing so well, and then he pulled the stop watch out from his pocket. He'd nearly forgotten that he had this and hand't really used it yet! That just would not do, he needed to work with this too, he figured, since he'd bought it and all. Might as well put all of his equipment to good use and all that! Renathan exhaustively sat down on the grass, and then made a hand motion to tell the equillion to 'run'. He hoped that the stallion would put two and two together, and he really did!
The huge bay equillion turned towards the poles, knowing that they had just worked with them a moment or two ago, and tried to run through them at a somewhat slow run, and Renathan was surprised that he seemed to be dancing out from in between the poles, his butt drifting out like an incredibly fast cart going around a corner. Now that was exactly what Renathan had wanted from him; the creature was focusing more on not touching the poles than he was on being fast, and that was what was desired from the start! Renathan was glad that they seemed to be doing something right for once, and that the creature was certainly improving for sure. Renathan sat on the grass and pulled out a water bottle from his backpack, nearly draining it immediately. He was so tired and thirsty, and probably needed to get into some air conditioning. That was when it hit him; he could go swimming with Shy Guy today to cool down! That would be a great idea, he just knew it! Renathan was pleased with this idea, and happily watched as Shy Guy finished the tiny obstacle course, pretty slow, but quite a bit better than he had been doing. Renathan called out a ton of praise, and then gave the command for him to come there, and the stallion put two and two together once again to go through the poles to get to where Renathan was where he was. Renathan watched as the stallion weaved through the poles the exact same way, his butt almost drifting has he swung his body weaving in between all of the poles left and right and left and right again and again. Renathan was finally pleased with his training; and decided that they would go turn in all of their work for today!
[1740]
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Post by Renathan on May 1, 2019 17:09:55 GMT -6
Renathan and Shy Guy were back, and this time they were going to go swimming. Well, sort of. Renathan really had not been looking forward to this leg of their training; he was considering doing something for resistance for a long time, and he was considering actually working a shorter amount of time than he had planned on the whole skin-toughness thing, and working more on the ability to run farther and faster instead. The reason for this was the fact that overall, Renathan knew that they had a way of getting away from physical attacks, but didn't really have much of anything to do for the magical attacks; in example, fire breath. Renathan was a bit more scared about that than he was of an opponent continually attempting to rip through the stallion. The idea of this was still just as frightening as Renathan could have imagined, and that was quite scary to really think about it. This was also partially because Renathan was really coming up to a loss as to how to actually get the stallion to resist more damage instead of actually just being able to take more hits in general? Renathan was really not sure what the logistics of such things were, especially not when people only talked about it off the cuff during the old recordings of the battles. Renathan was beginning to get quite tired of training, but it had to be done right now, Renathan knew that they had so much work to do between now and the tournament that would be coming up incredibly soon. They had so much to do, that Renathan was quite a bit overwhelmed! Renathan looked over to the stallion as he began to lead him through the grassy area, towards where they needed to go to do this whole resistance training thing. Renathan knew that resistance training was pretty much torture, and Renathan was not looking forward to actually trying that. The first thing that Renathan was considering having his creature do was simply a swimming exercise. The idea was to get the stallion really good and tired before actually getting into the 'resistance training' area, which supposedly had some kind of a waterfall? He legitimately had no idea what a waterfall was supposed to do for this; perhaps toughen the skin a bit? Renathan wasn't sure if something like that would work too well with his semi-aquatic equillion, and he really wasn't sure if it was a surefire way of working with creatures that couldn't really get wet either. He didn't have any creatures that would get hurt if they were wetted, but he also knew that those that would might have issues with this. Renathan had no idea what to think about it so much, but he knew that they had to get this show on the road today. They'd already wasted so much time working on things that had nothing to do with his battle conditioning. Renathan has so much stuff to do that is not working with the equillion to, but he still felt like he was going to be in for a long time of training today that he didn't know how he really felt about it. There was so much work to be done! Renathan lead the stallion across the yard. It was also a very nice morning this morning, it was dewy on the grass and the sun was a red spot on the horizon, raising in it's slow but sure way that Renathan knew was usual for this area. Still, it was breathtaking. Renathan stood there to watch it for a moment, stopping the stallion from moving forward too well. They had a moment or two to stop and smell the roses, even if Renathan was practically panicking to get this stuff done as quickly as possible. There are other things that Renathan wanted to train the stallion! Renathan didn't look directly at the sun, and he gently petted the stallion's head to keep him from doing it too. Luckily, there were a few golden-lined clouds in the way, and Renathan didn't really see anything go on too much with the light. Renathan could not help but being a bit thankful that the clouds were there, even though technically they did not have to stop to actually stare at these clouds. It was exhausting, doing all of this training, and taking a moment to watch the sunset was helpful. The cool breeze made Renathan shiver, the grass dance around, and Shy Guy breathe in a big deep breath that must have felt nice. Cool air was always desirable during this time of year; even if it was just a momentary breeze. It was a bit hot and sticky feeling, muggy in the air since it was spring. The dewy grass was starting to steam when the breezes weren't gusting by, and that was making it quite obvious that it was getting a bit too hot to be doing gym training outside. That was one reason why Renathan was going to be taking the stallion inside of the buildings instead of working on this difficult and long-houred training outside in the horrific heat that might cause injury. Perhaps whenever they began working on this on another day they could do it outside, but as of right now, that seemed like a horrible bad no good idea and that was for certain. Renathan breathed in himself, deeply, with the next breeze that came through. He really felt nostalgic for home, these days, but he knew that Shy Guy would not be able to make it long in his homeland. It was way too hot and muggy for an equillion to be comfortable there, and it was quite high-tech there, Shy Guy would not be used to the streets, lights, sounds, and hustle-bustle that their cities had. So it wasn't like Renathan could take Shy Guy to live out in the city to get away from the muggy, horrid heat that tended to be a thing in his homeland. Still, Renathan was a bit homesick due to the beautiful muggy morning reminding him of the place he left. The first time since he had moved out here. [1036]
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