Gym Training - Renathan

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]

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.

[1519]

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]

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]

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.

[1529]

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.

[1760]