Once the stables of a large estate were within sight, Herja could feel the horse perk up. Her ears swiveled forward and she started trotting directly to her stall without bothering about the human on her back. Her first stop was the watering trough. She drank long, deep and hard. Herja realized this must be the horse's home, and very stiffly dismounted. As she did so, Herja could see the horse was definitely a mare for sure, and a real beauty. The mare, upon Herja's dismount, pinned her ears and squealed at Herja, swinging her hindquarters dangerously, but the mare was also tired, and didn't really want to fight. Both ladies were bluffing, but the battle was, for now, a stalemate. Herja didn't want to overstep her bounds or tire herself to the point of hurting herself, and the mare was overworked and refused to go any further anyways. Herja, even though the ride was clearly intense and her thighs ached like fire and quivered under her, knew that the right thing to do for this horse was to put her away properly. She didn't know where anything was, so she let the mare have her space, and show Herja where her stall was once she had gotten a drink. The mare loafed a little, but eventually wandered into a grandly ornate stall, already with a manger full of hay and a freshened bed of straw.
Since the mare was so wet with sweat, Herja wanted to make sure she would not catch a chill. This also gave her the chance to try bonding with the horse, but on the ground, the horse had a definite advantage. Herja looked for a halter of some sort to lead the mare, so she wouldn't colic. She needed to be cooled before resting or she could hurt herself, thought Herja. India had other ideas, and was done with people for the day, especially this one. India bobbed her head, holding it up high to make putting the halter on difficult, but she was hot and tired, so eventually Herja managed to get the halter on after a lot of dodging and coaxing. India did not want to move. Herja noticed that the mares breathing had gone back to normal and she was no longer puffing from her hard ride, but she was still soaked, so Herja tied her out, away from the manger. India was not happy with being denied food. She had worked hard, and was hungry! Herja knew that drinking too much and eating right after a hard workout can cause colic in horses, and colic can lead to death, so she had to cool the mare down before she could feel right about letting her eat. Herja had no idea where the grooming supplies were, so she simply started rubbing the sweaty horse down, massaging her and rubbing hard to loosen her muscles and cool the mare without causing her to catch a chill from the night air. India at first was very indignant, but the rubdown felt very nice, and after half-heartedly pinning her ears, she allowed it to continue. Soon, she realized that the better she behaved, the nicer this little person was.
Nah, never too much. Do you want Herja to run into anyone?)
)
Understood )
