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Description

Stable: Lakewood Farm
Horse Number: 1
Horse Name: Kiwi
Entry: Optional

Storyline:
1. Mandatory: First Meeting
2. Optional: The First Steps
3. Optional: Interlude - Things for the Future
4. Optional: Breakthrough: You are Here
5. Optional: Building Trust
6. Mandatory: Mishap - Halter Training
7. Optional: Progression
8. Optional: Mishap - Early Saddle Sessions
9. Mandatory: Backing
10. Optional: Mounting Up
11. Mandatory: Flat Training
12. Optional: Jump training
13. Optional: Christmas Hack
14. Optional: Kaimanawa Hack
15. Optional: Beach/water riding
16. Optional: The Future

This one was hard to work out. Getting a horse to tolerate your presence is very different to getting one to actively interact with you. But I think I've done it. Or rather, Alec has.

Explanations at the end. Tatty is hugely sorry for the mile long story, but lots had to happen here. Hope you enjoy anyway!

Leaves crunched underfoot as Alec strode out to the Circle. Autumn was sweeping in fast, and though the trees and hedgerows were still thick, the leaves were becoming brittle as they turned to gold, copper and scarlet. It was still fairly early morning with shadows reaching across the grass and a slight bite to the air.

Kiwi was grazing at the back of the round paddock, having tucked herself into the shelter of the hedgerow that curled around one side of the fence-line. It had taken her several days to settle down in the much smaller pasture, once they’d gotten her moved. But it was necessary.

With everyone pitching in – including Peanut with some latent herding skills – Kiwi had been corralled from the Meadow into the Circle in just three hours. She’d been jumpy; taking off in mad circles whenever the barn door slammed, or one of the chickens let out a stream of angry chatter. The Circle was too small for her and this fence had been tested more than the meadow’s for almost two solid days before she gave it up as a lost cause and hid in the hedgerow.

But the plan Alec had set in motion started to show signs of working.

It had been a week and two days since she’d been moved, and the flighty races around the fence had stopped altogether, though she still spooked on occasion. But that wasn’t all. The Circle ensured that Kiwi had a front row seat every time one of the other horses was led to a field, or to the Temple. And her inquisitive nature had begun to take over, until she’d been venturing closer to the open fence line, quite calmly, to watch the peculiar goings on.

With her curiosity taking the place of her fear once more, Alec resumed his old timetable. He’d sit in the field, or on the fence and do various chores while she grazed in the corner, or eyed him warily from a carefully measured distance. She would watch him brush dirt from rugs, make phone calls to the farrier, clean various pieces of tack and once play quietly on a harmonica.

Chess found that one hilarious. Alec had been forced to explain his mother had wanted the flute, and he’d tried to get a set of bagpipes, just to tick her off, but when he figured that might annoy him, too, he settled for an instrument his mum didn’t consider ‘proper’. That only made Chess laugh harder.

“Morning, Kiwi,” Alec called out to her as he hopped over the fence and went to settle under the tree. Today was the start of a new game; he just had to see which way she’d take it.

She looked up at him, waiting until he was sitting before snorting and lowering her head back to the grass. There was a new burr in her mane, and Alec figured she’d stuck her head into the hedge and gotten it tangled, but getting it out would have to wait. Other than that, and thanks to the continued sprinkler system and hosepipe, she was relatively clean – only that would have to stop soon, too, before it became too cold.

Before she’d been moved from Long Meadow, she’d called out to him, as though questioning why he chose to leave her, and since then, she seemed to make a habit of it, though she never appeared to care when he turned up. Just three days ago, after settling into the Circle, she’d begun calling again when he stood to leave, but he’d never pressed for more.

Now that she was unafraid, it was time to work with her curiosity.

Alec sat with her for an hour before standing slowly. Kiwi stopped eating and looked up, the predictable faint whicker only just discernible over the crunching of leaves he’d disturbed again.

He turned to her. When she continued to look at him with soft eyes, her back and neck relaxed, he took a step in her direction.

Her head lifted, and her ears pricked forwards, nostrils flaring with interest, although her weight rocked back instinctually. He took a deep breath – he was really winging it here. Step forward again and risk a freak out? Or step away and risk moving too slow?

It didn’t take much. He liked to press his luck, but Kiwi was in a class of her own and the fallout at this stage just wasn’t worth it.

Letting out his breath in a rush, he stepped back again, preparing to turn for the gate. The noise she made this time was a snort that almost sounded indignant. Alec glanced back, freezing on the spot.

He wished he could remember what Chess had been saying the other day about reading personalities in faces – bits of it flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t form anything solid to work with. All he had to go on was what he already knew – she was smart and quick, if a little prone to initial panics but for all that – once she’d settled, she was a pleasant mix of bold and tentative.

While he kept an eye on her, uncertain which way to move, she tossed her head once, and took a tiny step towards him. He waited, but she didn’t step again. Biting his tongue and deciding to stuff it, he turned back for her and stepped once again in her direction.

Her ears swivelled, head lifting and she rocked. Alec took another step, so small he practically shuffled. She took off, but the reaction was delayed, as though for a second, she’d considered just staying.

Alec realised he was holding his breath, and while getting his lungs to cooperate again, realised something.

She was trotting away, her stride loose and free with an ear still tuned in on him. She wasn’t panicked or scared and he’d seen Matches and Toeki do exactly the same thing when Becca and Austin went to fetch them in.

Alec laughed. It wasn’t exactly what he’d intended, but as long as she was viewing it as a game, that worked for him. Keeping his body language as passive as possible, he began walking behind her. He kept slow and quiet, his head down and shoulders curved inward, and she remained elusive, pacing against the rail several yards ahead, ears tuned in.

He looked up a few times to watch her, and when her ears began to wander, he knew she was growing bored. Quickly, he did an about turn and walked off in the opposite direction.

A hesitant whinny broke through the air and Alec glanced back to see she’d stopped when he’d left her and was again facing him in puzzlement. Steeling himself, he resumed his walk.

Hoofbeats followed, and another snort sounded. She’d given up some ground, but refused to come any closer, a foreleg pawing at the grass.

But she’d come after him, so he acquiesced. He turned back to her and stepped forwards, slowly until – this time after three steps – she turned and trotted away. Smiling brilliantly at the same time the sun was high enough to finally break over the dense woodland behind the Farm and bathe the fields, Alec followed on.

…

Three days later, he trundled one of the old wheelbarrows down to the gate.

Kiwi, stood the other side waiting for him snorted and trotted away when he let himself in. The wheelbarrow was packed with an assortment of yard oddities – an orange traffic cone, a flower pot, an empty bag of hi-fi, a tangled hay net and one of the flexible rubber dishes that everyone had their morning feeds in. Under that was a folded blanket, Kiwi’s rope halter and a severed piece of old hosepipe.

Methodically, Alec began to lay the items out around the paddock, being sure to leave one end free, so Kiwi felt she had somewhere safe to retreat to.

But it proved unnecessary.

Though she observed him littering her field, she walked around the fence line, her ears flicking towards him and her expression puzzled, but not wary. And when he sat back under the tree on the blanket and pulled out the harmonica from his hoodie pocket, she hesitated only a moment before venturing tentatively towards the traffic cone.

Alec watched her pick her way through the obstacles, occasionally starting and jerking her head up, but eventually butting her head at several things comfortably. This was the second day with the assortment of things, and she'd quickly gathered that the strange textures and bright colours posed no threat. So he stood and they began their new game, something else she was gathering quickly.

He followed her around, no longer waiting for her attention to wander before waltzing off on his own. She was now content to follow him for short periods, but would stop when he did. The carefully measured distances she kept between them grew smaller, though, and Alec had the feeling she was coming to accept him as her new herd.

They played cat and mouse leisurely around the paddock, watching the others get on with turning out, catching the goats and excercising the horses. It was nearing lunch time and Alec had put all the items back in the wheelbarrow when Chess approached the gate.

"Hey," she called out. Kiwi looked up, but she had become used to people yelling now. "How's it going?"

Alec ambled over to her, Kiwi pacing behind him but stopping before she neared the gate.

"Good," He said. "I just want her to make the first move, so I know she's ready, then we can move on. She's come a long way."

Chess smiled. "She has. You, too. You're getting better at reading her - I remember you sitting out in the field when she first arrived, bored out of your mind."

Alec smirked. "Figured I had to catch a clue at some point. Hey, I have a question. You were talking about reading faces a few days ago."

Chess smiled, "I remember. I learned about it when I was trying to understand Aphie. I'll tell you about her some time, but for now..." She leant forward on the fence, green eyes beginning to study the Kaimanawa with new intent.

"Okay...see her ears? They're curved into points, which suggests intelligence, but they're set quite close - so she could be a little unpredictable. Her eyes are quite round and big which implies she's thoughtful and affectionate - but they're set low, too, so she's potentially a little timid."

Alec stared at Kiwi, and she gazed back, unaware she was being profiled. He could see it - her intelligence was clear in her eyes, but it was something else to hear it was written into her face.

Chess continued, "She's got a bit of a dished head, and a fairly broad space between her eyes. The dished profile is another indicator of intelligence, but the space between her eyes suggests she's loyal, too. She's got a groove under her chin - like Tessa, Matches and Karma all do."

"Stubborn?" Alec guessed, smirking.

"Potentially, yes," Chess agreed, amused at the expression Alec made when he realised he was right. "Then there's her nostrils - Quite open, suggesting she can be quite bold."

Alec watched as the mare seemed to grow bored of watching them and turned to graze.

"How'd I do?" Chess asked.

Alec shrugged. "Sounds about right, though some of its new. You have to teach me this."

"I've got a book," the blonde girl replied, taking her weight off the gate. "Come up to the house for lunch and I'll show you. We'll get you to profile the other horses for practice."

Alec gathered the wheelbarrow up and said his goodbyed before following Chess back to the yard. Knowing some more about Kiwi would definitely help when it came time to really begin working with her.

...

And the time to really begin arrived just four days later, early on a Sunday evening. Just like a week ago, the shadows were stretched across the ground and leaves caught in the blades of grass, but it was warmer, the sun already up at the later hour.

Kiwi was waiting at the gate and tossed her head when he walked towards her. They played their game, Kiwi now trotting after him as he jogged away, until Alec retreated to the fence.

He'd found an old saddle in the tack room and it looked like it might fit Kiwi, so he was cleaning it up in preparation. So intent was he in scrubbing at the mildew on the worn leather that he almost yelled out in surprise when something pushed into his side, just below his ribs and almost shoved him clean off the fence.

He looked up, startled, to see Kiwi, standing as close as she ever had, her muzzle pushed out to him. He half turned to her and she trotted playfully out of reach to stand at the gate barely a metre away with an expectant look in her eyes.

But that was what he'd been waiting for.

She'd reached out first, and now the games could really start.

Its still obvious I've never gentled a wild horse before, isn't it? XD

Anyway...I think most of that is self explanatory.

Alec plays a harmonica; Kiwi was moved to the Circle - you can see it on Lakewood's Map - so she got some interaction with everyone else; Maybe they're moving too slow/not doing it right, but I think a lot of this is guesswork anyway, and there's never just one way to do something.

As for the profiling - I didn't make it up. I've been a fan of Lauren Brooke's Heartland book series for years and that was when I was first introduced to the concept. Various things about a horse's face indicate the personality they may express. All the things Chess said about Kiwi are features taken from a Heartland special edition called 'Amy's Journal'. The whole topic of profiling horses in this way I've always found fascinating, so I had to throw it in.

The boring bit is almost over, people! The fun starts here!

All done on Photoshop and it took around a day and a half to complete.
No references other than my own Farm map for the background.
Art and characters copyright to *Tattered-Dreams
Kiwi's design copyright to *LeavingNeverland
Do not take, copy, edit, redistribute or manipulate.

Description

Stable: Lakewood Farm
Horse Number: 1
Horse Name: Kiwi
Entry: Optional

Storyline:
1. Mandatory: First Meeting
2. Optional: The First Steps
3. Optional: Interlude - Things for the Future
4. Optional: Breakthrough: You are Here
5. Optional: Building Trust
6. Mandatory: Mishap - Halter Training
7. Optional: Progression
8. Optional: Mishap - Early Saddle Sessions
9. Mandatory: Backing
10. Optional: Mounting Up
11. Mandatory: Flat Training
12. Optional: Jump training
13. Optional: Christmas Hack
14. Optional: Kaimanawa Hack
15. Optional: Beach/water riding
16. Optional: The Future

This one was hard to work out. Getting a horse to tolerate your presence is very different to getting one to actively interact with you. But I think I've done it. Or rather, Alec has.

Explanations at the end. Tatty is hugely sorry for the mile long story, but lots had to happen here. Hope you enjoy anyway!

Leaves crunched underfoot as Alec strode out to the Circle. Autumn was sweeping in fast, and though the trees and hedgerows were still thick, the leaves were becoming brittle as they turned to gold, copper and scarlet. It was still fairly early morning with shadows reaching across the grass and a slight bite to the air.

Kiwi was grazing at the back of the round paddock, having tucked herself into the shelter of the hedgerow that curled around one side of the fence-line. It had taken her several days to settle down in the much smaller pasture, once they’d gotten her moved. But it was necessary.

With everyone pitching in – including Peanut with some latent herding skills – Kiwi had been corralled from the Meadow into the Circle in just three hours. She’d been jumpy; taking off in mad circles whenever the barn door slammed, or one of the chickens let out a stream of angry chatter. The Circle was too small for her and this fence had been tested more than the meadow’s for almost two solid days before she gave it up as a lost cause and hid in the hedgerow.

But the plan Alec had set in motion started to show signs of working.

It had been a week and two days since she’d been moved, and the flighty races around the fence had stopped altogether, though she still spooked on occasion. But that wasn’t all. The Circle ensured that Kiwi had a front row seat every time one of the other horses was led to a field, or to the Temple. And her inquisitive nature had begun to take over, until she’d been venturing closer to the open fence line, quite calmly, to watch the peculiar goings on.

With her curiosity taking the place of her fear once more, Alec resumed his old timetable. He’d sit in the field, or on the fence and do various chores while she grazed in the corner, or eyed him warily from a carefully measured distance. She would watch him brush dirt from rugs, make phone calls to the farrier, clean various pieces of tack and once play quietly on a harmonica.

Chess found that one hilarious. Alec had been forced to explain his mother had wanted the flute, and he’d tried to get a set of bagpipes, just to tick her off, but when he figured that might annoy him, too, he settled for an instrument his mum didn’t consider ‘proper’. That only made Chess laugh harder.

“Morning, Kiwi,” Alec called out to her as he hopped over the fence and went to settle under the tree. Today was the start of a new game; he just had to see which way she’d take it.

She looked up at him, waiting until he was sitting before snorting and lowering her head back to the grass. There was a new burr in her mane, and Alec figured she’d stuck her head into the hedge and gotten it tangled, but getting it out would have to wait. Other than that, and thanks to the continued sprinkler system and hosepipe, she was relatively clean – only that would have to stop soon, too, before it became too cold.

Before she’d been moved from Long Meadow, she’d called out to him, as though questioning why he chose to leave her, and since then, she seemed to make a habit of it, though she never appeared to care when he turned up. Just three days ago, after settling into the Circle, she’d begun calling again when he stood to leave, but he’d never pressed for more.

Now that she was unafraid, it was time to work with her curiosity.

Alec sat with her for an hour before standing slowly. Kiwi stopped eating and looked up, the predictable faint whicker only just discernible over the crunching of leaves he’d disturbed again.

He turned to her. When she continued to look at him with soft eyes, her back and neck relaxed, he took a step in her direction.

Her head lifted, and her ears pricked forwards, nostrils flaring with interest, although her weight rocked back instinctually. He took a deep breath – he was really winging it here. Step forward again and risk a freak out? Or step away and risk moving too slow?

It didn’t take much. He liked to press his luck, but Kiwi was in a class of her own and the fallout at this stage just wasn’t worth it.

Letting out his breath in a rush, he stepped back again, preparing to turn for the gate. The noise she made this time was a snort that almost sounded indignant. Alec glanced back, freezing on the spot.

He wished he could remember what Chess had been saying the other day about reading personalities in faces – bits of it flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t form anything solid to work with. All he had to go on was what he already knew – she was smart and quick, if a little prone to initial panics but for all that – once she’d settled, she was a pleasant mix of bold and tentative.

While he kept an eye on her, uncertain which way to move, she tossed her head once, and took a tiny step towards him. He waited, but she didn’t step again. Biting his tongue and deciding to stuff it, he turned back for her and stepped once again in her direction.

Her ears swivelled, head lifting and she rocked. Alec took another step, so small he practically shuffled. She took off, but the reaction was delayed, as though for a second, she’d considered just staying.

Alec realised he was holding his breath, and while getting his lungs to cooperate again, realised something.

She was trotting away, her stride loose and free with an ear still tuned in on him. She wasn’t panicked or scared and he’d seen Matches and Toeki do exactly the same thing when Becca and Austin went to fetch them in.

Alec laughed. It wasn’t exactly what he’d intended, but as long as she was viewing it as a game, that worked for him. Keeping his body language as passive as possible, he began walking behind her. He kept slow and quiet, his head down and shoulders curved inward, and she remained elusive, pacing against the rail several yards ahead, ears tuned in.

He looked up a few times to watch her, and when her ears began to wander, he knew she was growing bored. Quickly, he did an about turn and walked off in the opposite direction.

A hesitant whinny broke through the air and Alec glanced back to see she’d stopped when he’d left her and was again facing him in puzzlement. Steeling himself, he resumed his walk.

Hoofbeats followed, and another snort sounded. She’d given up some ground, but refused to come any closer, a foreleg pawing at the grass.

But she’d come after him, so he acquiesced. He turned back to her and stepped forwards, slowly until – this time after three steps – she turned and trotted away. Smiling brilliantly at the same time the sun was high enough to finally break over the dense woodland behind the Farm and bathe the fields, Alec followed on.

…

Three days later, he trundled one of the old wheelbarrows down to the gate.

Kiwi, stood the other side waiting for him snorted and trotted away when he let himself in. The wheelbarrow was packed with an assortment of yard oddities – an orange traffic cone, a flower pot, an empty bag of hi-fi, a tangled hay net and one of the flexible rubber dishes that everyone had their morning feeds in. Under that was a folded blanket, Kiwi’s rope halter and a severed piece of old hosepipe.

Methodically, Alec began to lay the items out around the paddock, being sure to leave one end free, so Kiwi felt she had somewhere safe to retreat to.

But it proved unnecessary.

Though she observed him littering her field, she walked around the fence line, her ears flicking towards him and her expression puzzled, but not wary. And when he sat back under the tree on the blanket and pulled out the harmonica from his hoodie pocket, she hesitated only a moment before venturing tentatively towards the traffic cone.

Alec watched her pick her way through the obstacles, occasionally starting and jerking her head up, but eventually butting her head at several things comfortably. This was the second day with the assortment of things, and she'd quickly gathered that the strange textures and bright colours posed no threat. So he stood and they began their new game, something else she was gathering quickly.

He followed her around, no longer waiting for her attention to wander before waltzing off on his own. She was now content to follow him for short periods, but would stop when he did. The carefully measured distances she kept between them grew smaller, though, and Alec had the feeling she was coming to accept him as her new herd.

They played cat and mouse leisurely around the paddock, watching the others get on with turning out, catching the goats and excercising the horses. It was nearing lunch time and Alec had put all the items back in the wheelbarrow when Chess approached the gate.

"Hey," she called out. Kiwi looked up, but she had become used to people yelling now. "How's it going?"

Alec ambled over to her, Kiwi pacing behind him but stopping before she neared the gate.

"Good," He said. "I just want her to make the first move, so I know she's ready, then we can move on. She's come a long way."

Chess smiled. "She has. You, too. You're getting better at reading her - I remember you sitting out in the field when she first arrived, bored out of your mind."

Alec smirked. "Figured I had to catch a clue at some point. Hey, I have a question. You were talking about reading faces a few days ago."

Chess smiled, "I remember. I learned about it when I was trying to understand Aphie. I'll tell you about her some time, but for now..." She leant forward on the fence, green eyes beginning to study the Kaimanawa with new intent.

"Okay...see her ears? They're curved into points, which suggests intelligence, but they're set quite close - so she could be a little unpredictable. Her eyes are quite round and big which implies she's thoughtful and affectionate - but they're set low, too, so she's potentially a little timid."

Alec stared at Kiwi, and she gazed back, unaware she was being profiled. He could see it - her intelligence was clear in her eyes, but it was something else to hear it was written into her face.

Chess continued, "She's got a bit of a dished head, and a fairly broad space between her eyes. The dished profile is another indicator of intelligence, but the space between her eyes suggests she's loyal, too. She's got a groove under her chin - like Tessa, Matches and Karma all do."

"Stubborn?" Alec guessed, smirking.

"Potentially, yes," Chess agreed, amused at the expression Alec made when he realised he was right. "Then there's her nostrils - Quite open, suggesting she can be quite bold."

Alec watched as the mare seemed to grow bored of watching them and turned to graze.

"How'd I do?" Chess asked.

Alec shrugged. "Sounds about right, though some of its new. You have to teach me this."

"I've got a book," the blonde girl replied, taking her weight off the gate. "Come up to the house for lunch and I'll show you. We'll get you to profile the other horses for practice."

Alec gathered the wheelbarrow up and said his goodbyed before following Chess back to the yard. Knowing some more about Kiwi would definitely help when it came time to really begin working with her.

...

And the time to really begin arrived just four days later, early on a Sunday evening. Just like a week ago, the shadows were stretched across the ground and leaves caught in the blades of grass, but it was warmer, the sun already up at the later hour.

Kiwi was waiting at the gate and tossed her head when he walked towards her. They played their game, Kiwi now trotting after him as he jogged away, until Alec retreated to the fence.

He'd found an old saddle in the tack room and it looked like it might fit Kiwi, so he was cleaning it up in preparation. So intent was he in scrubbing at the mildew on the worn leather that he almost yelled out in surprise when something pushed into his side, just below his ribs and almost shoved him clean off the fence.

He looked up, startled, to see Kiwi, standing as close as she ever had, her muzzle pushed out to him. He half turned to her and she trotted playfully out of reach to stand at the gate barely a metre away with an expectant look in her eyes.

But that was what he'd been waiting for.

She'd reached out first, and now the games could really start.

Its still obvious I've never gentled a wild horse before, isn't it? XD

Anyway...I think most of that is self explanatory.

Alec plays a harmonica; Kiwi was moved to the Circle - you can see it on Lakewood's Map - so she got some interaction with everyone else; Maybe they're moving too slow/not doing it right, but I think a lot of this is guesswork anyway, and there's never just one way to do something.

As for the profiling - I didn't make it up. I've been a fan of Lauren Brooke's Heartland book series for years and that was when I was first introduced to the concept. Various things about a horse's face indicate the personality they may express. All the things Chess said about Kiwi are features taken from a Heartland special edition called 'Amy's Journal'. The whole topic of profiling horses in this way I've always found fascinating, so I had to throw it in.

The boring bit is almost over, people! The fun starts here!

All done on Photoshop and it took around a day and a half to complete.
No references other than my own Farm map for the background.
Art and characters copyright to *Tattered-Dreams
Kiwi's design copyright to *LeavingNeverland
Do not take, copy, edit, redistribute or manipulate.