Wrecker squashed about fifteen tomatoes in only ten minutes.

"Maybe we should take tomato sauce off the grocery list." said Gabby, who was playing with Lula. "Because Wrecker's already making a lot of it with his bare hands."

"Wrecker, it's not that hard to be gentle." Qui-Gon said.

"I can't help it!" Wrecker flexed his muscles again. "I was made strong, not soft!"

No horse would get close to Wrecker at that point.

"Oh! Why can't I do it right?!" Wrecker cried out in frustration.

Then he noticed Gabby playing with Lula.

"Hey, gimme my Lula!" Wrecker said, picking up Gabby and taking the toy. He put Gabby down and hugged his plushie.

"Huh." Gabby noticed something. "You're pretty gentle with Lula. And with little kids too."

"I'd never hurt Lula. She's my cuddly buddy." Wrecker ruffled Gabby's hair. "Or a little girl."

Gabby giggled hearing a big tough guy like Wrecker being such a softy for cuddly toys and little girls. She had to admit, it was kind of adorable. But then, she had an idea. And she took Lula back.

"Hey!" Wrecker whined.

"Lula's the answer!" Gabby said. She held the toy away when Wrecker tried to take it back. "No, Wrecker. You gotta do something first."

Qui-Gon quickly saw what his granddaughter was getting at.

Qui-Gon picked up another tomato and held it out.

"Wrecker, just pick up the tomato like you pick up Lula." He told the clone.

Wrecker looked at the tomato. For someone so big and strong, he was actually really terrified.

"It's not that hard, Wrecker." Gabby said.

"Just imagine the tomato is Lula or a small child." Qui-Gon said.

Wrecker's hands were shaking as he reached out for the tomato. He felt sure he was going to crush it like he did so many others. But, to his surprise, when he pet the tomato... it didn't break!

"Good, Wrecker." Qui-Gon praised.

"Oh yeah!" Wrecker said excitedly before dropping the tomato. "Oops."

"We'll work on that." Gabby said. "Maybe we can see if you can be gentler with Pinto this time."

Pinto looked at Wrecker from afar as he'd been munching on some dandelions growing in the corral. Then he turned his attention back to his snack.

"Remember, horses, like any animal, need to be approached with care. Handle them incorrectly, and you could end up irritating them?"

"How would I do that?"

"For one thing, jumping on them. Horses really don't like that. If you do that, they'll throw you off and you can get hurt. Or they might try to kick you or bite you. And the horse can act aggressive too."

"It's true." Qui-Gon said. "One way is to watch their ears. They typically move backwards if the horse is angry or irritated."

"And they'll usually snort like this." Gabby imitated an angry horse the best she could. Even digging one foot into the ground like a horse about to charge.

Wrecker just laughed at how cute Gabby looked.

"It may look cute when I do it," said Gabby, crossing her arms. "But it's not so cute when a real horse does it."

"Now, Wrecker. We're going to have you step up to Pinto slowly." Qui-Gon said. "Approach him from the side calmly. If Pinto looks at you, stop and slowly hold your hand out."

So, Wrecker walked around and started to walk to Pinto from the side as he continued to munch the grass. Then, Pinto looked at him, and Gabby whispered for Wrecker to freeze.

"Okay, now slowly reach your hand out to him." Gabby said.

Wrecker did as instructed.

"Now take some slow steps to him."

Wrecker took a few steps and Pinto started to turn toward Wrecker, and took one step, sniffing the air in front of him.

"Okay, Wrecker. Now let Pinto come to you."

Wrecker stood still as Pinto took a few steps closer to him.

"Good, Wrecker." Qui-Gon said. "Now you can pet him, but gently on his muzzle."

"His muzzle is his nose." Gabby clarified for Wrecker.

Gabby demonstrated for Wrecker by stroking Carousella on her muzzle. Wrecker imitated Gabby's actions on Pinto, and the brown and white stallion snorted contently as Wrecker was finally being more gentle.

"Yer finally gettin' the hang of this, Wrecker." Pinto said.

"Are you prepared to let him ride you this time?" Qui-Gon asked the horse.

"Only if Wrecker can get on properly."

Gabby retrieved Carousella's saddle and reins.

"Remember, Wrecker, don't jump on him." Gabby said. "There's a better way to get on a horse."

Gabby whistled Carousella over, and she made sure the saddle and rein were comfortably fitted on her, but tight enough so they wouldn't slip off. And the little girl demonstrated the proper way to get onto a horse.

She showed him how to step into the stirrup and pull himself over onto the saddle without falling.

"Now you try it." Gabby said.

Qui-Gon stood by in case Wrecker fell while getting on.

Wrecker took a step into the stirrup and pulled himself over... but he got onto the saddle backwards!

The other horses couldn't keep from laughing as they saw how silly it looked.

Gabby giggled and said, "Wrecker, you're sitting the wrong way."

"I think you stepped into the saddle the wrong way." Carousella chuckled.

Qui-Gon helped Wrecker down and brought him to the correct position.

"Try again, Wrecker. This time, step from this side with your left foot."

This time, Wrecker got onto the horse the right way.

"Excellent, Wrecker!"

"Now we can show you how to ride." Gabby said, riding over with Carousella.

Gabby guided Wrecker through different motions of signaling the horse to run, walk, speed up, slow down, or stop.

"For now, start with walking." Gabby advised. "Running is not for beginners."

"Aww! But I wanna go fast now!" Wrecker said.

"Trust her, Wrecker." said Pinto. "I can be a real buckin' bronco when I go fast. Meanin' I'm tough to stay on."

"Show me!" Wrecker said excitedly.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I'm a bit of a roughhouser myself, but I still dislike being jumped on."

"Aww! Come on! Please?!"

"Wrecker..." Gabby tried to warn.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn ya." Pinto said.

Pinto then started to run and jump like crazy! He stood with a whinny as Wrecker held on, having the time of his life.

"Well, at least they're getting along." Gabby said.


As the day went by, it seemed the other Batchers also got along pretty well with their new horses.

Echo took Banjo for a little test ride around the yard. Banjo proved to be a fairly calm horse. He even bonded with Mini-R2.

Banjo licked Echo as the clone gave him a good brushing.

"You really like that, huh?" Echo chuckled.

"Love it." And he felt so good when Echo brushed by his shoulder. "Oh yeah, that's the spot."


Hunter found himself feeling a lot calmer after doing yoga with Indira. And it turned out she knew how to massage pretty well too.

"You're a really good teacher, you know that?" Hunter sighed as he lay on the ground as Indira gave him a gentle upper back massage with her front hooves.

Hunter never thought he'd be so happy to be under a horse's hooves.

"Your serenity is growing by the minute." Indira said. "The pine is slowly becoming bamboo."

Hunter sighed in relief as Indira slowly ended the massage and he stood up, feeling a lot better than he ever did before.


Teatra was also a great addition for Tech. Despite her knowledge mostly residing in the arts of musical theatre, she actually was pretty helpful in Tech and Mila's research projects, especially when she used her knowledge of setting the stage to help herself understand what they were talking about.

Mila used her telepathy to put together a nice saddle for Teatra. It was brown with little green emeralds encrusted into it, and the traps had shiny silver buckles.

"There." Mila said.

And Tech helped Teatra put it on.

"Efficient, yet stylish." Tech concluded. "What do you think?"

Teatra did a few poses as she admired her new saddle in the mirror.

"Sensaaaaaationaaaaaaallll" Teatra sang.

In other words, Tech and Teatra got along very well.


If only the same could be said for Crosshair and Maybelle.

Maybelle sniffed around for her would-be rider.

"Ugh! Where in tarnation could he be?" Maybelle grumbled. "Is he really that uptight?"

Maybelle walked right past a closet, where Crosshair happened to be hiding.

Crosshair sighed with relief that for once Maybelle didn't pick up his scent, probably due to him being covered in dust.

Maybelle was getting frustrated. No matter where she went, Crosshair always ran away from her.

She tried approaching him, chased him practically all over the palace, and he never stood still long enough for her to catch him with her magic horn. Now she was tempted to use a method she did back in Equinaro sometimes.

"Looks like I got a wild runner." Maybelle said, getting out a rope. "If he ain't gonna sit still, I'm just gonna have to make him sit still. Crosshair is gonna get acquainted with me if I gotta hogtie him and lock us in a barn!"