NOTE: This is derived from the "Swept Away" RP continuity which started in 2007 and has continued in various forms and spinoffs ever since, first on the old Hillbilly Hell forum and presently in Wingnut City. I'm sure it's not the first or only "Humans in the Carsverse" thing that ever came up, but boy, has it had staying power. By the in-RP timeline, the events of Planes 2 would be taking place perhaps 6 years after the humans' arrival.
Mii'auww tore off another mouthful of jerky while she held down the dog-eared map with her free hand. A copy of this map, about 4' x 3', had been distributed to every child who attended classes at Ash Mountain. The lightpoint hovered over it, blue-white-bright in the dark of the tent, then traced a path from the Raven tribe lands, where Ash Mountain was situated, to a place designated as a "national park", though the girl had only a passing concept of what THAT was. Between was a distance of several hundreds of miles. "THIS 4 OFF ROAD VEHICLES," the light wrote, "CONNECTS ALL PARKS. MANY USE IT SO GO AT NIGHT ONLY."
"In the summer, that's only eight hours or so." Mii'auww answered. "I know how long a mile is, a good horse can cover fifty of them in that time. My little Taki, though, isn't that strong-winded now, and his feet are starting to give him trouble. Soon I'll just have to turn him out to grass, though I suppose he'd prefer that to being the dogs' next meal, which is what we used to do with old, lame horses before we came here."
The spirit-light jumped and jerked, more emphatic now. "U NEED ANOTHR HORS ANYWAY. I KNW NOTHING ABT, BUT YR LADY SAYS 2 TAKE THE BLK MARE. NO ONE USING HER."
"I know that." Mii'auww looked beyond the tent flaps, "N'Sheki can single-foot, and go all day like that, but she's rank as the Five Hells. You've seen how she terrorizes the other mares. It takes arms and legs of iron to keep from 'becoming one with the ground' if she decides she doesn't want to work then."
"I CAN HELP."
"It'll take more than just buzzing around like a fly, because all you're getting for your trouble is snaps and kicks - but at least they react to you. Maybe you could drive a horse, but you need to know how where to press them." Mii'auww finally folded the map and sat back with crossed legs, regarding the white spark contemplatively. It was an iron rule among those consulting the spirits, NEVER to demand or even ask their names, but to wait until they disclosed one. It would help a lot more if this one finally identified itself.
She took another bite of her jerky, the well-smoked flesh of a packbeast. Food was another issue she'd have to address, she could only pack the most basic and lightest of rations, for there was no taking a packbeast with them, not in this environment and at the speed they'd need to move. "You need to get just behind their shoulders and stay at them there, once you get them to move their feet and give ground to you, you're on the way. Taki is gentler, maybe you can start with him."
Outside, the sorrel gelding was grazing, occasionally flicking his ears in response to the sounds coming from the tent and elsewhere.
The light zipped outside, becoming like a fly-mote. Mii'auww followed it outside. How could such a tiny thing drive a horse? "Go right behind his shoulder, and just enough to make him take a step over." she called out. "And don't waste your motion just flitting about."
The mote paused a beat or two, and then bore directly on the area just behind Taki's withers - his "drive line". By now, the gelding had returned to grazing, and looked distinctly unimpressed by what looked like just another speck of dust. After three attempts, the spark fell back, as if pondering. Then, it flared and popped, like a small whip-crack while it advanced on Taki's shoulder one more time. This time, the gelding flung up his head, snorted and crow-hopped two feet.
"Well, that's a start." Mii'auww nodded, "But you don't want to scare him, just put on a bit of pressure. Horses always move away from it. But let him calm down again first."
The mote raised, dipped and flickered, as if sighing. Fifteen minutes passed while Taki turned his attention back to the grass. For the next try, the spark brightened in intensity, trying to make itself as big as it could manage, finally achieving the radius of a marble before making another run at the gelding's drive line. This time, Taki flicked an ear and shifted over, one step.
"Better." Mii'auww sat down on the ground, and continued to keep an eye on things as the mote, armed with this new knowledge, proceeded to press Taki to various degrees and from both directions, until, about forty-five minutes later, it had the pony trotting in a circle at the maximum radius of his tether rope. Finally, Mii'auww raised her hand. "That'll do for now." She rose and went over to the pony, checking the degree of sweat, how much heat in his chest, and the general state of his joints and feet.
"The great flight was hard on him." she explained. "When we came here, he had foundered badly and the animal doctor and head horseman at the mountain made special shoes for him. We don't usually shoe our horses, their feet are already hard enough." She picked up one of Taki's forefeet, showing a shoe with a bar across the forward part of it. "So this is another reason that he can't travel too far." She looked towards the broodmare band, seeing N'Sheki grazing a bit apart from the other mares and their foals, with no offspring of her own this year. The geldings were off in another band, and every one of them had an owner. "If we're going to get her, it'll have to be soon."
The spark flew back to her, and danced, "SORRY I DID NOT TELL U NAME EARLIER. I AM NICK."
Mii'auww stood up to her full height again - "five-foot-nothing," as she had heard the mountain people describe it. "Nick, then. Thank you for saying. I suppose Our Lady filled you in on the way we talk to spirits, and what we ask, or don't ask, right?"
"SHE DID."
"It's all so we don't take chances on pissing off some sensitive spirit who then might steer us wrong in retaliation." Mii'auww walked back to her tent, and fetched another rope. "If we're going to start with N'Sheki, it might as well be now." Behind her, the spark remained still, as if contemplating whatever one-horse rodeo might follow.
Later that morning, Mii'auww picked herself off the ground for a third time, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. N'sheki was trotting off, trailing a lasso, wearing her best F-OFF expression. The spark, once again barely more visible than an unusually large dust mote, flew after the mare and bore down on her shoulder, flaring for an instant or two until the animal was forced to turn. Mii'auww pounced on the rope once again, bringing the mare's head around back to her. N'Sheki snorted and reared up momentarily, forefeet raking the air. She wasn't giving up without a fight. One of the things the girl did remember from her father was him saying, more than once, that a horse with no fighting spirit was good only for meat and hide. "You don't break its spirit," he told her, "You just make it easy for the horse to do what you want it to do, and hard for it to do what you don't want."
Right now, that was easier said than done.
N'sheki, ears pinned and snorting, braced her forefeet as Mii'auww pulled the rope taut and drew closer, hand over hand. "Fun's over, girl," she closed the last three feet and deftly looped another length of lasso over the mare's nose. "Now you're gonna get to work." With a another loop and twist, Mii'auww had an improvised "war bridle" in place. When N'sheki tried to pull, the thin rope exerted pressure at her poll, chin and nose. The war bridle was not a measure to be used lightly; it could become tortuous if improperly applied. The key was to release pressure as soon as the horse stepped in the desired direction - that was its reward for cooperating.
Even at thirteen, going on fourteen, Mii'auww, as did any young nomad, had more practical horse knowledge than many adult "Ashies". After about twenty minutes, N'sheki still wasn't particularly happy, but at least she was following the rope. At that point, Mii'auww called it a day and let the mare graze on a tether, after releasing Taki to pasture. She knew the gelding would keep to himself and wouldn't provoke the broodmares. Her own time, several days' worth, would be taken up with N'sheki's "refresher course".
On the second day, Mii'auww concentrated on the further shaping-up of the mare's ground manners. Three times she had yelled and smacked when N'Sheki snaked her head and tried to bite her. Nick could not be of much further help at that time, and even betrayed some amusement in his "dance", though he was careful to keep it behind the girl's back - most of the time. "Oh, go ahead and laugh." she hissed as she warded off the snaking head another time. "You're not the one who has to ride this witch!" This time, she worked the mare longer, from early morning until the sun was high.
In two more days, N'sheki was to the point that she could be longed, trotting and cantering in circles at the end of a long line until she understood that listening to Mii'auww was the easier thing to do. If she disobeyed, she would be running more circles. Nomads didn't believe much in whips, preferring to twirl the excess at the end of the line to move the horse. At this point, the sweat equity was starting to pay off as the mare was starting to listen more and fight less.
On the fourth day, Mii'auww was finally able to get a saddle on her.