|
|
Post by choices on Jan 27, 2009 16:40:34 GMT
Eadaion smiled brushing her brown hair back and out of her eyes as she readjusted her hat. She sat atop her trusty mount, Autumn as she looked out over the beautiful (but wet) landscape. The sun was shining for the first time in days; it helped take the winter chill that still clung to the air. She patted her mare's neck gently as they stopped near, a bare tree.
"Not even a sign of one." She commented to her mare as she surveyed the land through her binoculars. "How am I to get the first spring pictures of a brumby if I can't find one?" Eadaion sighed. The brumbies were hiding yet again from her. Of course, she could not quite blame them humans really weren't the nicest to them. Herding them up and breaking their spirit in such a manner. There was no way she could blame them.
She, herself, had taken a brumby or two from the wild. But she was kinder and gave the brumby time to adjust and learn that she was no enemy. Of course, she knew she still did frighten the brumby by capturing it and taking it away from its only known way of life but there was no other way. Eadaion had learned the gentler side of training and breaking a horse but it still was not scare free. Only if the brumbies knew the difference between her ways and those of other humans.
"Lets go just a bit farther, girl, and we'll call it a day." She told her mare tapping her spur-free heels into the mare's flanks. Eadion continued to look around while keeping a close eye about the weather and the wet ground. This time of year could be dangerous for the unwary, after all.
Breaking the silence, Autumn gave a quiet nicker. "You see something?" The young woman asked the mare.
Word Count: 313 |
|
|
|
Post by Corowa on Jan 27, 2009 21:43:13 GMT
Boolee threaded his way through the thick scrub and stringy barks, following the smell of man, the faint jangle of the bit. Transfixed by the pale grey mare and stockman, his ears flicked forwards and he threw up his fine head and whinnied. Torn between vanishing back in the bush, like the whirlwind for which he was named, and investigating the stockman and his mare, the stallion lightly pawed the ground. Then the stallion was leaping from the bush, cantering down towards the pair with a joyous ringing neigh.
Yet this was no stockman, and the stallion stretched out his nose, curiously sniffing the ‘stockman’s’ leg. With a playful squeal, he gave the pale grey a swift nip and then galloped off towards the trees, coaxing the mare to follow. His silver-grey mane glistened in the sunlight, and the snowgrass was wet and springy underfoot. Boolee possessed no natural fear of man, and indeed, with a proud arch of his neck, the stallion pranced in place. He gave another whinny, and then with that high-stepping walk, walked proudly towards the pair. “What is your name?” he asked of the mare, touching her nose with his.
OOC: Boolee was a tame horse, he's an Arabian cross. That's his head in my avatar.
|
|
|
|
Post by { Opal } on Jan 27, 2009 21:57:32 GMT
"Aaaah!! Get off!" A mad, war-like scream rang through the air. But the funny thing was, it came from... the ground. A series of angry chirps and odd snarling noises floated from the dirt, but the source of the noise was apparently still hiding underground. Suddenly a lithe, rat-like creature shot out from a dusty hole, the top half of his body coated in a thin layer of dirt. The cat-sized quoll whirled around, glaring directly at the stallion that danced only a few feet away. Just looking up at the brumby was very difficult; the poor quoll had to sit far back on it's haunches to get a half-decent view. The small creature lifted up his lips, causing his many whiskers to bunch up. Beady black eyes glared feircely up at the stallion, as a sharp growl escaped from his throat. "I've already had THREE cave-ins today, and you're silly pounding is making quite an earthquake!" The tiger quoll shook his head grumpily, as he muttered, "I knew I shouldn't have tried a burrow...
|
|
|
|
Post by choices on Jan 28, 2009 16:11:40 GMT
Confused could only get you close to Eadion's reaction when the stallion came charging down toward them. Not in aggression but excitement? She watched the stallion closely, however, as he playfully sniffed her leg and her mare. Sometimes stallions were rather unpredictable. "Hello there." She said calmly to the stallion a smile coming to her features as she watched him. He was a beautiful stallion and he looked that he had survived the winter well. At least as well as any brumby could. Eadion slowly reached into one of her saddlebags and pulled out a small camera. "He's beautiful, isn't he, Autumn?" The young woman asked the mare snapping several pictures of him before replacing the camera back into her saddlebags. She sat there contently for a moment half trying to figure out how and why this stallion was so friendly toward humans who could so easily slip a rope around his neck.
Autumn nickered again to the silly stallion that had come up to her and her rider. And when he questioned out her name she quietly answered: "Autumn is what my human calls me. You should know though, young brumby, that humans could take you away from all this." The mare paused shaking her head. "My human does not often; however, last time she did she took an injured young filly. Too bad she did not keep that little girl. I liked her." She snorted, clearing her lungs. "But other humans might take you. And they are not always nice."
Word Count: 252 OOC: kk. Bear with me with Autumn I haven't rped a horse in years. |
|
|
|
Post by Corowa on Jan 28, 2009 22:48:30 GMT
“I am no brumby,” the stallion said, backing away from the mare, throwing up his head proudly. “Once, I was as tame as you yourself now are. It was south of here, in Tumbarumba that I was born.” Beneath him, the stallion felt the snowgrass move, and then a whirling, snarling mass of fur darted from its burrow, and Boolee propped and shied, surprised by this odd creature. Turning sharply on his haunches, he gave a squeal of anger, and laying back his ears, Boolee struck ferociously at the quoll. In the encircling fringe of snowgums, two grey kangaroos hopped soundlessly towards the Crackenback, troubled by the evil-tempered stallion.
Intrigued by the pale grey mare, Boolee crept closer still. Laying back his ears and pawing the ground, he menaced the possum-sized quoll. “Foolish possum,” the stallion said, ears pricked as he dropped his nose to sniff the quoll. “Have you lost your home to a mopoke?” With a mocking neigh, the stallion sprang off at a mad gallop, his tail held high, far swifter than those brumbies that roamed the High Country. The blood stirred restlessly in his veins, and Boolee was filled with longing for his old home, where there were oats for him and his mob of mares, shelter in the hard winters and grass, as much grass as he and his mares could eat.
Then the restlessness faded, and there was just the soft thud of his galloping hooves and the far-off sound of a mountain thrush. Tossing his head, Boolee slowed his headlong pace and came to a stop near the rim of the shallow grassy basin. “Brumbies are foolish. They fear man with his tame horses and his dogs, his fences and his smoke. Yet there was no hardness to my life, for there were no winter storms in which foals die, or stallions to steal my fillies and fight for my mares. It is a different freedom to be ridden by a man,” Boolee said, and half-forgotten memories wove their way, sure as a brumby, through his mind. “It is the freedom to trust in the man upon your back, the feel of his leg upon your side, the sound of his voice urging you on so you feel as though together you are one.”
|
|
|
|
Post by { Opal } on Jan 29, 2009 4:44:06 GMT
A shrill squeal came from the stallion's lips, but Pecan was not surprised. At first he gloated, seeing the shock that emanated from the stallion, but it soon turned into a sharp distaste as the brumby struck out a foreleg. Pecan shrieked as he dodged the blow, enraged that the animal had tried so thoughtlessly to kill him. “Foolish possum.” Pecan narrowed his little eyes, stiffening. He remained as rigid as a board as the stallion reached down to sniff him; Pecan was teetering on the edge of losing it, and if the stallion had done so much as to breath on him he would have ended up with a bitten muzzle. “Have you lost your home to a mopoke?” With that, Pecan broke his spell of stillness. Jerking his head up with dignity, he glared at the stallion. "No. I'm sorry to disappoint you." The quoll didn't recoil at the brumby's mocking scream, nor envy him as he thundered away, swifter than a hawk. Pecan was determined to not be undermined, but he wasn't going to bother with a senseless stallion. Muttering something under his breath, the quoll turned to face the human. Pecan stared fearlessly at her; he had no reason to fear man, nor any guidance that said so, and had no sympathy for the brumbies that did. Noticing that the human hadn't bothered to even glance at him, Pecan twitched his ear distastefully. The smaller wildlife was always forgotten, even though it was no less important than the giant thundering brumbies. Well, I'll take care of that. Snickering softly to himself, Pecan strode right up to the human, which was perched on a horse. He then hauled himself right onto her boot, and stared upwards into her face. The quoll just couldn't be ignored.
|
|
|
|
Post by choices on Jan 30, 2009 16:17:07 GMT
Eadaion pulled the reins turning Autumn sharply away from the from the stallion as he proceeded to strike at the ground rather violently. As she had thought, one could never be sure about stallions. Of course, she was rather confused as of why he had reacted so violently until glanced down at her boot after the stallion had suddenly started to bolt. "Goodness." She squeaked as she found herself looking down at a little quoll. What strange animals were these?! All of them coming up to her. Jumping on her.
Never in her life had she seen such odd animals. "Hello there." Eadaion said to the quoll hoping the creature was not going to bite her or something. "You sure are an odd creature."
Autumn sniffed at the young stallion. "I guess you're not. Guess I'm just more accustom to seeing brumbies in these parts." The mare said tossing her head and she listened as the stallion continued speaking about men. "Yes I agree." Autumn replied quietly. "Life is much easier with humans even if you have to work for them. But not all humans are kind to us. Some abuse and harm us." She paused to scratch an itch on a front leg. "But I was one of the luck ones. I ended up with a good human -- Why did you leave the humans?"
Word Count: 228
OOC: Sorry for the delay. I could not think of anything yesterday.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tiggs on Jan 30, 2009 18:12:48 GMT
Jason really hated cows. Where they not even clever enough not to get lost?
He with the help of his trusty bay mare Marie and one of the cattleman's blue heels had been tracking it for a few days now. They were far from the hut, and it seemed the idiot bovine was making his own way to the lowlands. Sighing, Jason tapped his spurs on Marie's sides and the two followed the dog across a wide valley. Evidence that the cow had stopped to graze excited the dog, who sniffled jubilantly at the cow pat.
Jason rolled his eyes. Dogs. With a sharp whistle, he reminded the dog it had a job to do before he started rolling in the stuff. Grudgingly, the dog followed the trail up a rise. Jason looked up the grassy hill, and from under the brim of his hat, was surprised to see another man's silhouette. Clicking Marie into a speedier pace, he leaned forward as she climbed the hill.
The dog had run on ahead and now seemed completely obsessed with the other man. With a bark, it stood up on its hind legs and snapped at his leg. Accompanied by more grumbling, Jason tried calling the dog off to no avail. The other man's foot seemed to be of great importance to the dog. As it was shielded by the grey mare he sat on, Jason could only assume the dog was being neurotic. "Sorry mate, he ain't mine, I can't--" It was at that point he drew close enough to see that the man was not in fact a man, but a woman.
Jason broke into a warm and broad smile. "Well g'day there, miss. Thats a grand old mare you have there -- she makes my Marie look like a filly." He glanced past her to see a familiar grey stallion with his interest on the woman's mare. "Ah, you found Casanova. He probably won't do you any harm when the mares are out of season, but he does love the mares. We see him hanging around now and then. Too old to bother roping, but he's good stock so we let him roam around hoping he'll sire some good foals out of the brumby mares. I'm surprised he's still around, really."
Marie was quite happy to see the old grey stallion was still around, and she greeted him with a friendly nicker and a coy flick of her tail. Jason patted her neck and gave her rein enough to move her head. He saluted the woman with a nod of his head. "Jason Mannering, wrangler extraordinaire at your service." He said with a wink, his soft blue eyes examining his new aquaintance fully. |
|
|
|
Post by Corowa on Jan 30, 2009 23:34:08 GMT
“I didn’t leave him,” Boolee said. “He died of old age and I was left alone. It was winter, and not wanting to starve I jumped out. However, I never saw my mares again. I have been running with the brumbies since.” Ears flickering uncertainly, the stallion felt he had said too much. Dropping his head down, he grazed, listening to the faint sounds of the bush, familiar to him now as his own silver shoes had once been.
There came a sound from further down the wide grassy slope, and Boolee’s head shot up and he gave several excited whinnies. Hurrying up the slope towards them was Jason and his bay mare. A dog shot past the stockman and his mare, to bark furiously at the woman, for the stupid possum had climbed her leg as if it were one of the snowgums, which grew in thick clumps down the bare ridge. Snorting his amusement, the pale grey stallion went to greet his old friend. Gracefully, he reared up beside her, inviting her to play on this white carpet of snow-daisies. Earlier in the season, he had travelled to Dead Horse Gap to see her, this exciting bay mare. He remembered the gentle touch of her nose through the fence, and he trembled violently.
He would have stolen her then, led her off into the thick scrub and vanished into the bush. “What brings you so far south,” Boolee asked, bumping her playfully with his nose. “Surely there are cattle and brumbies to hunt enough near the Cascades?” However, he was glad for the companionship, and he nibbled on the mare’s mane, giving Jason’s leg a particularly hard nudge. Lazily, he stood resting a hindleg close beside the mare. Marie was his mare and perhaps the old pale grey mare too. Contented, he was half-asleep his eyes closed and head drooping.
OOC: Psst, Eadaion, Boolee’s eleven so he’s not that young lol
|
|
|
|
Post by { Opal } on Jan 31, 2009 6:00:38 GMT
Pecan looked up at the little human, pleased that she had noticed him. He tilted his head at her voice, and blinked his eyes inquisitively. It sounded so strange in his ears. Suddenly a barrage of noises exploded around Pecan, and he jumped with a shrill cry. A dog's teeth snapped only an inch away, sending Pecan skittering up the human's pant leg. His sharp claws found easy footholds, and soon he was perched on the back of the saddle. Pecan stared wearily at the dog, his breathing quick from exhilaration. As the dog jumped for him a second time, Pecan panicked and zipped around the human. He found himself teetering on Autumn's neck, with no-where to go but back. Pecan clung to the mare's mane with all claws, his tail stiffened for balance.
OOC: Short, but I have to go.
|
|
