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Ground-work before a ride
The mare looked heavy on her feet, and moved with a combination of grace and power that most wouldn't give her credit for. Barely half a hand past pony height, she wasn't exactly dainty either. The triple beat of her stubborn canter was something Thorn felt in her feet, and up through her legs.
"Slow. Slow." Easy voiced, patient toned, the word was drawn out, carefully enunciated in a near hypnotic cadence and pattern. With each repetition the woman shifted, took a half step to her left while the mare continued to circle, placing herself more fully in front of her shoulder to convince her to disengage her hindquarters and slow the hells down. "Slow, trot. Slow, trot."
Impish as an animal weighing nearly half a ton could be, with a flirtatious flick of her mane and a bitchy toss of her head, the mare barreled on. Ducked her chin toward her chest and settled on a particularly muley expression while hunching her spine and tip-kicking her heels toward the center of the round-pen.
Amethyst eyes narrowed in response to the disrespect, Thorn shook her head and sighed. "Y'r way then." And darted to the left, a stride or two in front of the pied mare. Forcing her to either pivot and go back the other way, or run down the human.
Luckily for Thorn the mare pivoted. Dropped her @ss and twisted to roll back over herself properly before lunging off in the other direction. Only to have her speed checked again, in the same manner.
For the next few minutes Thorn sprinted back and forth, sharply checking the mare's speed with almost continuous reversals.
"Now," when she thought that maybe, just maybe, the mare would consider stepping out at the trot she'd been requesting. "Trot on." Firmly, if a bit out of breath, and wary.
Catching the glean in the mare's eye Thorn shifted her weight to the balls of her feet once more and barked a rebuke. "Auchnt! Don' you dare."
Snorting what sounded entirely too much like a laugh, the mare settled into a daintily correct, almost fairy-like, trot. With every sign of having meant to do so all along.
