DragonTribes #3: GrasslandTribes *ON HOLD*

Chapter 5: Riding

Dyvahn glared at Perseverance, the horse's bridle in his hands. Now eleven, Dyvahn had been riding a year. However, he never left his fantasy of becoming a sword fighter, like his Dad had hoped, but he hadn't broken his promise. He still went with Mom on her weekly visits to the village, and when he did, he would visit Chase with the same enthusiasm as the multiple years before. Dyvahn snorted at Perseverance, who was trying to tug away from the post he was tied to in his large corral. The muscular horse stomped and tried to shake the saddle off his back, but the girth, a piece of leather wrapping around the horse's chest, kept the seat on his light bay back.

"Perseverance!" Dyvahn yelled angrily, "I have been riding you a year, and I can only ride you trotting! If you weren't so stubborn, we could be galloping around your pen! But no! You have to make everything so difficult! One more year, and we have to participate in a race! I'd like to win so I can use the prize money to buy a sword, and once I do that, I'll let you go free."

Perseverance perked his ears at the boy, always excited about his freedom.

"I know that's all you want, and that's why you're so stubborn!" Dyvahn pointed angrily at the horse as he approached stomping.

Perseverance raised his head angrily, protesting against the bridle, but raised it even higher as Dyvahn reached for his snout, now full of fear. He huffed nervously, nostrils flaring.

Dyvahn took a step back and exhaled, "I'm sorry; I know I get angry easily. Let me just put this on you, and just do a few laps in the pen."

Perseverance lowered his head, eyeing Dyvahn carefully. The wild in his light blue eyes simmered as the horse's pupils dilated. He stomped, but did not protest anymore. Dyvahn nodded, and slowly approached the large stallion. The boy slowly grazed his hand down the horse's snout, being careful to make sure he wasn't bitten, and cautiously brought the bit of the horse bridle to Perseverance's mouth. The horse, with a bored snort, opened his mouth and let the bit glide along his teeth into his mouth. Dyvahn nodded triumphantly, and pulled the bridle over the horse's ears, so the bit would lightly tug at the side of the horses mouth. He flipped the reins, which were attacthed to the bit, up and over his light bay forehead and down his neck, just at the end of the horse's black mane. Carefully, reins in one hand, Dyvahn untied the rope around the stallion's neck. Perseverance snorted, startling the boy because he was so focused, and jerked his head upward to try and make Dyvahn lose his grip on the reins.

"Stop!" Dyvahn jerked the reins downward, causing the horse to lower his head.

Perseverance snorted.

"You're the one who wanted that horse," Dad's voice rung out.

Both caught by surprise, the boy and the stallion looked over in Brice's direction. Dad leaned against the fence, watching them.

"You're the one who paid for it," Dyvahn mumbled to himself.

The boy quickly turned to his horse. His eyes were level with the saddle on Perseverance's back. The horse stood steadfast, waiting for the boy to pull himself into the seat. Dyvahn grabbed the reins in one hand, and the saddle in his other. He put a foot in the stirrup, a metal hole that hung from the saddle by a strap of leather, and gradually got himself onto the horse's back. Perseverance tried to run forward like he always did, but Dyvahn quickly pulled back on the reins in his hand.

"You've been riding a year now, right? Nearly a year until the race..." Dad's voice echoed.

"I know; I know!" Dyvahn shouted at him angrily, adjusting himself in the seat and his feet in the stirrups.

"Can you gallop yet?" He questioned, as Dyvahn lead his horse towards the path along the fence of the pen.

"I can't get this horse to do anything other than trot!" Dyvahn said, frustrated.