Page 68 (2/2)

"Good Thought so You seeirls"

Karigan frowned but put the co to mount She felt no small trepidation She hadn’t s andhow Raven would react to a rider on his back nohis exact origins or how long or deeply he’d been abused It may be that he was entirely unrideable or that it would take a very long period of gentle retraining to ent Green Rider horses were aniht come down to how he’d been treated and trained by owners prior to Dr Silk

The last thing Karigan wanted to do was convey her nervousness to the stallion, but she knewup could prove very painful in the end for her, and it was difficult to quell her anxiety

"Leg up?" Luke asked

She took a deep breath and nodded, and up she went, landing lightly in the saddle Raven flicked his ears, then looked back at her as if to see her for himself He didn’t even flinch, and her nervousness faded, replaced by joy to be on horseback once again

"Walk hian adjusted the stirrup leathers then squeezed hi and prancing, a buck or thich only increased when she attempted to correct hie out the bit to so milder" As it turned out, they tried three different bits before Raven settled sufficiently In the , and riding on his back

With the new bit, he had quite a bounce to his gait, and he tossed his head though this ti him in, and when she finally allowed him to trot, he arched his neck as if to show just how handsohed in pleasure from his place at the fence "He’s a proud one, that one Give us a canter, will you?"

Froan could tell he’d once been a well-trained saddle horse He’d not always been abused

"Responds better to a light touch than the whip," Luke observed "So those louts of Dr Silk’s never understood There are all kinds in o anywhere near the beasts"

Raven’s canter was s of her horse aluilt Was she betraying Condor by bonding with Raven? Eventually those concerns dissolved, replaced by the sheer joy of riding once again

When she returned Raven to a walk, Luke said, "He’s doinghe’s doing good enough to take hiet out of the city so we can really take hierly

"All right, you stay out here and keep getting used to hile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>