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Description
Horses:
Phoenix
Merciful
Rider/Handler: Noah Scott
Show: A Trek Across Namibia
Story:
Vast. That was the only word Noah could think of to describe the scene in front of him. How had he let himself be talked into this? He knew exactly how but he didn't want to admit it. A few days after his "fight" with his sister, Lisa, she had showed up on his doorstep unannounced, at the ass-crack of dawn with a brochure. He had barely gotten the door open when he was bombarded with a long winded apology and had his nose shoved in the longest brochure he had ever seen.
"What is this?" Lisa stopped midsentence and looked at him quizzically. She had likely already explained, but his sleep deprived brain had barely registered a word she'd said since arriving.
"I was just trying to show my support but if you don't care..."
"No! Wait- I do- I just meant, Uh- This." He pointed to a series of horse pictures near the bottom of the page.
"Well, I was just getting to that if you could PAY. ATTENTION. Anyways, since you only have one horse you could get a Namib to pony. They're already trained to pack.
"To... pony...?"
"Yes."
"Okay... sure."
"So you'll go? Good, cuz I've already signed you up! I've gotta go take Aava to school. And don't worry, all expenses are on me." She was gone as quickly as she'd came, leaving a confused Noah with a very long brochure.
Later, once he had read the brochure, he called Lisa in a panic. There was no way he could go on a six-hundred mile trek across a desert with horse that couldn't be ridden. Of course, Lisa didn't know Phoenix wouldn't wear tack. He never really got around to telling her. She'd been furious when Noah hadn't used a headcollar on Phoenix in the trailer, he couldn't imagine her reaction to his failure to get her to accept tack. His sister had been one of the biggest advocates for euthanasia when he found Phoenix abandoned on his farm. She hadn't been pleased when he decided to try rehabilitating her instead.
Lisa was an accomplished trainer but Noah didn't know a thing about horses. What he did know, however, was rehabilitation. He had worked with thousands of dogs on their last chance before euthanasia. He was no stranger to abuse cases. Phoenix was the most difficult case he had ever worked with but eventually, she began to trust him. They'd even entered a couple liberty shows and done fairly well. Unfortunately, even with all the progress they'd made, she still freaked out at the sight of anything that resembled tack.
He came up with tons of excuses, but in the end he agreed to go on the trek since Lisa had already paid the entry fee. Thankfully, Phoenix had no qualms with the shipping boots and loaded easily onto the plane. Once they'd arrived and settled in Noah went to check out the Namib horses. Apparently he was supposed to claim a horse on the registration website but thankfully, there were still two left. The choice was easy considering one was a colt too young to be ridden. The mare he chose was calm and friendly, trained to pack and pony(witch he learned meant being led by someone on another horse) but had never been ridden. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind him sitting on her back. The only problem was the lack of steering. This was solved by having Phoenix walk in front, directed by voice commands from Noah. The Namib mare happily followed her wherever she went and even began anticipating and responding to the commands on her own.
She was going to have to carry Noah and all of their supplies for the trip so he needed to pack light. He had already purchased a sleeping bag with a removable insulating liner so he would be comfortable during both hot and cold nights along with two canvas shoulder bags that he rigged into saddle bags that would sit on either side of the sleeping bag with room in front for him to sit. There wasn't a lot of room for supplies but as long as they stopped at a town periodically to restock they would be okay.
Word Count: 706

Artist Note: I had a much more dynamic entry planned for this. It was almost finished and I hadn't saved a backup file of it. I fell off my horse while my phone was in my pocket and it was destroyed along with all of my WIP pieces. So instead, due to my idiocy, have some scribbles lol

TheRanchRegistry points
Phoenix: 17
Mercy: 17

References:
Near Richtersveld

Description
Horses:
Phoenix
Merciful
Rider/Handler: Noah Scott
Show: A Trek Across Namibia
Story:
Vast. That was the only word Noah could think of to describe the scene in front of him. How had he let himself be talked into this? He knew exactly how but he didn't want to admit it. A few days after his "fight" with his sister, Lisa, she had showed up on his doorstep unannounced, at the ass-crack of dawn with a brochure. He had barely gotten the door open when he was bombarded with a long winded apology and had his nose shoved in the longest brochure he had ever seen.
"What is this?" Lisa stopped midsentence and looked at him quizzically. She had likely already explained, but his sleep deprived brain had barely registered a word she'd said since arriving.
"I was just trying to show my support but if you don't care..."
"No! Wait- I do- I just meant, Uh- This." He pointed to a series of horse pictures near the bottom of the page.
"Well, I was just getting to that if you could PAY. ATTENTION. Anyways, since you only have one horse you could get a Namib to pony. They're already trained to pack.
"To... pony...?"
"Yes."
"Okay... sure."
"So you'll go? Good, cuz I've already signed you up! I've gotta go take Aava to school. And don't worry, all expenses are on me." She was gone as quickly as she'd came, leaving a confused Noah with a very long brochure.
Later, once he had read the brochure, he called Lisa in a panic. There was no way he could go on a six-hundred mile trek across a desert with horse that couldn't be ridden. Of course, Lisa didn't know Phoenix wouldn't wear tack. He never really got around to telling her. She'd been furious when Noah hadn't used a headcollar on Phoenix in the trailer, he couldn't imagine her reaction to his failure to get her to accept tack. His sister had been one of the biggest advocates for euthanasia when he found Phoenix abandoned on his farm. She hadn't been pleased when he decided to try rehabilitating her instead.
Lisa was an accomplished trainer but Noah didn't know a thing about horses. What he did know, however, was rehabilitation. He had worked with thousands of dogs on their last chance before euthanasia. He was no stranger to abuse cases. Phoenix was the most difficult case he had ever worked with but eventually, she began to trust him. They'd even entered a couple liberty shows and done fairly well. Unfortunately, even with all the progress they'd made, she still freaked out at the sight of anything that resembled tack.
He came up with tons of excuses, but in the end he agreed to go on the trek since Lisa had already paid the entry fee. Thankfully, Phoenix had no qualms with the shipping boots and loaded easily onto the plane. Once they'd arrived and settled in Noah went to check out the Namib horses. Apparently he was supposed to claim a horse on the registration website but thankfully, there were still two left. The choice was easy considering one was a colt too young to be ridden. The mare he chose was calm and friendly, trained to pack and pony(witch he learned meant being led by someone on another horse) but had never been ridden. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind him sitting on her back. The only problem was the lack of steering. This was solved by having Phoenix walk in front, directed by voice commands from Noah. The Namib mare happily followed her wherever she went and even began anticipating and responding to the commands on her own.
She was going to have to carry Noah and all of their supplies for the trip so he needed to pack light. He had already purchased a sleeping bag with a removable insulating liner so he would be comfortable during both hot and cold nights along with two canvas shoulder bags that he rigged into saddle bags that would sit on either side of the sleeping bag with room in front for him to sit. There wasn't a lot of room for supplies but as long as they stopped at a town periodically to restock they would be okay.
Word Count: 706

Artist Note: I had a much more dynamic entry planned for this. It was almost finished and I hadn't saved a backup file of it. I fell off my horse while my phone was in my pocket and it was destroyed along with all of my WIP pieces. So instead, due to my idiocy, have some scribbles lol

TheRanchRegistry points
Phoenix: 17
Mercy: 17

References:
Near Richtersveld