The question seemed to snap him out of his stormy thoughts, and Kunzite looked as though he was trying to work out the Gordian knot with one hand tied behind his back.
“Your predecessor used to tell me, ‘The animal beneath you is not a pet, it is a tool, and if used correctly, a dangerous weapon,’ and I don’t think he was completely wrong,” he said with a resolute nod, even as he leaned down to give his horse’s neck a fond pat.
“I believe every horse has a personality as varied as their riders, and the wisest calvaryman is the one who treats their steed like any other partner. You work together, as one, to bring out the best in one another.
If you’re going to be running into battle, you want to be alongside someone you can trust.”
Somehow Kunzite wasn’t sure he was still talking about horses.
“…And keep your heels down. It helps your feet stay in the stirrups and your back straight. Good posture is the best defense against a sore ass when you’re spending the entire day in the saddle.”
Work with the horse, not against it... and heels down. These were already two things he did not know. So many people riding, he saw, seemed to command the horse that they rode. Perhaps it was a reflection of the riders as opposed to the “overly willful animals” he had heard horses be described as.
The heels, at least, would be an easier fix.
“Next time I saddle, I will need to be more careful about the stirrups, then,” Zoisite said, feeling the bar slip away from his boot as he tried to correct posture. “As they are, they are a bit short. This is the only way I can reach them.”
Which, he realized, was probably part of why he had so many issues with dismounting earlier.
