Uh-Oh - Moren-Ezen Herding

Mudd - 834

Trinh yawned as she groggily made her way out of her home, she was slowly getting used to getting up earlier to adjust to the new additions to her farm. It had been a few months since she first got introduced to herding and added a few animals to her farm that may have been a few too many.

At first she got some chickens, they were easy. She just had to make sure their chickens were fed, warm and playing nice with each other. She had yet to get a rooster but knew she would need one soo, she was hoping to have them as a food source but had yet to figure out the best way to achieve that.

Then she was at a market and saw some beautiful goats that she had bartered for, they were a handful. The goats are worse than Kamon and Gourd getting out of their pens and getting into everything else, but she grew fond of the goats. The females produced a good amount of milk and she had yet to bring herself to the thought of even using them as meat, they were more pets to her.

After realizing she would get nowhere with the goats Trinh brokedown and got herself some cows, she was able to get a very hefty female and a couple of calves, some females and two males. They were the newest addition to her routine and were taking some getting used to.

Kamon greeted her as usual on her way to the coops to feed the chickens, sticking close behind her with a new addition to her herd following him. The new mare was a gorgeous Grullo with Oonoo, the mare had taken a liking to Kamon and followed him almost like a shadow.

“Good morning you two, are you ready for a busy day?” Trinh smiled at the pair then continued on.

Her day went smoothly both Jibitas helping her with her chores that day. Mara, the mare, had learned quickly how things went on Trinhs farm and had made working with Kamon much easier when he was on task teaching, or trying to show off to the younger horses.

“Ok, before we take a break for lunch lets move the cows to the next paddock, ok?” Trinh asked her helpers, and saddled up Mara.

The trio went to where the cattle were, it was a generally easy task especially with the help of two jibitas, but that was not the case today. The calves went their way quickly with the encouragement from Kamon and Mara, but the adult wouldn’t budge from her shady spot even when Mara and Kamon pressured her into moving.

“Kamon, stay here.” she told the stallion who snorted and shifted his weight but followed her command as Trinh and Mara went to close the gate the calves were in then returned.

The rider dismounted and cautiously approached the cow that was laying down the cow attempted to get up but immediately found its way back onto the ground. Trinh started panicking, she knew enough on how to raise and care for her horses but was lost when it came to cows. Are they similar or are they different? All she knew was that if a horse isn’t able to get up it’s a bad sign and guessed it would be the same for cows. She had looked over the cow and checked their legs but couldn’t find anything wrong.

“It’s ok big girl,” She cooed to the female as she checked her over once again and stroked her neck gently, “we’ll get you fixed up.” Trinh stood and turned to mount Mara to go to the one cow person she knew when the cow mooed at her, stopping her in her tracks.

“Guardians help me,” She pleaded, unable to decide if she should leave the cow alone or try and get a message to Tarkhan through Kamon.

Kamon nudged her shoulder gently with his nose and snorted. “I hope you can help me out her Kamon, and if you can, I'll give you my whole apple harvest.” She said,” I need you to go to Tarkhan’s, the place we learned to herd and bring him here.”

Kamon huffed then took off, leaping the fence marking the barriers for the cows with ease.

With Kamon off, hopefully doing as she had asked Trinh returned to comforting the cow. In the end she realized she wouldn’t forgive herself if the cow passed while she was away. She hoped that Tarkhan would remember Kamon, it had been a while since they had last seen each other and even then they never really interacted more than a hello and how are things going.

Kamon made his way to where he remembered the other rider and scary Haspars home was located. Luckily there was an easy to follow path so he couldn’t get lost too badly. When he spotted the Haspar he neighed a greeting to get Wraths attention and hopefully Tarkhans as well.

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Tarkhans day had started with a crash, and a bang, he stumbled off his sofa where he had fallen instead of his bed once again and quickly stumbled outside. Hitting the yard with bare feet he looked around for the source of whatever had woken him. His eyes flashed around his farm quickly, trying to find something. Cows, fine, goats, fine, chickens….Oh damn. He bolted over to the ripped and torn mesh of his chicken coop, a thin trail of blood led from the coop to the field where Wrath was looking at him, ears pinned back. Looking the stallion over for wounds Tarkhan’s eyes were drawn below, to his hooves, and to the crushed fox beneath them.

If a horse could look smug, Wrath did. His head was held high, neck arched, looking rather pleased with himself. His braided tail flicked back and forth as he tossed his head.

“Wrath, nice job big guy!” Tarkhan says moving into the field and removing the carcass. He tossed it to one side to deal with later before heading back to the coop. One of his hens was a little battered and he carefully tended her wounds before letting Wrath loose. While he sat and fixed the fence he could feel the stallion looking over his shoulder. No matter how big and bad Wrath would act, Tarkhan could always rely on him to look after his herds.

As he finished up fixing the fence he heard Wrath make an odd noise behind him, grabbing a loose piece of wood he quickly rose to his feet only to drop it when he saw a familiar horse.

“Kamon? What are you doing here buddy? You by yourself? Is Trihn okay?” he moves over to the stallion checking him for injuries, scratches or scrapes, and for any sign of his rider. Wrath sniffed at Kamons other side curiously, but it was clear to both of them that the horse was eager to be moving. Tarkhan frowned and sadded Wrath up as quickly as he was comfortable, locking his door and making sure his other horses were secure he pulled himself up into the saddle.

“Let's move boys, I don’t know what's happening, but I feel like we should find out. Quickly!”. Neither of the stallions hesitated to drop into a gallop, the distance between Trinh’s farm and Tarkhan’s wasn’t huge, but if someone was hurt he wanted to be there as soon as he could. The way Kamon was acting was concerning enough.

Worry clawed at Tarkhan’s gut as they travelled the distance. Kamon hadn’t stopped, even for a moment while they were going, to Tarkhan’s surprise the smaller stallion was able to stay a head ahead of Wrath. It didn’t take long for the gates of Trinh’s farm to come into view and both stallions leaped over without slowing to let him dismount and open them. As he saw Trinh in the field with a cow he gently pulled Wrath to a trot, then a walk, then to standing and slid off, hopping into the field.

“Hey Trinh, seems like your boy was rather desperate to get me, and I can see why. Are you okay?”

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Trinh was kneeled next to the cow gently rubbing it’s head as she spoke to it gently, “It can’t be too much longer now bufe we get you some help ok?”

Mara had spent the whole time nervously pacing nearby when she heard the sound of galloping approach she moved closer to the gate to welcome Kamon back. The two swiftly made their way back to their rider after exchanging a greeting.

The rider didn’t notice much of what was going on, her mind was a mess, her thoughts going everywhere as she tried to think about what could be wrong but panic made it near impossible. Tarkhan’s voice startled her, “what?”

Trinh pushed herself up off the ground to answer him. “Oh, yes, I’m fine. My friend here, not so much. I tried to help her stand up but she immediately went down again and I can’t see anything physically wrong with her. And she doesn’t seem to be doing to well and I didn’t know what to do so I started panicking and I went to go get you but she gave me this pitiful moo and I couldn’t just leave her so Kamon went and got you and I just sat here and worried about her and I don’t want to have to…” once she started talking about the cow she started to nervously ramble, stopping at the thought of the worst case scenario.

While Trinh stood there trying not to cry Kamon moved to her side and gently leaned against her in his way of trying to comfort his human.

Mara on the other hand was more interested in the new stallion, Wrath , he reminded her of another one from her herd Ghost.

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Tarkhan quickly takes in the scene, feeling the worry radiating from Trihn. He kneels down by the cow, he feels a large presence move behind him and smiles to himself, knowing Wrath has his back. He gently feels around the cows back legs and moves her slightly so her weight is a little more balanced.

“Need to keep the pressure off one side until we can get her up. Otherwise once we get her on her hooves she could have more issues. Downed cows biggest danger is their own weight, but it’s something we humans can help with as we can manually move them while we get them sorted!” he says gently rubbing his hands up the cows legs to make sure her circulation was okay.

“Don’t worry, we can sort your girl out. Do you have any leather straps? Or even two long pieces of hide that you don’t need?” Tarkhan says looking up quickly to give Trinh a reassuring smile. His eyes dart to Kamon and he nods to the horse. Nice to know Trihn had the same sort of protector as he did with Wrath.

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Mara lets out a huff as the new stallion ignores her and turns back to stand closer to Kamon who acknowledged her presence.

“I should have some somewhere, give me a moment.” Trinh turned and ran to her shed she stores most of her farming equipment in, Mara followed her rider while Kamon stayed back and ‘supervised’ the male human. The structure wasn’t too far off luckily and didn’t require actually riding either of her ponies, once inside she unwrapped the leather grips on her hoe and cut it in half. Trinh would regret disassembling it when she goes to work on her field for a day after forgetting what she had done, but there was no time to think about that right now.

After acquiring what was needed she ran back to where the cow was laying with Wrath, Tarkhan, and Kamon, Mara once again trailing behind. “This is what I have,” the rider says handing Tarkhan the leather strips.

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Tarkhan gives Kamon a small smile while Trinh is gone, Wrath, seeing Tarkhan not in danger, takes a few steps back looking around at the area curiously, his eyes glance over Mara, weighing up the new face.

“You did good, if you hadn’t gotten me so fast this could have gone a lot worse. I can see why she has so much faith in you!” he says warmly. He watches as Trihn comes back and takes the straps, tying two ends together with two firm knots.

“These should be perfect. Nice and sturdy. Essentially, we are going to get her on her feet and then loop these around her legs. It will stop them splaying and will help her stay up. That way we can observe her and see if this was just a stumble she couldn’t get up from, or something that may need more work done to help! It’s gonna take some work to get her up, but I think if we can get the horse to help we should be okay. Once she is on her feet I’m going to get Wrath to support her on one side, and Kamon if he is willing on the other. That will keep her up while I secure her legs.” He explains watching Trinh to make sure she is taking this in, he had seen farmers lock up before but had a funny feeling she wouldn’t be one of them.

“I hope you don’t mind me hanging around for a few hours, it’s probably the safer option than me heading home just to make a mad dash if she goes down again!”. He adds.

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Kamon raised his head a bit to stand a bit prouder at the positive words from the male rider. While happy with the compliment it still didn't mean much to the stallion who was intently focused on watching Trinh make her way back to the small group.

Mara turned her head away from Wrath, he didn't want to say hello, she was going to ignore him. The mare had gone as far as to stand as far away from the Haspar she could while staying close to her rider.

Trinh nodded at Tarkhans instructions, she was fully focused on doing all she could for the cow. She was usually good at handling a bad situation from all her experience with husbandry, but for some reason she was thrown off today maybe because it's her first issue with a cow.

"Oh, uh yeah sure. That would probably be for the best." She said she was a little nervous about him staying around for so long, but also a bit excited. Her stomach was feeling weird but she chalked it up to being hungry.

"Let me know when to lift and I'll help get her on her feet," Trinh said, positioning herself in a way that she'd be most helpful after directing Kamon on where to stand so he was nearly in position for when his help would be needed.

Mara kept back watching the riders ready to help if her rider needed her while also still staying away from Wrath. It might take her a but to get over her current grudge for being ignored.

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Tarkhan gets to his feet and looks at his help team. He gives Wrath a quick pat on the nose, Kamon a warm nod and Trinh a smile. He takes a deep breath and moves so he is behind the cow.

“Once she is up try and keep her head on your shoulder, she probably trusts you more than me and it should keep her calm long enough for me to mess around behind here without getting a kick to the face!” (Wrath very clearly pins his ears back hearing this, but doesn’t do anything). He directs Wrath to one side and Kamon to the other.

“Right, all at once!” He says and puts his all into lifting her onto her feet, he hopes Trinh is doing her part at the front but cannot see behind the bulk of the downed animal. He tries not to get too excited as she stumbles up onto her feet. Wrath, knowing his part moves in on the side to brace the cow, Kamon does the same, the two keeping her supported with their weight.

“Right, this should only take a moment!” he says ducking down and wrapping the straps around her legs, looping them so that her legs cannot splay again.

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Mara circled the small group supervising to ensure everyone was doing their job.

Trinh nodded and waited for the signal from Tarkhan to begin lifting the cow. She did her best to ensure she lifted with her legs and not her back from many times she had carried a large bale of hay the wrong way.

“You are doing alright, big girl,” Trinh told the cow quietly and encouragingly trying to keep her calm so not to kick the other rider at her rear.

Kamon pressed his side into the cow once she was at a normal height, it was a little odd due to the fact that the other stallion, Wrath, towered over him so the pressing was a little more to the top of his back but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

Mara watched closely as they started working on the cow giving Kamon a small nip when she thought he wasn’t doing enough, which Kamon did his best to ignore the mare getting on his nerves.

“Let me know when you are good,“ Trinh called to Tarkhan trying not to be loud enough he can hear her while not startling the cow, she didn’t think she could take the embarrassment of Tar getting injured while helping her.

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Tarkhan checks the straps once more and stands looking over the back of the cow to Trinh. He loses focus for a moment watching this strong, dependable woman support her part before a snort from Wrath shakes him back to focus, he gives the large stallion a nod.

“Okay, stop supporting her, Wrath, Kamon take a few steps to the side, need to make sure she can support her own weight. If she can’t….” he doesn’t finish, not wanting to verbalise that if it didn’t work he could do nothing more for her.

“The straps keep her legs from going separate again so all she needs is the will to stay up and move. If she does seem like she is taking a moment to get her balance we can move back in for a bit, but this is all on her” he says gently. Wrath lets out another snort, nuzzling the cow gently, at Tarkhan's word he takes a step to the side, slowly, and then another, staying close enough that he can move back if he needs to, but far enough that the cow can move if she feels up to it.

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Trinh found it a bit odd with how Tarkhan was looking at her for a moment, but chalked it up to making sure she could handle the task.

Mara moved back the moment the male rider stood up giving Kamon room to back away when they were ready.

Following Tarkhan’s direction Kamon slowly moved away leaving the cow to stand on her own.

Trinh hesitated and slowly stopped helping support the cow, nervous she would go down again leading to the result neither she nor Tarkhan wanted to think about. She nodded watching the cow closely silently praying to the Guardians begging for the cow to stay upright.  Mara sensing Trinh's nervousness she moved to her riders side to try and comfort the human. Kamon didn’t budge from where he stood near the cow ready to help if he needed to still.

The cow stayed up right shifting her weight a little bit, but stayed on her feet.

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There was a small wobble, but nothing more as the cow seemed to find her footing. Tarkhan let out the breath he had been holding, feeling comforted as Wrath nuzzled up against his back gently. He watched the cow for a moment, letting her move and shift before he finally flashed Trinh a grin.

“Well, she seems steady enough right now. As long as she keeps moving around and works out that stiffness we should have no issues. Like I said earlier I would like to hang around and keep an eye on her for a couple of hours. But I can go if you would rather?” he says, ignoring the amused snort from Wrath behind him.

“Maybe I can help you out for a bit? If anything needs doing so I’m not just uh, loitering! I am usually pretty useful as long as I have good direction to follow” he says, hand going to the back of his neck as he looks away. “Plus, I was a little curious to meet your herd. Kamon and this pretty lady are beautiful, Sierra is stunning. You must have some serious breeding skills”, he seems to realise what he just said, and flushes bright red.

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“Oh that’s good to know,” Trinh breathed out a sigh then turned to the cow, “You’ll be alright, right girl? Won’t take long until you’re back to normal!”

Kamon glared at Tarkhan as he offered to stay longer and help out, not all too pleased at the idea of the other rider sticking around doing his job of helping Trinh out. Mara seeing that the excitement was over started wandering off towards the rest of her herd.

Trinh got excited as Tarkhan mentioned wanting to see her herd, she was extremely proud of her little family and was always eager to show them off. Although she found it odd that he seemed to be embarrassed for wanting to see her horses. “This was really my last major task of the day, but I’d be happy to show off my herd!” She nearly cheered, getting excited.

Kamon snorted upset that the male rider would be sticking around, he was grateful for the help the rider gave but would preferred for the Rider to stay far away from his Trinh.

“Who do I show off first? You met Kamon, twice now.” She started while thinking, “The Mare that was here helping is Mara. She really likes attention, and doesn’t do well when she isn’t the center of attention or feels like she is. Hmmm, I do have a similar set up that you and dog have for a friend of mine, but I am his main source for horses and foals so they stay with me when they aren’t off with him racing.”