Horse of Honor (Honorverse, G, Gen)

[extrapenguin]

Wordcount: 389
Summary: Honor goes horse riding.

Being an Admiral, Honor didn't have nearly enough time to do everything she wanted. She'd chosen to prioritize her career and professional life, and as a result, some things had fallen by the wayside. Such as participating in the events of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Then she'd been sent an invitation to go horse-riding on Manticore that coincided with an unoccupied space in her calendar.

 

Her first thought upon seeing the horse was it's large. His head wasn't that much taller than hers, but he was almost six hundred kilos of muscle. Honor held out her hand. She missed Nimitz, left with Samantha for the duration.

The horse sniffed the hand, was obviously disappointed at not getting any treats, and turned back to his handler.

“So, Admiral, want a ride?” he asked her.

“Yes, please, Mr. …?”

“Arde Quinlan.”

Quinlan told her where to hold on, then took her left leg in his arms, and told her to jump on at three.

She jumped, Quinlan pushed, and she landed not very gracefully in the saddle. Quinlan adjusted her stirrups and told her how to hold the reins. His emotions weren't very distinct – fondness for the horse, nervousness at instructing Honor, a trace of tiredness – and blended into the rest of the mind-glows present.

The horse moved. Honor was surprised at how much she had to move her hips to stay in the saddle comfortably.

A few circuits later, they trotted, Quinlan running along while Honor tried her best to relax her lower spine and not bounce around on the poor horse's back.

Eventually, she dismounted and patted the horse. Quinlan passed her a lump of sugar that she gave to the horse. He ate it and gave her hand a fond push in search for more.

 

All in all, it had been an enjoyable experience. She told as much to Andrew LaFollet on the way back.

“I wouldn't know, milady. There aren't that many horses on Grayson that I'd get to ride one”, he said.

“There are horses on Grayson?” Honor asked.

“They weren't considered ‘technology’ so they were brought with to serve where manpower could not. There are still some left – where I grew up, there was a horse-owner who occasionally rode our way.”

“You know, Andrew, I might have just come up with Harrington steading's next project.”