The Kentauride by Martin Landry

Author:Martin Landry [Landry, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kentauride Publishing
Published: 2013-04-27T23:00:00+00:00

Once they had finished, and Tanita had snacked on a carrot, Chloe spent some time explaining to her how a running horse moved it legs. Her theory was that Tanita wasn't able to run because she was thinking about it too much, about how and where her legs were supposed to move. A horse knew how to run instinctively, it didn't stop to worry about falling, and Tanita had to learn not to think if she wanted to learn to run. This upset her, but she eventually acknowledged that she was afraid of having more than one hoof per end off the ground at any given time. Not being able to watch her hooves as she moved also scared her. Chloe spent time trying to help her overcome those fears by drawing parallels with bipeds, pointing out that when she ran she never looked at her feet.

They practised walking, trotting, and then jumping, tiny hops at first, eventually reaching some pretty impressive leaps. Mark watched and shouted encouragement, finally to the point where Chloe left them alone to practice. Mark had to avert his eyes when a particularly long series of leaps resulted in a minor wardrobe malfunction, but Tanita laughed about it gleefully, much to Summer's horror.

By the time it started getting dark, Tanita was able to run to the opposite side of the exercise yard and back, with a few minutes resting between attempts to catch her breath. On her last run of the evening, she saw Chloe coming from the farmhouse with a tray that held a covered bowl and two thick slices of buttered brown bread. Perpetually hungry, she trotted up expectantly, with Mark following behind her.

“Can I have something other than carrots for dinner? My ears are starting to grow,” she said as she eyed the bread hungrily.

Chloe handed the tray to Mark and said to Tanita, “You could probably have some lettuce, but I'd be cautious about feeding you cucumbers or other greens yet. I can ask Maggie to make a salad with lettuce and carrots if you like?”

The young Kentauride nodded eagerly. “With Italian dressing?”

Chloe shook her head, “No, I'm not going to let you have any oils just yet. If the lettuce doesn't do any harm for two or three days, we can try adding cucumbers.” At the face Tanita made, Chloe added, “OK, I'll have her cut up an apple and add it to the mix, that will help.” Tanita didn't seem thrilled, but she forced a smile and nodded.

Chloe returned ten minutes later with another bowl, this one filled to overflow with sliced romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, and sliced quarters of red apple. Tanita was too happy to have the variety to complain, and attacked the bowl hungrily while Mark uncovered his bowl of Irish stew. Chloe watched them eat for a few minutes. Watching Tanita eat with a fork seemed to hold her attention, causing Tanita to avoid her gaze and eat more slowly. Finally she glanced at her watch and said, “I need to get home.

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