Chapter 11
Obed’s Code ~ continued from Chapter 11 | The Way of the Horse
It was October and a gentle wind blew the dust around. The heat of many months had cooled and this was the time that Boaz liked to begin the four-day trials.
“Listen,” Dadu shouted over the noise of the horse grounds. “Listen.”
He held the reins of one horse, a beautiful Arabian 14.5 hands high. He raised his arms in the air.
“Listen,” he called again. “We don’t want a saddled horse, ones that have been ridden, nor do we want horses that are in good shape. Those must go now.”
Dadu quickly rode behind the front lines and glare. He looked around and watched as four horses started slowly for the gate.
“We want only untrained horses,” he yelled again.
Boaz watched carefully as the sun started toward its zenith and the wind blew the dust in the paddocks and barns that surrounded the horse grounds.
“There are no whips used and no spurs,” Dadu yelled out to the others. “Drop the whips as you leave the gates.”
He looked sternly at the horsemen. “No whips.”
He wiped his mouth and took a drink from his water bag. “Today we cover only gentle hills, no steep slopes.”
He looked at the horse master.
“Master?”
“Go,” Boaz said.
Dadu turned to the crowd of men and horses. He smiled.
“Now tie your horse to a chariot, four horses to one.” He guided his horse down through the lines. “Four to one.”
His horse slowly walked through the ranks.
“Tie one horse to the front,” he yelled. “It doesn’t matter which.”
Obed quickly tied Bavryoon to the front of one broken chariot and smiled at his charge in the morning sun.
“Go, boy.” He patted his horse and gave him a piece of sugar. “Go.”
Bavryoon whinnied and kicked up some dirt as he stood in place.
“Hurry,” Dadu yelled among the fray. “Hurry.”
He looked down the line at the horses that were now tied to the chariots and eager to run.
“We will trot for one danna slowly, no pushing the animals.” He turned down the ranks again. “Mount the other horses and follow.”
As the procession started Dadu had full control over the pace.
“Then we canter for 42 meters then gallop for 600 meters.”
The slow parade of untrained, young horses took off with dust rising in the air, the sound of hooves hitting the earth and the wind blowing across the valley and high plains.
Boaz breathed in the morning air as he mounted his horse and looked out over his young charges.
“It’s a good day,” he thought.
Dadu’s black and white Arabian charger ran alongside the chariots.
“No hitting the horses and no speed.”
He pulled his keffiyeh over his mouth and nose against the dust and wind.
The horses soon began to understand the pace and were calmed by this so that there was less and less noise.
“When do we race?” said an eager young horseman named Balto who came up to Dadu.
Dadu smiled, “In 214 days.”
“What? My horse can beat any of these,” Balto spat.
“Not if it’s lame,” Dadu continued, “or it’s not in shape.”
They continued on the dusty trail at a slow pace.
“His father is a great champion.”
“The horse master will tell you in four days how great,” said Dadu as he pulled off the horse trail and let the chariots go by until he was at the back of the training procession. The horses were calm now.
At the half point marker, a white flag on a branch, the horses slowly made the turn for home: one filly was lame and one colt was too tired to continue. Both were disqualified from the four-day training and released from the chariots.
“Take them back slowly,” Dadu said to the other horsemen.
Bavryoon was calm and quietly leading the four other horses behind him at pace. His coat was fresh, his eyes and nostrils open and he showed no signs of fatigue.
“In 214 days I could be dead,” the young horseman said to his friend Hadad as they trotted behind the chariots.
“It’s a four-day trial to see who will get into the endurance trials,” Hadad laughed.
“Still, I could be dead in four days.”
“I’ll kill you,” Hadad said with a smile.
The two laughed and continued down the horse trails at the pace set by Dadu. The workout and prescribed daily distances served only to discover horses that would become unsound, tie up or have behavioral problems down the road.
Bavryoon rode through these trials and obeyed each order with a calm, almost placid demeanor. The two-year-old led with his energy and his love of running. His deep chest grew in muscle while his heart and lungs became conditioned. But most importantly his mind became aware of the tasks at hand and there was a pivotal point where both mind and body understood and accepted the challenges that faced the horse.
Sixteen days later Bavryoon was ready to begin the 214-day endurance program. Fifteen other horses, including Balto’s and Hadad’s, also were allowed to begin the seven-month training.
Over the weeks and months not only were Bavryoon’s skeletal system and heart and lungs conditioned but more importantly the horse’s mind was brought to a place where he was confident that he could do the work.
In time Bavryoon would march for four weeks to reach a battlefield and still be ready to gallop into battle the next day. He was a war horse.
Continue reading… Chapter 11 | War Harms Everybody
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