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"Horses in Elanthia"
So you want a horse… Circle Requirements There is no circle minimum for horse ownership or basic riding of your horse. Even a novice may own and ride. However, many of the more advanced riding techniques such as riding your horse into combat, having it fight beside you if you are a Paladin, being able to pick something up from the ground while mounted, or loading your ranged weapon while mounted, do have circle requirements before you can learn them. If you have a dream of what exactly you will do with your horse, be sure to research to know what is realistic before you buy and find you have ten circles to go before you can accomplish your dream. Back to top Learning to Ride Once you’ve decided that you will own a horse, go to any Stablemaster in the Realms, and ask him about Horse. (ASK (stablemaster name) ABOUT HORSE). If you are a magic user, you should also ask him about PREPARE. Depending on your circle, there may be other things he can teach you. Check with senior members of your guild, or on the Realms message boards, to see when and what your guild can learn in the way of advanced riding techniques and then ask the Stablemaster about that. Possibilities are: Bards, Grab; Barbarians, Load; War Mages, Target; Traders, Advanced Riding; Paladins, War, Combat and Joust; Rangers, many things – the only one they teach other adventurers and not to horses is Bareback. Back to top Choosing a Horse Next, decide what kind of horse you want. Horses come in many colors, sizes and variations of marking. The only saddle horses that exist are geldings (neutered males), and mares. Stallions aren’t available to us at this time. If you are of the small races, Gnome, Olvi, or Dwarf, you may prefer to buy a pony. If you choose a horse, you will need to have the horse trained to kneel so that you can mount. If you are of the small races, you can ride any horse, as long as that horse has been taught to kneel. You are NOT required to ride a pony if you don’t want to. If you are Prydaen, S’kra Mur or Rakash (in moonskin), your horse MUST be trained in Animal tolerance by a Ranger, or you will not be able to even approach it to put a bridle on it. Make arrangements for this before you buy your horse! Horses from fourteen to sixteen hands can be caught by Rangers in the wild. These horses are caught untrained, but usually the Ranger will train it in Lead Rope and Saddle before selling it. Rangers also do not seem to find black horses in the wild. Ponies from eight to eleven hands, and horses from twelve to eighteen hands, can be purchased in the retail corrals at the stables around Elanthia. These horses are trained at the stable in Lead and Saddle. To my knowledge, retail corrals are located in Ratha, on Aesry’s dock, Theren Keep, El Bain’s Stop Estate Holder’s Club, Riverhaven’s Noble Inn, the Crossing Royal Mews, the Crossing Paladin Guild stables, Steel Claw Clan and Horse Clan. Back to top Horse Prices and the Buying Process Horses in retail corrals are a fixed price that you can see if you ORDER while standing near the corral. You will also see a list of horses available, and can then LOOK 5 (to look at the fifth horse, for example), to see the details of that horse. Corral horses come trained in lead rope and saddle. They run from about 39 platinum kronars at Crossing Royal Mews to about 60 platinum dokoras at Horse Clan. You will need to bring your money to the Corral, then ORDER the horse you want by number. Watch carefully, sometimes if the stable boys bring in another horse in the middle of your ordering, you may end up with a different horse than you thought, as the numbering changes with each new horse brought in. Ranger caught horses are generally less expensive, but still not cheap, and may cost more if they have had extensive training before purchase. You may be able to buy a Ranger caught horse from the Ranger directly, or from a Horse Trader who keeps a stable of stock for sale. When buying a horse from another adventurer, whether a Ranger or a prior owner, you must use the services of a Trader of sufficient circle to make the sale. This transaction can only take place in a Brokerage Office. Such offices are available at Theren Keep, El Bain’s Stop, the Noble Inn, North Roads Caravansary near Dirge, and Crossing Royal Mews. There do not appear to be any functional brokerage offices in Ilithi at this writing. Remember to ask your Trader whether he or she charges for this service! When you purchase your horse from another adventurer, be sure to find out from the current owner where the horse is. It may be sold to you already stabled (in which case you will pay a fee to have it RETURNed), or it could be standing out in the open somewhere. The horse does NOT need to be at the brokerage office for the sale to take place, it can be anywhere. Make sure you know where it is. If you are a Trader of less than 25th circle, you will not be able to buy a horse from another adventurer, and must purchase your horse from a corral. Back to top Horse Equipment You may receive some tack (saddle, bridle, etc.) from a prior owner. If you need to buy equipment. you can also obtain this from a stable, by asking the stableman about tack. Taelbert’s Inn in Crossing and the Steel Claw Clan stable sell inexpensive and serviceable equipment, but you can get fancier stuff at any of the stables noted in the paragraphs above. Unless you have learned Bareback riding from a ranger, the basics you will need to successfully ride your horse are: Bridle, Saddle blanket or pad, and Saddle. A halter will work for leading, but a bridle is more appropriate for riding, and works the same way, so I recommend that. When you obtain your horse, APPROACH HORSE to get close to it. Then PUT BRIDLE ON HORSE. Next, PUT BLANKET ON HORSE, and finally, PUT SADDLE ON HORSE. Now your horse is equipped and ready to ride. If you have learned to ride Bareback, you will only need a bridle. You can, if you like, invest in a lot of equipment for your horse such as armor, fancy blankets, tail ribbons, and other decorations. To the best of my knowledge at this time armor is purely a decorative item, and is not necessary to protect your horse. In future this may change. If you plan to equip your horse in full plate armor, you will need one of sixteen hands or larger. A sixteen hand or larger horse can wear any style or combination of armor. Horses 15 hands or smaller can wear leather, chain, or a mix of armors, but not full plate. Horse armor is available at El Bain’s Club and Crossing Royal Mews. Back to top How to Get Around with Your Horse If there is another horse in the room with you (or more) you may need to specify OTHER, THIRD, or GOLD (whatever color it is), in order to mean your own horse. Just take a quick LOOK and make sure you know which is yours. Unfortunately we can’t use MY HORSE when dealing with our animals. In order to lead your horse around it must be wearing a halter, bridle, or lead rope at minimum. There are places where you can’t ride your horse, but must dismount and lead it. To get it to follow you, LEAD HORSE. To stop leading, you repeat that: LEAD HORSE to stop leading as well. You must stop leading when you want to stable your horse. Similar to a Trader’s caravan, each step that you move while leading you must wait for your horse to catch up to you. If you walk too quickly and lose your horse, you should go back to it and LEAD HORSE again to restore the connection, then wait at each step for it to catch up. To ride, MOUNT HORSE. You will find your horse is very responsive to your signals. SIGNAL HORSE WALK, or SIGNAL HORSE TROT, CANTER, or GALLOP. Each of these takes you a differing distance in the direction you try to go. Walk moves one step at a time. Trot goes two steps, Canter three, and Gallop goes four steps in a direction. For example, if you are mounted and have signaled your horse to walk, you then go east as normal. Your horse will walk one step east. If you have signaled it to Trot, it will go two steps east. If there are not enough steps in that direction for the speed your horse is moving, it will go as far as it can, then stop and wait for your next direction. With Advanced Riding, the horse will in a general direction rather than only the one specified. That is, if you are riding south while using advanced riding, the horse will look for south, southeast, and southwest, and will continue southerly until it runs out of southerly directions to choose, at the rate of speed you’ve chosen, before stopping. Very handy for that long ride to the gondola. To dismount, simply DISMOUNT. Then you will need to LEAD HORSE if you want it to follow you. There are some areas where you cannot take a horse, for example over the barricade near Kaerna Village, down the long road outside Therenborough, and other places. We’ve been told this is being worked on, so keep an eye on the news for developments. There are many things a horse can be trained to do, such as PRANCE, SPIN, JUMP, KNEEL, or BEG. You will SIGNAL HORSE SPIN, for example, to show off its tricks. Likewise if you choose to practice jousting, you will SIGNAL HORSE JOUST (opponent name). Back to top To Leave Your Horse Once you are finished riding for the day, you may just leave your horse standing outside, if you want. After you leave the Realms, the horse will wander off, and when you return you will just wait a while (anywhere from 10 minutes to half an hour, I’ve heard) for it to return to the spot where you left it. If you get impatient or have forgotten where you left your horse, you can go to the nearest Stable and ask for its RETURN, and the stableboys will go round it up for you, for a small fee. Also be careful about your equipment. I’ve heard horror stories of full sets of heavy plate horse armor disappearing when the owner left the realms without warning and returned to find the horse stripped. Such disasters result in disappointment – equipment lost in such a way is often not returned. You may also go to a Stable and put your horse away when you are finished for the day. To do this, you must first go into the stable and stop leading it if you were, then make sure it is stripped of all equipment but its bridle (unless you are an Estate Holder). If you are an Estate Holder you may BUNDLE HORSE to get the stableboys to pack up your gear for you. There’s a cost for that but some folks find it convenient. Once the horse is wearing only its bridle and is no longer being led, STABLE HORSE. The stable will charge you for this service, and you will not be able to get your horse RETURNed for an hour after you stable it. If you leave your horse stabled for more than 30 days or so, you will be charged an additional fee on Return. Also you can stable your horse in one stable and for a fee have it returned at a distant stable. This is the best way to get your horse to Ratha or Aesry, for example, if you are bringing it from the mainland. Rangers over 60th circle and Traders over 35th circle can STORE their horses for a fee (producing an animal storage voucher which they can stash in their pack), if they wish. This is how they are able to own more than one horse at a time. If you have a horse ‘out’ as in stabled or in the open, you cannot have a second active horse. Back to top Horse Training Your horse may come to you with various levels of training, but if you want your horse trained further you’ll need to find a Ranger to train it. There are circle requirements for a Ranger to learn certain skills he can teach your horse, so you may find that some skills your horse needs might be a little harder to find. This training varies in price according to the Ranger, but keep in mind that you are taking advantage of the Ranger’s skill, time, and knowledge. It generally takes anywhere from half an hour to several hours to instruct a horse in a new skill, and the Ranger can not do much else during that time. Plan accordingly. Back to top Rider Training If you, the rider, need to learn a skill, you will in general learn it from another adventurer. See the section on Learning to Ride for a partial list of training possible. There are circle requirements for rider abilities other than basic riding, anywhere from 20th circle on up. Here again, teachers charge various amounts for their time and expertise. Be sure you know what your instructor is expecting before you start the class. If you wish to see what you can instruct for riding, simply INSTRUCT to see what’s available. Back to top Grooming and Feeding If you stable your horse regularly, the stable will groom and feed your horse for you as part of its fees. If you choose instead to keep your horse out, you will need to groom and feed it. Grooming supplies are available at the stables. You will need a curry comb, a stiff brush (that TURNs to become a soft brush), a mane and tail brush and a hoof pick. CLEAN HORSE with empty hands until you know you need to use another tool, then use your soft brush. CLEAN HORSE with the brush til you feel that’s finished, and then the mane and tail brush til you are finished. Next you will take the curry comb, and again CLEAN HORSE several times. After the curry comb, use the stiff side of your turnable brush until it needs to be turned back to the soft side. When you are finished with the soft side, you’ll be done cleaning your horse’s coat. Finally you use the hoof pick on all four hooves, so CLEAN HORSE four times, once for each hoof, while holding the pick. Feeding your horse can be done either with purchased feed, or with foraged grass, or free apples. At the stables, ask the stableman about FEED. To feed your horse, hold the food in your right hand and FEED (item) TO HORSE. Back to top Paladins and Horses According to what we have been told, Paladins are able to bond with their horses. Not a lot is known about this feature, but grooming, feeding, and spending time with your horse do seem to be factors. Paladins can also fight at their horse’s side, if the horse knows War, and Signal their horse to Retreat from opponents. Your horse will learn how to fight and increase in its knowledge just as you did, so you will want to begin your horses training against fairly easy opponents and work your way up. For more information I’d suggest checking with older Paladins or on the Realms message boards. Forgive this poor Trader’s ignorance of the knightly arts. Back to top Conclusion Other places to get information about the Horse system are the DragonRealms bulletin boards, the main Realms web site, various player web sites, and by word of mouth from other adventurers. Horses are an interesting and fun addition to our world, one with lots of potential for development. I hope you’ve found this article helpful, and give me a wave as you ride by! Enjoy your mount! Brynnhilde Oremsdottir, Trader |
