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Javan was left alone with the two horses. He did not mind working by himself. He didn’t generally like to work by himself (he always had the feeling that everyone else was sitting around doing nothing whenever he had a job off on his own), but now he had two horses to groom. He set to work loosening the cinches and taking off the saddles. The horses stood quietly, their heads lowered to a comfortable, relaxed position, their noses touching the walls. One stood with his hind leg bent, and his hoof pointing towards the ground.
Javan hauled first one heavy saddle to the tack room and then the other. He returned for yet a third trip to gather the blankets and other trappings. When he came back, he picked up one of the brushes that he had fetched earlier and set to work on the nearest horse.
He had hardly brushed the horse’s neck when a call from the doorway stopped him. He looked up and saw Léof trotting towards him. The ostler slowed to a walk before coming too near the horses.
“Stop, Javan,” he said, placing his hand on the nearest horse’s hindquarters. “Just untie him. We can’t brush them down until the sweat has dried. Come on.”
Javan wanted to ask why, but Léof had already turned to untie his horse. Javan followed suit and together they led the horses out into the yard to walk back and forth.
“Why do we have to do this?” Javan asked, ducking under his horse’s neck so that he could walk beside Léof.
“It’s useless to groom a horse that is wet and sweaty. The dirt doesn’t come out – it turns to mud – and the brush pushes it back into his skin and hair. But if we wait until it’s dry, the dirt will have come to the top of his coat and we can just brush him off. Javan,” he said, seriously, “don’t walk under a horse’s neck when he’s walking. You might get trampled on.”
“Sorry,” Javan said. “So it’s easier if we just wait till they’re dry? Are you sure? It’ll take ages to walk them until they’re not wet anymore! Can’t we just stick ‘em in stalls and brush them later? They’ll dry on their own, won’t they?”
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