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“Well, sometimes,” answered Léof absently. Unused to having a companion while working, he had slipped into a reverie now broken by Javan’s question. Something seemed familiar about the question, if only he could remember what.
When Javan didn’t respond right away, Léof glanced over the horse’s back to see that Javan was not very satisfied with his answer, and Léof remembered. Before breakfast, hadn’t Javan mentioned something about coming down to the stables to exercise horses if he ever had some spare time? Javan didn’t really want to know if Léof ever rode the horses – he wanted to know if he would get to ride them.
“But now that there are two of us working here, the chores will take less time and there will be more time to exercise the horses,” he said, causing Javan’s face to light up.
Then Léof realized that he had never actually seen Javan ride, and that maybe it would be a good idea for him to see how Javan handled a horse while riding before he sent Javan off to exercise them on his own. If Javan had the same gaps in knowledge about riding as he had shown in grooming and walking the horses, Léof wasn’t sure that he’d be able to let Javan ride the horses for a while, however much this would disappoint Javan – not until Léof had time to teach him better habits. Léof wouldn’t tell Javan all this now, though; he might even be quite a good rider who just didn’t have much experience caring for horses. He said simply, “Sometime this week I’d like to take you out riding – just to see how you handle a horse. If that goes well, we can take it from there.”
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