15 Ashan 716
It was a beautiful day. The sun was warm; a very welcome relief after the long, dark chill of Cylus. And the sky was a bright, brilliant shade of blue. There were a few clouds floating lazily through the sky, but they were fluffy white things that added to the beauty of the day.
Lei'lira wanted to make the most of the day, so she decided to groom the horses, and then go out for a ride. With that thought in mind, she headed into the barn to get her curry comb and brushes. Darkwind and Kaiyu had both finished eating their morning feed, so Lei'lira put her lead rope on Darkwind, and led him out of the stable.
She started with her curry comb, moving it in small, circular motions as she began with Darkwind's neck, and made her way slowly down to his shoulders, then his sides, and finally his withers. When she was done with that, she repeated the process on Darkwind's other side. Once Lei'lira had finished loosening up the dirt, and loose hair in the stallion's coat, she switched from her curry comb to her dandy brush. She then brushed Darkwind with the hard bristled brush, using short, straight, flicking motions to remove the dirt and hair that had been loosened by the curry comb. Like before, she started at his neck, and worked her way down.
When she had finished with that, she set aside her dandy brush for the soft bristled body brush that would finish the task of removing any remaining surface dust and hair from Darkwind's coat. Since she didn't have a face brush to use on Darkwind's more sensitive areas, she made certain to be careful while brushing his face, ears, muzzle, and around his eyes. Lei'lira noticed the difference immediately. With all of the dirt and dust gone, Darkwind's black coat seemed to shine when the light hit it. Lei'lira knew that if she really wanted to put a nice shine in the stallion's coat, she could rub a cotton rag over his coat. But she also knew that the first chance he got, Darkwind would undo all of her efforts by rolling in the grass.
So, instead of that, she used a comb to carefully comb all of the tangles out of Darkwind's mane and tail. It took quite some time, since there were a lot of tangles to comb out due to Darkwind's fondness for rolling around in the grass, and dirt. When she was finally finished, Lei'lira gave the stallion a carrot for a treat. He deserved it. Getting his mane and tail groomed was his least favorite part of the process, and he had stood still the entire time, not giving her any trouble.