day 4

[ritaxis]

1750+ words

Accomplished: Sasha gets a pony! Yanek, being ten, is jealous. Also, Sasha rats Yanek out for jumping out o a hayloft, but there's no consequence because the ponies have arrived.

I don't know anything about ponies, it appears, despite the fact that I did some research. In 1900 would the ponies have walked ten miles from where they were bought or would hey have been brought in a trailer, given that (1) the Duke is a tentative modernizer and likes automobiles and (2)this is not a well-paved or advanced country?

I will figure that out later. I will also have to gloss over details in pony care and children's riding lessons though these will be plot points. How did I fail to do that research in the last two months when I knew this was coming up?

How did it get to be eight-thirty? I had to take a nap, yes, but it was seven-forty-five a moment ago before I started browsing for scrubs to wear to work.

I'm going to the doctor today! I am an insured woman! Soon I will have a referral for my leg pain! And answers for my skin things!

Tomorrow: Yanek also gets a pony. It's an afterthought, but it's a pony.

And after that, Yanek goes to the Duchal palace and is mistaken for a serving boy, which is not the part of being there that is the most traumatic.

Comments

[frogs_of_war]

I'd say the ponies would walk if the roads weren't well paved. I base this on reports that people only rode in carriages, etc., when they absolutely had to on the old Roman roads because a horse was so much smoother. I think the ponies would like it better too. Couldn't a sharp dip or rut cause the pony in the trailer damage, banging against the side?

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's the kind of reasoning I knew I needed!

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Until the 1960s, a most horsey travel was on the railway or, well, horseback. Someone would ride up and lead it - a mere ten miles would not be considered a great distance. (A couple of hours at a reasonably leisurely pace.)

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I did immediately think of you, and I think after I've established my wordage or when I reach a spot where my ignorance will clearly wreck me, I will be sending you frantic pleas for information . . .