Bareback

[nyxelestia]

Title: Bareback

Rating: PG-13

Summary: When a wild mare is finally declared as useful for nothing but dogmeat, Merlin decides to give riding her a shot. Arthur adds to incentive by promising to ride HIM if Merlin can do it. Fluff, with hinted smut.

Pairing: Arthur/Merlin

Warnings: Er...innuendo?

Episode warnings: None

Beta:

Comments

[helva2260]

For some reason I'm inordinately fond of stories where unexpected characters manage to gentle and ride a wild horse - I had thought it was a particular kink for Methos in the Highlander fandom, but apparently it now extends to Merlin too! Yay (and thank you!)!

A couple of minor historical notes - Firstly, I wouldn't worry too much if a little bit of US-Western terminology creeps in, as the medieval riding saddles and techniques were probably more similar to US-Western than to modern British. The higher front and back of the medieval saddles make it more secure for riding while using sword and shield (and provide a bit extra protection around the groin *g*), just as the US-Western saddles are designed for one-handed riding while a lasso is used.

Secondly, I love that Merlin can vault into the saddle in a way that you wouldn't expect for a peasant! It's nice to see moments where Merlin *isn't* being typically clumsy, especially when there's a story behind it. I've actually been pleasantly surprised that the Merlin people are fairly non-anachronistic when it comes to riding (especially that they didn't fall into the trap of having the girls ride side-saddle), but when I was watching The Curse of Cornelius Sigan, I had to make all sorts of excuses to myself for Arthur needing Merlin as a mounting block... I've decided that he's not completely recovered from the Questing Beast yet and attempting to hide it, hence the using Merlin so everyone watching can think of it as a joke or a punishment!

[nyxelestia]

Horses, at least in fiction, seem to have an affinity for the gentle. In my real life, too - when I went to riding school, THE biggest horse (out of like 50 on that ranch) was the one I got along with the most when I was a tiny and underfed little 8-year-old. One of the ranch hands would have to put his knee on the mounting black for me to get up. ^_^

I know there was a similarity between the styles of medieval and Western riding - Western and medieval are both for either war or work, whereas in English it's largely show and plain ol' transportation - but it's the terminology, itself, which is what I'm trying to avoid.

And I love making Merlin not clumsy, especially since I think he is. I feel the need to point out that all the freakin' time in the show, Merlin will run across distances to chase after someone that took much longer to cross the same distance. Either he's more graceful and faster than he thinks, or magic is helping him along significantly - which works for me, either way. ^_^