VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, [7], 8, 9 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 17:09:52 01/29/04 Thu
Author: D'tir and Kuvoth
Subject: Posting this here for now to save it.. it won't let me post at the Perches for some dyoned reason...

The calm brown eyes of the Weyrlingmaster met the gaze of each student as they proceeded to come forward to give a name, and recieve their dragon's gear. It was a good group, there was talent to be had here, he could practically feel each individual's inner strength surging out through the sparkle their eyes. Yes, it was definitely a good group, and the dragons all looked very well cared for. He saw no reason to go back to lessons on oiling, bathing, and feeding... these pairs had obviously figured it out themselves. He'd touch on it of course... but flying definitely seemed like what he'd look to first with his students. And of course, all of the gear, safety precautions, and practicing that went along with it.

A warm smile was offered now to all of the Weyrlings, and D'tir made a point to visit each one as they untangled their gear, either offering an approving nod or for those who looked a little less sure of themselves, and encouraging grin. D'tir laughed as he watched Kuvoth do the same things with each young Dragon, the massive brown offering suggestions here and there to the more anxious looking of the dragonets, and even giving the occasional rumble of approval to a dragon that was helping his rider with the untangling of the complicated riding straps.

It was about twenty minutes into the process when D'tir caught the two newest Weyrlings out of the corner of his eye and turned to face them. Pulling a list of the Impressed weyrlings out of his wher-hide jacket, he eyed it over once quietly, pausing when his gaze found...

"L'kannon with Odinth, and Lianja with Puerth I'll presume," D'tir offered a quiet smile. "My name's D'tir, rider of brown Kuvoth, your Weyrlingmaster." He paused briefly, then continued, "Don't worry about being late, you haven't missed much. Just go grab some riding straps from the appropriately marked box and start untangling them, we're going to begin the demonstration of how to put them on your dragon in just a moment."

D'tir strode easily back to the front of the Perches, Kuvoth, I think we're ready to start the demo. The brown dragon nodded Very well, you have left these Weyrlings waiting long enough as it is. D'tir shrugged absent mindedly, Well, they'd been waiting before I'm sure they could handle a few minutes wait now. Kuvoth tilted his head quietly, So says the rider with the patience of a hatchling before he breaks shell. D'tir rolled his eyes, Ha. Ha.

"Alright then, it is time to figure out how to put this mess of straps upon your dragon." Kuvoth walked easily up to the front, nudging over to D'tir the box which contained his own riding straps. D'tir nodded a thankyou to his Dragon, and then leapt up upon the brown's bent leg, hauling the straps up after him. He then clambered up Kuvoth's shoulders, out to the small of his back, and then, balancing carefully, walked out onto Kuvoth's massive neck, looping the straps carefully between two neck-ridges before he sat down between the ridge just below.

"Before you ever put riding straps upon your dragon, you must first make sure that his or her skin is in good condition. Look for flaking, or any signs of stretching. Also be sure to ask your dragon if they feel any discomfort or itching."

D'tir now made a show of walking from the base of Kuvoth's neck, all the way down his back to the start of his tail, eyeing his flank on both sides. Skin alright Kuvi? The Dragon rumbled his amusement, Yes.

The Weyrlingmaster grinned, "Next, you need to check your gear. You should, in the center of your straps, have a circular leather piece with a buckle so that you can adjust it. This will be what's going around YOUR midsection to hold you in place, so make sure that you don't... how shall we say.. outgrow the size of your leathers hmm? A healthy diet makes a happy DragonRider."

Kuvoth humphed quietly beneath him, You could stand to lose a few pounds yourself. Your aching my neck. D'tir blinked, I am NOT!

Kuvoth's ringing draconic laughter echoed throughout the Perches.

D'tir glowered, "ANYway. Off of this circle should be four leather straps, two have buckles, two have holes. One buckled and one holey will have thin straps, one buckled and one holey will have thicker straps. You're going to want to match the thin with the thin, and the thick with the thick. These are the straps that will hold the whole contraption on to your Dragon.

So, you've checked your gear and it has all the right parts. It isn't torn, it doesn't have cracks, it looks pretty good. But there's still one last thing you have to check. You need to make sure your gear has been oiled lately, and isn't stiff or brittle. Brittle gear, introduced with the cold of flight winds, or the even greater cold of between, will break before you can even sense something's wrong. And broken gear will lead to you falling off your dragon, and down to a very hard and unforgiving ground."

D'tir grinned, "Third step is to make sure you're positive as to where you are going to be placing the straps. Those of you with bronzes or queens, your dragons are large enough already to be placing the straps around the neck, using the neck-ridges as support. For now, I want you to use the neck ridges that are the largest, and closest to the trunk of your dragons body. Later on you'll be using slightly higher neckridges, but your dragons still have a little ways to grow before they can support you on the thinner part of their neck. Browns, blues, and greens, I want you to use the chest configuration. You'll be tying the straps around the very front of your dragons chest, right where it connects to the base of the neck. Be sure not to tie any straps behind your dragons wings, they will not be able to fly if you do so, and if they try could possibly sustain damage to their wing membrane. Browns, blues, and greens, you will still follow the same set up that I will be showing on Kuvoth with the straps around the neck, just make sure that you pull some of the support towards your dragons chest."

"So, alright then, check your Dragon's hide, check your gear, and then get yourselves in a position either on your dragon for you bronze, queen, and possibly even some brown riders, or off your dragon for most brown, blue, and green riders. Split the straps up evenly, two to a side. Remember the buckles and the holes? You want buckles on the right, holes on the left. Also remember the thins and the thicks, if you have the buckles on the right and the holes on the left, you should have thins in the front and thicks in the back. If you don't, then your gears defective, don't use it. This thin-thick design was especially designed for the comfort and safety of both you and your dragon. Don't tempt fate and try to use gear that's been made incorrectly. It's easy to get a new pair, and we rarely ever run out of them. If you've made sure that the gear was designed properly, then you can go ahead and buckle the buckles. Talk to your dragon the entire time that you're doing this. They'll tell you if it's too tight or too loose. Once you've found the right setting, then slip into the circular loop and fasten the circle snugly around your waist. Once this is secured, you and your dragon may begin WALKING around the Perches. Do NOT attempt flight yet. We'll get to that shortly. But walking will allow you to see if anything's slipping, be it your dragons gear or your circular strap, and it'll let you get the feel of the leathers."

D'tir grinned quietly from where he sat on Kuvoth's lowest neckridge. "Alright then, give it a go." He snickered quietly, "And just be glad that you all are doing this now. Soon enough your lifemates will be Kuvi's size and you'll have quite a long haul to get all the gear up to the appropriate place."

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.