Bonus Prompt 2 - Bath Time Bribery

Lovely’s first day at Thorn Rose had been uneventful, the decision having been made to just stable her and give her some time to settle in. She’d stabled easily and the next morning staff were greeted by a curious horse with a penchant for looking for treats, politely. 

The goal for the day was the vet check and then getting her groomed out and cleaned up. The first hurdle to all of that being a halter so they could get her in cross-ties. 

The first hurdle was quite the leap, for all no one got hurt. As with before, Lovely wanted nothing to do with the halter. She kept backing or tossing her head at any and all attempts to get the thing over her head. She didn’t kick or bite at anyone, which surprised Cass some, but she absolutely wasn’t having it. 

“Any ideas?” Ember asked as Lovely managed to somehow evade them even in the confines of the stall. 

“Bribery.” Cass shrugged, brushing traces of dirt off her black pants and regarding the pair with calm yellow eyes. “Find out what she likes and distract her. If nothing else, see if she can be groomed without. The vet won’t be free for another hour at least. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” 

Ember frowned but nodded, switching to a lead pope for the moment and taking Lovely out to the grooming pens. They were a little larger and while that meant more room for Lovely to escape the halter, it meant more room to work with her as well. 

“Okay, Girl, let’s see how you do with this.” Ember snagged one of the brushes to start getting the worst of the dirt off Lovely’s dark coat. She’d move on to the hose later, if Lovely cooperated. 

After a minute or two it seemed cooperation wasn’t going to be an issue, unless one counted leaning into the brushing so hard she almost toppled over Ember. 

The elf laughed, red eyes twinkling with amusement as she dusted off the mare’s coat. “Well, it seems you like that, huh?” She pushed against Lovely’s side as the mare began to lean into the brushing so far she once again thought the mare might fall on her. 

Lovely nickered and tossed her head in pleasure, her long tail snapping around in excitement. 

Ember eyed the tail in displeasure. It was pretty knotted and she didn’t want to hurt Lovely while trying to untangle it. There were oils and soaps that could help with it, but that would mean seeing how she did with water. 

“Well, I suppose here we go….” Lovely turned on the hose, careful not to get Lovely wet. 

The effect was immediate. Lovely’s eyes went wide in excitement, pawing at the ground as she tried to stick her entire head under the stream of water. 

“Well, okay… guess I don’t have to worry about that then.” Ember laughed as she turned up the water a little more and started to hose down Lovely. 

The mare practically danced in excitement, too focused on the water to notice Ember slip the halter on. The mare didn’t like that one bit however, and immediately tried to pull away, tossing her head and trying to get out of it. 

“Hey, hey…. Easy…” Ember murmured, feeling horrible and like they may have messed up. 

Lovely gave them a look, but had realized the halter didn’t hurt. She backed up one more time, and then immediately tried to drink from the water again, apparently deciding that as long as she didn’t hurt the water was more interesting than being offended. 

Ember smiled. “Oh good…” She murmured as she started to hose off and bathe Lovely, more delicate birdcatcher spots appearing as the last of the dirt fell away. 

The tail came untangled far easier with a good conditioner, and Ember even learned she could let Lovely hold the hose if she didn’t mind occasionally getting wet. The mare seemed to delight in tossing the water around. 

“You’ll have to take her swimming sometime.” Cass meandered over, careful to keep out of the range of the water. The demonkin stepping back a bit more as Lovely seemed to take this as some kind of challenge. 

“Ma’am?” Ember looked up, having been getting the last of the dirt from the white markings near Lovely’s hooves. 

“The vets almost here. Go ahead and wrap up so that can get taken care of.” Cass turned to walk away, Ember having the matter well in hand. 

Ember got the last of the dirt off and moved to turn off the hose. As soon as the water stopped Lovely got a look on her face that suggested the entire world was ending. She walked up to Ember and kind of dropped the hose in the elf’s hand, looking at the hose and then Ember and back as if expecting the water to come back on. 

Ember laughed, took the hose and wound it back up, and secured the leadrope to the halter, almost having to pull Lovely out of the space, the mare still trying to get back to the hose. “Maybe after we’re all done with the vet and we know what’s all going on with you we can come back.” 

Lovely very reluctantly followed after a moment, but she kept shooting glances back towards the source of the delightful water. 

“Is that how you got the halter on?” Cass asked, following along at a slight distance, the horse’s tail still giving off small splashes of water. 

“It is, yes. She was so distracted by the water, she didn’t see it coming.” Ember replied, stroking at Lovely’s nose, stopping the mare from attempting to chew on a bit that didn’t exist at the moment. 

“Well, that’s one way to do it. It's not a long-term solution, of course, and I don’t think either of us wants her to start associating the two, but it works in a pinch I suppose.” Cass was already considering the best way to have a pond built at Halloway Stables. It’d been on her mind for a time anyway as a well maintained body of water made some things easier overall. 

“No, but I bet it will work as a treat for wearing one for longer periods of time.” Ember got Lovely secured, the mare clearly not liking the situation but also not fighting. 

“Likely a good idea, yes.” Cass leaned up against the wall. “At least she’ll always be clean. It’s far easier when they like bathtime.” 

“So, Lovely, bathtime bribery it is!” Ember exclaimed happily, glad of a treat that might just work.