A Reckoning of the Education of Lord Ragna in the Art of Horseback Riding (from the text "A History of the Shoku Kingdom")
Zhuo district, Youzhou province, Xizang
One month after the prophesied arrival of the Messenger of Heaven
During the era of the Three Kingdoms, short as it was, Lord Ragna of Shoku was renowned for his prowess in battling both on foot and on horseback. The sight of his black stallion Cerberus often sent his enemies into flights of panic and fear, often causing them to scatter before he could reach them.
However, an anecdotal story from the earliest days of Lord Ragna's rule in Zhuo maintains that this skill was not easily earned—to a rather extreme degree. Lady Chouhi recounts the story as such:
"Ragna didn't really want to learn how to ride a horse in the first place. Aisha basically had to browbeat him into doing it, even though at the time we didn't have very many horses to begin with—we didn't get a proper cavalry going until after we captured Nanpi, but that was months away. At any rate, Aisha kept telling him that he had to learn, because there were times where he'd have to fight a mounted enemy and that doing so on foot would be suicidal.
So eventually, Ragna gave in, and the next day they're out in the courtyard with one of the only horses we've got. I think its name was Stamper. The horse looked completely fine—it might have been about as big as Cerberus was, and it was pretty nice looking. But all of that was just a mask. Stamper was secretly the most ornery bastard in all of Youzhou. And Aisha knew it, too, because aside from when she had to help Ragna onto the damn thing in the first place (and I can tell you she enjoyed that, she was blushing and everything every time she touched his hand), she stood back and let him go.
Aisha didn't even take two steps back before Stamper bucked Ragna right off. Somehow he managed to not land on his head, but the moment he got back up he pulled Blood-Scythe loose and nearly stabbed Stamper before Aisha pulled him back and begged him not to do it. Eventually Ragna caved, and got back on again. Stamper started bucking, but then Ragna smacked him on the head and shouted 'CUT IT OUT, ASSHOLE' or something like that.
Stamper literally froze in its tracks, then up and bolted for the gate, neighing and whinnying like he had been kicked right in the ass. Aisha tried to chase him down, but like I said, he was a healthy horse—and she was on foot. There was no way she was gonna catch him. I didn't go into town to see what happened, but I do know that old Gan was in bed for two weeks straight and that the next day at least half the parents in Xizang showed up to the audience chamber the next day saying that they wanted to kill that horse themselves. Apparently he'd hopped over some kids and broke a couple of stalls in the marketplace, even bucked a cart into a wall. Ragna almost let them, but Aisha swore up and down that it would never happen again.
It took another week, but eventually Aisha got Ragna to ride Stamper again. And wouldn't you know it—when he got on, Stamper started to go crazy again. He didn't go running off into town again, but Ragna went flying every which way every time he got on. I don't know how she did it, but Aisha somehow kept talking Ragna into getting back on every single time. Eventually, it got to the point where Ragna was basically too stubborn for even Stamper to stop, so he quit trying to fight Ragna and let him ride.
Once he could ride Stamper right, Ragna told Aisha to her face that he was never going to ride something that damn stubborn and obnoxious ever again. But the thing is that after a while—maybe two or three months—Ragna kind of had to intimidate Stamper just to get a chance to ride. It became such an ingrained reflex that after that, most horses didn't even think twice about trying to give him any trouble. It's like he puts out some kind of aura that makes them respect him. If Cerberus had been one of those kinds of jerk horses, then Ragna probably would've scared him into submission. But I guess since Cerberus was actually pretty mellow for a Turban horse, he didn't get the stink eye from Ragna."