For some reason, when he sees her - standing atop the sand dunes, Gaucho is reminded of the cold, and without thinking, he paws at the sands to ensure his footing. Subconsciously, her blue and white coat reminds him of a spar with another unicorn, which took place in a twisted cave of ice. That unicorn had used her experience moving on ice to try and defeat him - and it had almost worked, for the stallion's massive hooves had skidded and slid all about in his pursuit. In his primitively conscious mind however, he is not aware of this connection, and he brushes it off as no more than a cool breeze which has created this feeling of unsteadiness, and cold. The idea does not simply leave him though, for as she calls down to him, Gaucho's simple mind begins to formulate a plan, even before she takes her first step in his direction.

She is new to the Throat, and although the distance between them masks the majority of the features of her body from his stormy gaze, he still wonders just how used to the sand and the heat she is. Gaucho recalls his first few spars in the Throat, during the heat of TallSun, and how moving in the sands tore and tested his muscles like nothing he had previously experienced. True - he was much larger than She, and his bulk required more energy to stop and start, yet how much propulsion could hooves so small possibly give her? Would her muscles be able to endure the ever present heat and the tiring footing? Even though Orangemoon had brought clouds to the skies, the Throat remained stagnant and hot.

Tossing his antlered head, Gaucho returned her cry with a blood-curdling one of his own - his voice was rich and powerful as he bellowed in response. Mentally he warned Mara to remove herself from him, lest she end up skewered, or worse, poisoning his herdmate. With a hiss, the white snake circled down his powerful foreleg and disappeared underneath a rock. While he wanted to ensure that members of his herd were prepared for anything that they might see during battle, the bite of a snake such as Mara, would have last consequences that did not simply go away, once the spar was over.

As he waits, Gaucho spreads his massive black wings in an attempt to intimidate the smaller mare, as she gallops down the dune towards him. Come, come, he beckons, fanning his wings at her, but refraining from taking a single step in her direction. Tired. ....Heat. He thinks as she runs - his muscles and body were acclimatized to the Throat's temperature and landscape; were her's? Or would that icy coat of hers simply melt away?

As she neared - a few strides out, the bay snapped his left wing to his side, lest it be punctured as she charged by, and aimed his antlered brow in her direction. Listening and watching her rhythm as she moved, Gaucho meant to knock the left side of his antlers into her horn, protecting himself from a gash on his left side, and continue the thrust to hit her left cheek or neck with the right side of his antlers, as his neck is forced to turn with her movements. He has used this move on unicorns in the past, and relies on that confidence now. When he deems that her strides are carrying her just past his flank, Gaucho bucks towards her left thigh, kicking with the flat of his hooves, rather than the edges, to charlie-horse the muscle, rather than open a wound; this was simply a spar, after all.

As his hind-end returns to the ground, Gaucho begins to turn into the left, his stormy gaze searching for her. Large moose-like ears listen carefully, to detect the sound of her hooves upon the harder ground here. Although he is turning to where he believes she might be, he keeps his head low, and does not fully open his eyes. Thus, he protects both his vision from being blurred by sand and sun, and places himself in a defensive position, as he rotates to the left towards where he presumes she will be .

[WC: 721. Gaucho is using buffs SWIFT and DANCE]