Welcome to Choteau, Montana, in 2018. What was once only a small city focused on fossils, has now started to turn into an equestrian mecca. Everyone still knows everyone, so the question remains, what will you become?
06/04 - Site opened 18/04 - Update log #01 including new features! 27/04 - A New skin has been released!
Frankly, Rae's life is reflected by her body. She's a tough and strong woman, and in no stretch of imagination can she be called 'pretty' or 'dainty'. She's not unpleasant to look at, but her blond hair is usually tucked into a messy ponytail, her no. 1 choice of clothes is riding breeches, and there's just too much muscle and not enough soft feminine curves on her for most dresses. Her hands are a mess of callouses and small scars, most from her job as a farrier, several of her teeth aren't in fact her own (the joys of having been kicked in the teeth, once) and if you were to get your hands on her x-rays you'd see a number of healed, broken bones, including her wrist (twice), shoulder, and both her shins. She's led a tough life so far, and in a way that shows in her permanent tan - though thanks to her habit of riding bareback a lot, she wears shorts enough that her legs aren't white enough to blind people and a squint to her eyes.
As aforementioned, she tends to wear breeches or shorts, usually coupled with paddock boots or stable boots and whatever shirt she could find; she doesn't care overmuch for fashion. She's not really one for jewelry either, but she habitually wears a horseshoe-necklace which says 'luck', bit-shaped hoop earrings, a braided leather-and-horsehair bit bracelet, silver-coloured digital watch, a golden ring with Ursa Major as a constallation on it and a white-gold ring with an infinity loop holding a little aquamarine. This is an impression of what she might wear, including aforementioned jewelry.
She can also be seen wearing either a (left) shoulder support brace (you can only dislocate a shoulder so often before it tries to dislocate a bit too often) or a (left) wrist brace - after breaking it twice, shoeing draft horses isn't exactly fun without a little support.
Personality
Brash and bold, Rae oozes a quiet confidence in her own skills. She's strong in body and mind, and experience has taught her that much. If broken bones, dislocating joints and lost teeth haven't held her down, nothing will. And that is the crux of things. She's not just confident, not just experienced. She's also stubborn, and refuses to give up without a fight. What is another ache, what is another bruise, in the face of victory, of making yourself and your people proud, of making life better for a person or a horse.
Rae is assertive, and opinionated, and has a low threshold for bullshit, but she's also empathetic and caring, can often spare a kind word and a soft smile, a few words of advice or an encouraging slap ont he shoulder. She knows what it is like to struggle for things - be it to earn enough cash to feed all your ponies next month, or convince your trainer that yes, you can.
And really, though she seems ambitious and a little bitchy sometimes, seems driven to perform and win, she's gotten past the need to win in order to afford her hobby, her love. And her definition of triumph has changed, too. It's no longer placing first on the podium. It's having a horse lay down because you ask it, or step into a trailer even though he's clearly terrified of it. It's that soft muzzle in your neck, or that leap when you don't see the right distance.
Still, Rae isn't always easy to get along with, focused on her horses as she used to be. Being a person is something she doesn't necessarily have much practice in, yet, and the fact she's never had a boyfriend (or girlfriend) may not help either. She's been busy, certainly, but she has never really felt love for someone either.
History
Growing up on a sheep farm in rural New Zealand with parents who weren't necessarily all that well off (well, poor was perhaps a better word, though one they didn't like to use in front of the kids) and two siblings, Rae's love for ponies and horses was a bit of a problem. Also for the sheep, when she cottoned on to the possibility of riding them. Luckily, their community was pretty close knit, and both a Shetland pony and a donkey were loaned to the Carrigan family, in the hopes that Rae would get the bug out of her system.
Long story short: she didn't.
Instead, she kind of taught herself to ride the laid-back pony and took him for long, long (well, it felt long) rides around the property, trotting and cantering and jumping over fallen branches once her parents deigned to let her off the leadrope. And then she graduated to the donkey - the ornergy bugger wasn't too charmed with that, but she didn't let that stop her. The bug didn't pass out of her system: it multiplied. And when her younger sisters seemed to catch the same bug, their parents had a few sleepless nights about it, and then a really good year with lambs and sales, so there was enough money to buy a real pony and a proper bridle and bit. No saddle (yet), no lessons. The birthday money her grandparents gave her was invested in show fees; not only did she show the ornery Welsh cross in anything under the sun, from equitation to hunter jumper to halter classes, she also watched all the other classes like a hawk, intent on learning from her mistakes and others' success. That soon became a theme: she rode (and observed) shows, trying her damnedest to win because she needed to win back her fees, and eventually she drew enough attention with her dedication that another friendly neighbor donated his old saddle.
Slowly her skills and her tack box grew, as she learned more about her pony and how to make him work for her, without making him more ornery. She taught her sisters how to ride him, too, while her parents worked, every day after school. School didn't do much for her, nor did her friends there. hey were fun at school, but she had no desire to join imaginary tea parties or playing with dolls. She much preferred playing around with the pony in the fields, trying how high they could jump and whatnot. Because jumping was what had her hooked, and eventually what gave her the opportunities she hoped for. Because when she started jumping at shows, she wasn't barely playing even anymore with her show fees, but starting to make a tiny profit. Because instead of top tens and top fives, it started to be top threes, and then just plain ol' wins.
And that all around school, and some extracurricular activities because her parents kept pressuring her to do so, but no other sports managed to snare her the way horses had. And really, even though she was just a teenager at that point, her seat wasn't quite like velcro anymore but closer to superglue, courtesy to the years where they had to share one saddle with three riders and several ponies, most of them not quite little angels. And she found it delightful to work with horses and ponies others rejected, finding the reason why they bucked, or kicked, or reared, or bit, or limped, and them getting past that. It may not have been a recipe for success in the jumping ring, it was rather a good idea for her finances, because when people saw her take in the ponies and horses meant for dog food and turn them into performance horses, they approached her, asking her for help... And paying for it.
There she was, just sixteen years old and with one hell of a choice. She had a chance to finance her own hobby, make it her livelihood... But to do so she needed time. Or there was school, and the chance at a proper job later on. To the surprise of, well, no one, she dropped out of high school and threw herself into genuine horse training as a job. She knew, like her parents, that it wasn't a cushy job - it didn't pay that much, and it came with quite a few risks, as countless of bruises and a broken wrist had shown already. But she wasn't deterred. Helping horses, training and umping, it was her passion, it was what she wanted to do. But she listened to her folks, and was smart about it. Whenever an 'useful' client needed her help, she asked her payment not in money, but in lessons, or a discount on the feed, or an apprenticeship (with the farrier and the saddle fitter, to be exact). Not only did that increase her skills and helped her around the horses, over time it also lessened her costs. And really, she quite enjoyed those adventures, too.
Of course, it helped tremendously that she continued her career as a show jumper at the same time, reliably placing in top fives with her horses, be it the 80cm start with the green horses, or the 1.45m classes with her pros. Of course it helped that she'd been offered a handful of difficult but talented hroses to ride, and that she could buy two or three of them, even as she rode others for prestigious events as well. She wasn't picky. And hey, her humble start served her exceedingly well each year during the bareback puissance, which she's won eight times in a row. Fun detail: she also entered 'only' eight times since she's turned eighteen.
Either way, her job and life developed a routine. And although she lived her dream, after a couple years of being a consistenly performing national rider with a penchant for fixing horses (and their hooves; somehow she'd become the farrier of not only her own horses and those of her family, but of the whole damn community... And her saddles, though flocking them or changing out a gullet wasn't that hard) she ended up in somewhat of a rut. Though she might want to, she had neither the cash nor the horses to truly go international with her jumping, and the training was fun, but a little... Dusty by now.
Luckily for her, a number of her clients, who had become friends along the way, were quite aware of it and knew her quite well. So for her 21st birthday, they arranged quite an unique gift for her: a darling wild Kaimanawa pony with a bad reputation. He challenged her and what she thought she knew about training and taming horses and made her a much better (horse)person, and most definitely served his purpose of reigniting that flame. Finding herself enamored with the unque spirit of the feral horses and their phlight, she had another dimension to her work and her passion.
Her work with the Kaimanawa pony drew the attention of other 'Important' people, with a little help from her client-turned-friend, earning her an invitation to participate in a challenge much like the Extreme Mustang Makeover. Of course Rae couldn't say no, and though in the end she didn't win the challenge, she did win two elements of it, placing third in the end. It seemed another branch of her career had blossomed. After the Kaimanawa challenge, she was invited to repeat that trick with the Brumbies and, deciding to use the bit of prize money she had gotten stashed away so far, she shipped out to Australia with her two best show jumpers at the time, riding in a number of competitions, as well as several team ones, when she wasn't working with her brumby. This time, she placed second, and had thoroughly lost her heart to the smart and talented horses so few people could appreciate.
With her qualities proven two ways, she was granted more opportunities. Though she declined teaching people, she did continue her own learning curve, doing research and an apprenticeship in equine massage and osteopathy, allowing her to treat some muscle soreness in her own ever-growing herd. The line towards success couldn't quite continue forever, though.
Three days after placing second in her second Kaimanawa challenge, disaster struck. Such as her beloved Kaimanawa, often used in demonstrations and for fun things, showing off her bareback and bridleless skills, dropping dead during a beach ride. While jumping some driftwood. Long story short? Between the fall and the flailing of the horse as he, well, died, she fractured her wrist (again), dislocated her shoulder (not the first time, either), and broke her jaw, losing a handful of teeth. Part of her was glad for that at the time; the forced down-time recovering also allowed her time to grieve. It wasn't enough to put her off horses, though.
It did give her time to re-evaluate her goals and adjust her ambitions. Show jumping still lured her in closer; she wanted to do more with that. But neither could she ignore the pull of wild horses, of seeing more of the world. A pen pal was the one to remind her of the American Mustang, though Rae still doubts that said pen pal planned to inspire this particular idea.
Because it really wasn't that hard to get invited to the Mustang Makeover. Sadly, the States were a bit too expensive to take some jumpers with her, but the holiday was rather enjoyable, just working with two mustangs (why stick to just one?), riding and hiking in some of the Parks and whatnot. The makeover itself was a bust; her assigned mustang battled with soundness issues and she found herself forced to withdraw, but it was enough to get her noticed by the organizers of Road To The Horse. Though she made clear she didn't feel worthy, the 'competition of the disciplines' appealed to her - they had a barrel racer, a dressage rider, a reiner, and her. The whole thing baffled her, but Rae persisted, and eventually managed to win by a very narrow margin. The prize money was definitely a benefit, though, and she used it to fine tune her farm operation in New Zealand, finall seeing options for going international.
It took her a year to return to the States - the time was filled with selecting her two best jumpers, selling the projects that were finished and in general her life. But she'd been invited back, and she was definitely keen on that. Certainly given that the theme was battle of the sexes, and she had somewhat of an axe to grind with smug male trainers who felt she didn't deserve to be there. And hey, given that she and the wily Quarter mare won was quite a vindication to her - enough that she decided to buy the mare. That, and accept her pen pal's invitation to stay in the States for a bit. Initially it was just another holiday, and time to continue working with her Quarter horse (and scope out mustangs, because she loved the feral creatures) when she decided that yes, this would be the year she was going to try and make it internationally. Thank you, friend, you're saddled up with me for a bit longer.
--- She also owns Nella, an only slightly disturbed Kelpie spayed bitch who has a handful of fun quirks.
Welcome to Choteau, Montana, in 2018. What was once only a small city focused on fossils, has now started to turn into an equestrian mecca. Everyone still knows everyone, so the question remains, what will you become? 
