~ 1x1 w/ Consulting_Angel & Zitface

[Consulting_Angel]

Please do not post unless you are either myself or Zitface.

An equestrian, rivals to lovers roleplay.

[Consulting_Angel]

Rafael Karim | 27 | Cismale | Bisexual
Pronouns: He/Him
Riding Style/Discipline: English/Eventing
Appearance: He has black hair that is very soft, and slightly wavy, kept short at the sides, though longer on top, and his eyes are deep brown, almost black. He stands at about 5'11'', and has an athletic build. The faded remnants of a scar mark the back of his left hand, and he has a good, slightly relaxed posture but isn't slouchy.

Personality: Rafael is a perfectionist. If he can't get something right or up to his standard the first time, then he'll try again and again until he does. He is hardworking, to the point that he'll wear himself out, but insist on pushing through. He usually thrives on competition, using it as a chance to prove himself - something which he frequently does - but still doesn't feel like he's quite good enough. If he loses, he will isolate himself for a full day, before coming back and with a new plan of action.

With other people, Rafael is usually friendly and social. He's known to be a warm presence, but he does have a tendency to judge others very quickly. If he decides that he doesn't like you on the first meeting, then there's very little that would change his mind. For those that irritate him, Rafael either ignores them or will be sharp and generally unfriendly.
For others that he gets along with, Rafael is patient, and often gives advice, if asked. He loves to help others improve - if they so wish - but notably does not hold others to the high standards that he holds himself at.

Bio: Rafael was born in Lebanon, and had two older siblings. His family moved to America when he was 8, and he is fluent in Arabic, English, Armenian and French - in that order. His parents opened up a restaurant, focused on Lebanese food, which has become rather successful.
While he was helping at the restaurant at the age of 12, a couple of Equestrians were customers, and he became very curious about their horses - he watched them while their owners were inside getting some food to-go.
Though they were reluctant, his parents relented and paid for him to have 'just 6' riding lessons, expecting him to lose interest. He was told he was supposedly a natural, and Rafael decidedly did not lose interest. So, on the condition that he'd help out more at the restaurant, they continued paying for his lessons.

At 15, his maternal grandmother died. Since his grandfather had died a few years prior, the full inheritance was passed down. Rafael, his parents and siblings, all received a rather large sum of money. He was not allowed access to it until he was 16. His parents already guessed what it was he intended to spend the money on, and insisted that he take up part time work at the local Equestrian Centre instead, so that he could learn hands-on about looking after a horse - this experience also becoming how he'd pay for his lessons, much to his parents' relief.

Finally, at 16, he bought his first horse - a Welsh Section D named Blue. He started spending most of his time at the Equestrian Centre, helping out to help pay for keeping Blue there. There was only so much he could do with Blue, however, and Rafael was aiming for the stars. So, after a few years, he made the very difficult decision to sell Blue, and bought the very green Nightstorm in his place. It has taken a lot of training and patience, but Rafael and Nightstorm (Thunder Through The Night) have become a very well-known team. A couple of years ago, Rafael also took on a rescue horse - a Friesian mare named Destiny - with whom he is making steady progress with. One of his first times riding Destiny, he was thrown from her after she got spooked by a falling tree branch, and broke his wrist. While this put him out of commission for a few months, Rafael came back more determined. His wrist still has its bad days, but he often pushes past the pain to keep training, even if he shouldn't be. Besides, how bad could it be? It happened over a year ago.
Despite that tiny setback, Rafael is considered at the Equestrian Centre one of the top trainers, especially with his recent progress with Destiny.

Show Name: Thunder Through The Night
Stable Name: Nightstorm
Age: 11
Gender: Gelding
Breed: Anglo-Arabian
Height: 15.1hh
Personality: Calm and sweet, Nightstorm is a very friendly horse. He loves attention from anything and anyone, and will be willing to follow anyone around without a leadrope. He can be oblivious to other horses and their reactions to him until it is too late and he is kicked at or nipped. Nightstorm does have quite a bit of energy, though, and will work for a somewhat lengthy amount of time - but does have a tendency to get distracted, especially if there are other horses nearby.

Show Name: --
Stable Name: Destiny
Age: 9
Gender: Mare
Breed: Friesian
Height: 16.2hh
Personality: Wary around unfamiliar people and horses, Destiny can be rather skittish. After a bad past, she was fortunately rescued and rehabilitated, and Rafael has worked hard to gain her trust. She is wonderful worker, though, quick and willing to learn. She also trusts a bit more easily now. However she is still very nervous around whips. She used to throw off riders if anything spooked her, but she has since calmed down enough to not do so now.

[Zitface]

WIP

Otto Van Koning | 31 | Trans Man | Gay
Pronouns: He/Him
Riding Style/Discipline: Western/Reining


Appearance: Otto stands at roughly six feet one, though he's given an inch in his riding boots, leaving him at six foot two. His facial hair is kept well groomed, and his dark hair is rarely kept in check, though he does tie it back as much as he can- given its length- when he needs to focus. Otto has a scar on his right shoulder from when Boomer grabbed and shook him early in his training.

Personality: Otto Van Koning has a resting face that seems somewhere between stern and sleepy, and first impressions might convince you that's exactly how he is. However, Otto is as much an adrenaline junkie as he is an agonizingly patient and forbearing person. His gut instincts tend to be spiteful and aggressive, but he's spent years mastering his personal control and chooses every day to try and be as level, measured, and kind as he can be.

Otto is definitely the type who'd rather be around his horses. His competitive streak tends to isolate him from his peers when there's competitions to be had. He is a more or less gracious loser, if not a bit sulky; however, he's an unbearable winner. He doesn't mean to gloat, but his exhilaration and joy can easily come across boastful; this is especially so when compared to his typically otherwise quiet demeanor.


Bio: Otto keeps more than his recent past close to his chest, largely to separate his pre-transition self to who he is now. As far as his childhood goes, he'll share that he was born Dutch, raised in Ohio, and spent summers in Texas with a relative who ran a small ranch. That's where he credits his horse experience from, largely, but he'd be leaving out the parts where he lent a hand on Amish farms in his home state as a kid. His Texan uncle largely worked with your average horses and riders, but had a passion for rehabbing feral horses; Otto quickly became enamored with the spirit and attitude in the ferals, and when he was 23 he begged his uncle to import an adolescent brumby colt for him to work on his own. From there on out, Otto and Boomer went from frenemies to inseparable.

Eventually, Otto and Boomer moved on from living and working at his uncle's ranch after building up their savings and earnings. Otto had enough to secure a smaller cottage that his ailing father lived in and sold it to him easily, on the condition he helped take care of him until his passing. Boomer adored the old coot, and Otto would later admit the time with Boomer after his father passed was just as difficult as when he was first taming the colt. When both had recovered, he spent months waffling about what he was going to do with his future; at the age of 29, he found himself at the Equestrian Centre to check out an auction a friend had told him about. There he made two great discoveries- Go Go Domino, who was very much not for auction, and the sport offerings of the center.

Go Go Domino was, after some negotiation, put on a "lease to own" contract for Otto, who had fallen in love with the scrappy appy. He saw great potential in the gelding, and he was a breeze to train compared to Boomer. Of course, compared to Boomer, most setbacks seemed small; there was a vast gulf between the difficulties between the two horses, who had a rough initial meeting but soon became close friends. Domino wasn't bombproof the way Boomer was, and consequently Otto reserved him for reining where Boomer was good for reining and mounted shooting. Otto, now 31, had decided to remain an active member of the Equestrian Centre and is a familiar face, spending much of his free time there. He keeps Boomer in his simple two stall stable at his home, as he's not interested in any of the potential consequences of strangers provoking the brumby, but Domino is boarded at the Equestrian Centre during the fair weather seasons, only coming to his home stable during winter.

Show Name: Boomer Freaky
Stable Name: Boomer
Age: 10
Gender: Gelding
Breed: Brumby
Height: 15hh
Personality: Boomer, though tame and well trained now, is every bit a feral horse in his heart and his skittishness and mistrust of most people is fully in character for him. He's closely bonded to Otto and Domino, but can be a bit of a bully to other horses in turnout- part of the reason he stays with Otto on his own land. Boomer has a large personality and a need to be the loudest voice in the herd, which makes introducing him to other horses a lengthy ordeal. When settled and the pecking order established, however, Boomer settles down. He's not a troublemaker, he's an animal that thrives on hierarchy.

Show Name: Go Go Domino
Stable Name: Domino
Age: 7
Gender: Gelding
Breed: Appaloosa
Height: 15.2hh
Personality: Domino is an animal that responds well to training, but in day to day life could be considered a bit dim. He's very much a "henchman", of sorts, to Boomer as a result of his "fall in line" personality. Domino is happiest when everyone else is happy and will dart in and out of the fracas when there's a dispute among horses or people, nipping or barking to try and establish the position of whoever he's backing, whether it's Boomer or Otto or another horse he's taken a liking to. Domino can be a bit of a social butterfly, but only after he's been shown he's more than welcome to make himself comfortable.

Headshot / Boomer / Domino

[Zitface]

[There we go! Sorry that took so long, I wanted to match the quality of your character haha. Do you have a preference on who writes the starter/where and how the starter sets up?]

[Consulting_Angel]

(It's alright, looking good! I get excited and end up writing more than I planned to! I don't have a preference, I can if you'd prefer. Maybe starting out with a typical day of preparation for training? And they cross paths?)

[Zitface]

[That sounds great! I got excited too, haha. I love how you've written Rafael's bio! Definitely, if you don't mind, you can write the starter! I'm always nervous about setting the scene because I like to make sure I can follow my partner's lead, haha.]

[Consulting_Angel]

(Thank you! And no problem, don't feel pressured to write as much as I have if you're not up for it)

Today seemed like it was going to be a wavering day for his wrist. He felt a slight twinge in it, the sort he'd get that would warn him not to use it too much. Rafael would ignore it, though - how was he meant to keep up his reputation of being a top horse trainer if he wasn't able to do his job? Besides, it didn't always mean it was going to hurt, sometimes it just mildly twinged and that was that. Anyway. It had been a couple of hours since he'd fed both Nightstorm and Destiny, and he'd finished all the yard chores he had for that morning, so he figured it was about time he took one of them out for some training - perhaps he'd work with Destiny first, he quite hoped to enter her into a low-level Dressage competition in a few weeks. He'd need to register a 'proper' name for her, but that could be thought about later. It would be strange, starting with a low level with Destiny, especially after everything he'd accomplished with Nightstorm, but it would be an excellent way to prove to himself the progress that he'd made with the mare.

Taking the halter and lead rope that hung on a bar just outside of the stall, he slipped it over Destiny's head, loosely fastened it up, and then unlocked and opened the stall door and lead her out. Making sure to close and lock the stall door, he took Destiny over to a sheltered space that had four large bays on one side, and the other side had two, large shelves that spanned most of the length of the wall, where various grooming kits were stored, each labelled with who the kit belonged to. He tied Destiny to a metal ring in one of the empty bays, and found his kit, opening it to first get a body brush and a rubber curry comb. He overheard a conversation from a couple of other riders, talking about upcoming competitions, how there was going to be a secret 'twist' to the season for the area. Rafael couldn't help but roll his eyes - he highly doubted anything of the sort would happen.

Rafael finished brushing Destiny, then he took out the hoofpick from his kit, and carefully picked out each of the mare's hooves, only half-listening to the conversation now, as it had moved onto a different subject. Once he'd finished, he left to quickly go to the tack room to get Destiny's tack. He trusted her enough to let her alone for a few minutes, but he still made sure to get her tack quickly, just in case.
Once he returned, he set the bridle aside, hanging it over the bay divider, and put the saddle on Destiny, and then moved on to put the bridle on her, taking the headcollar off as he did so, so the two wouldn't be tangled. Finally, once he was finished, he used the reins as a lead, and took the headcollar with him as he started to walk Destiny towards the outdoor arenas. He stopped off at Destiny's stall briefly to hang the headcollar back up, and then continued on his way.