Post by Amber Michaels on Jul 10, 2012 14:12:36 GMT -5
Amber Claire Michaels
17. FEMALE. JUNIOR. STRAIGHT.
Amber was a girl who grew up in a city of rain. Born in Seattle, Washington, she grew up to love it. As a kid, you would always find her in rain boots, dancing outside in the puddles while her friends stayed inside playing house. She lived in a small house ten miles from downtown Seattle near Lake Washington. With a brother and a sister, Amber was the youngest child, her siblings being three and four years older than she was, and she's often been teasingly called the "Afterthought". However, she has not been treated as such.
Though she had always had a fascination for horses, it wasn't until she was seven years old that she began riding. She took lessons at a jumper barn ten miles from her house, and she loved it so much, she stayed at that barn until her sophomore year in high school. She began showing a year after she started riding, and was soon jumping. Though she dabbled in hunters, she was always more of a jumper, and equitation rider. When she started high school at fifteen (she was a September birthday, so she was always older than her classmates), she got a horse for her birthday, an off the track Irish thoroughbred gelding of five years old, by the name of Royal Endeavor. She spent two years working with him, until she was jumping 2'6" by the end of her sophomore year. Before that however, she had been schooling other horses up to 3'9".
She's always been light spirited, energetic, and always trying to be in a good mood. Of course, she doesn't necessarily succeed, but she tries anyways. She loves exploring Seattle, though she isn't much of a shopper. She does however, enjoy it occasionally. She adores coffee and all manner of hot drinks, and loves the ocean. She's a lover of movies, socializing, and the great outdoors. Running is an activity that she loves other than horses, and her family has four cats and a dog. She's not the tallest, most imposing person, standing at about 5'7", with an athletic build and brown eyes.
Royal Endeavor is a seven year old, big boned, Irish thoroughbred gelding. He stands at 16.1 hh, and though he is actually not the tallest horse on the block, he looks big because he's muscular, and thicker than your typical light boned American thoroughbred. He was really a special find. Though he was a birthday present, he was a birthday present that she got to pick out. They went to the track, and were shown several horses in stalls. One horse tried to bite her. One pricked it's ears, but did not move. The other just looked surly. And one horse promptly tried to stick his nose in her pocket. She took the grey horse out for a walk and a jog, and got his racing record. He'd only been in ten races - and had only one once.
She took the fiery beast home that day, and he became her partner, and friend. She hand walked him for long periods of time, and worked on calming him down. Once that was finished, she began jumping him. After three months of schooling, he began searching for jumps. He was a true jumper, with a growing round jump, and massive athleticism. He tended to be over enthusiastic, but he had power. Lots of power. She took him to a hunter show a year after she got him in the 2' division, and got the reserve champion.
However, it was obvious that Royal loved to go fast. Long gallops on the trails, getting bucked off a fair amount of times, and wild, rambunctious rides at the beach allowed the horse freedom during the summer, while long hours were put in with flatwork, dressage, and arena jumping. She took her bold horse to jumping clinics, cross country courses, and once he figured out that the tires, and massive logs were jumps, and that you were supposed to jump IN to the water (which involved being dumped several times), he was a trooper. Though still young and green, he does have the tendency to be wild, but he is fearless, and in general, a pretty cool dude.
