Post by Swede on Nov 6, 2007 22:21:28 GMT -5
name: Faradera
age: 9 years
breed: swedish warmblood
height: 16 hh
color: black (Ee/aa)
eyecolor: dark hazel
gender: mare
markings: narrow blaze + 2 front socks, scar running down her face, smaller scars and healed burns across her body
history: Faradera was born and bred at the prestigious Flyinge Stud in Sweden. She was related to many of the greats, and had things going for her. She was imported to the US and was bought by a professional, who recognized her potential. She was shown a bit, then retired to the breeding pasture.
But tragedy awaited her there. She gave birth to three foals. Each one was stillborn. She grew lethargic and depressed. Her owners pitied her and put her back in the show ring, where she had always been happy. Her spirits brightened and life was good. She quickly climbed the ranks until she was in the top twenty of the eventers. Dressage, jumping, crosscountry, she did it all. She was destined for greatness.
One day, deep into winter, her owners were driving down a desloate and snowy highway. Faradera and her two traveling comrades, her sister and an older grey veteran gelding, were bundled up in the trailer. They wre clipped, but their blankets kept them warm. They were on their way to nationals, when the car hit a patch of black ice and slid off the road into a ravine. The trailer flipped and shattered, and the car exploded into flames. the wreckage was everywhere. No sound came from the car, but from the trailer came the screams of dying horses. The fire spread to the remains of the trailer, but miraculously Faradera pulled herself free. Mad with pain, her tail and blanket on fire, she charged intoa snowbank and collapsed. She was no longer burning, but the pain and the fear made her insane and she began dragging herself across the landscape, away from the the wreckage of the accident. Alone, helpless, and lost, she must face the harsh terrain ahead. That is, if she survives.
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She was almost immediately rescued by a young, charming stallion: Rosemont. He tended to her, cared for her, and she eventually joined him in the White Meadows. As the herd grew, they were moved to Rainbow Ridge. Faradera was deeply grateful to the young stud, but she was a mature mare in a band of young horses, and was restless subject to a lead mare who was hardly three years old. Out of respect for Rosemont, she did not challenge. She told herself life was good, but it felt as though something was missing.
She longed for motherhood. And, one fateful day, she got it. She found L'eau, lost and orphaned, and took her in as her own. Faradera was happy for a time, knowing that this was what she had been born to do. Or at least, hoped she had been; her past miscarriages still weighed heavily on her mind.
Then, Rosemont and the lead mare disappeared, along with their young foal. Faradera and the other mares were left alone, most of them pregnant, at the mercy of roving stallions and the oncoming winter. Bitter at this abandonment, her heart was lifted when a neighboring stallion, King, offered them refuge. But then, when things were looking up, Rosemont came back. He tried to drive King off with force, and did not realize that the Vanner was only trying to help. Faradera shouted at him, and in the end the entire herd was broken up, set on different paths. Old friendships died. Faradera was separated from the only one in the herd whom she still trusted, Tulip, and she and L'eau roamed the lands all winter.
The next spring, L'eau vanished, presumably to start a life on her own. And Faradera had bigger worries. She was pregnant with Rosemont's foal, but history repeated itself and the foal died during birth, nearly taking Faradera with it. Driven mad with grief, she hardly noticed the comforting words of Tulip when the other mare found her, nor of Rosemont's old lead mare, Diamond, who had left the herd as well. She ran off, starved by winter and blinded with sorrow. But King, faithful King, intercepted her path and brought her back to his terra in the Ridge, nursing her back to a state of normality. The following spring, her lifelong dream was realized: she gave birth to Cassandra, her precious daughter. Both of them nearly died in the process, and Cassandra has always been rather small and weak, but Faradera loved her daughter dearly. She still lived with King who she loved more than life itself, and soon they were awaiting their second foal together.
This too was a difficult birth, leaving Faradera exhausted; but though is cursed with the agony, the curse of the stillborns seems to have been lifted. Her second foal was a colt, vigorous and strong, much stronger than Cassandra had been. She named him Magpie, for his loudly splashed coat. In the same instant, Cassandra was stolen away by a pack of stallions. Faradera missed her daughter, but had to stay home with her new son.
In time, Cassandra did return, a broken ghost of a filly but back nonetheless. Together with her family again, she began the healing process, and Faradera was happy once more; especially when her sister Bagheera, believed to be dead, appeared in the herd. Magpie did leave to join a bachelor group, but that was merely the way of nature, and no doubt he would have a fine life on his own. Worse things happened, though; King disappeared, and Faradera left the territory with her daughter. After a harsh winter alone, they took up residence with Fallen, hoping that Faradera would be able to live out her life without being abandoned again.
