[/font]:[/b] Bruce Tane Ropata

nicknames: None, really, though he will answer to "Boy"

age: 33, 15th March

religion: None

sexuality: Heterosexual

marital status: Single

occupation: Rider, Natural Horsemanship Teacher

playby: Te Kohe Tuhaka

hometown: Cadrona Valley, Central Otago, New Zealand

parents: Father: Wiramu, Mother: Te-Aroha

siblings:
Sister: Tiana and Brother-in-law: Scott.
Brother: Hemi.
Sister: Ataahua

brief history: Bruce grew up on a sheering farm in the depths of the Cadrona Valley in Central Otago New Zealand. He is the youngest of four children with a large gap in the ages of each child (Bruce's eldest sister and her husband managed the family farm when he was born). Being born on a farm also meant that he was pretty much born in the saddle so never saw the need of a riding instructor.

At school, he heard about Pony Club and quickly joined the Hawea Wanaka Branch. During the weekends he was at Pony Club and during the week he helped muster the family's 2000 head of sheep. By the age of ten he had his own team of sheep dogs.

After he had finished school and had completed all of his PC Certificates, Bruce decided that he wanted to teach younger riders. Even though he loved the wilderness of the farm, farm-life just wasn't for him. So, packing up his belongings and his three horses (leaving the dogs at the farm where they belonged, he left home and began his studies in veterinary science, focusing on large animals, namely equines. After training, he decided that he would "major" in natural horsemanship and gained all of his parelli certificates. He went on to running natural horsemanship clinics, kind of ignoring all the years he spent in university becoming a vet.

He's not sure what made him board the plane heading toward England, but he's not one to turn his back on adventure.[/font][/ul]

[/font]:[/b]
Starbucks Coffee
Cooking - self taught chef, but he's pretty good being able to find a recipe and create it
Reading - he'll read anything, no matter the genre
Farming
Horses
Spiders
Riding
Open Spaces

dislikes:
People that say they are farmers and have no clue what they are doing
Being cooped up
Thunder Storms (they spook animals)
Rats
Purse dogs
Abusers

STRENGTHS:
Teaching - no matter the age group
Working with "rogue" horses (though he will tell you there's no such thing)
It takes a lot to make him angry
Compassion

weaknesses:
Coffee
He's a softy when it comes to a sad face
People have said that he gives in to horses too much
Feels a little awkward around woman in social situations

secrets:
He killed his father's sheepdog by clipping it with a farm bike and knocking her into a gully.
Caught one of the Pony Club instructors beating a pony at a show.

fears:
The Ocean (sounds strange, but that much open water freaks him out)
Closed Spaces(Claustrophobic)

habits:
Plays with the greenstone koru that hangs around his neck when lost in thought
Smiles when he's nervous
Bounces on the balls of his feet when he wants to be somewhere else

overall personality: Bruce, or Boy as he is known back home, loves the thrill of being outside in the wilderness. He is as open as the surroundings he enjoys.

Tall, dark and handsome are three words that have been used to describe Bruce, but he's never been one to use his looks to get girls to pay attention to him. There again though, he's generally too busy to try and attract girls; first with the farm and then with study. This isn't to say that he's a prude or doesn't find females attractive, he just has other things to do then date millions of girls. However, he thinks that his nose is too prominent and wishes his lips weren't as full - not vain enough to have them surgically "fixed" though.

Bruce is also known as being a practical joker - but never in a nasty way - though what do you expect when his older (not the eldest) sister is ten years his senior? Sure, he'll set up a bucket of water to fall on you as you walk through the door, but he'd never do anything to hurt anybody. With joking aside though, Bruce is pretty quiet and likes to keep to himself. If he can't be found, you can probably place your bets that he's on the top of a trail somewhere under a tree with his nose in a book.

Kind and patient, Bruce allows people to think that he had all the time in the world when he is teaching. If it takes them two or three goes to get something right, he's not going to push them into getting there the first time. He take the same approach when working with horses.[/font][/ul]