Cowboy Life - An Appaloosa Plains Story - part 1

 Sims 4 Horse Ranch just came out, and there seems to be a lot of disappointment that the horse arena is just a rabbithole, and doesn't even have the mini-game for competitions that Sims 3 has. I happen to have a rabbithole rug for the Sims 3 arena - I don't remember how I found it; I thought is was a Jynx rug like my others, but it says Misty instead of Jynx. I built rodeo grounds in Appaloosa Plains on the original horse arena lot, and there's been some interest in downloading it, so it's on the Exchange, and the file is also included on my Discord channel along with the rabbithole rug. For some reason I couldn't figure out how to share the files from here. My Discord channel is https://discord.gg/aqcFY49m and it really doesn't have much except the link to this blog. The files can be found under Builds. 

Here's a few pictures of the arena. Lighting is a challenge due to it's size and the fact I wanted the two-story height. 

I have since put the racing posts in the barrels so the horses would run the course. The pattern isn't authentic, but it's the best I could do. 

I was looking for someone with a horse to test the arena and settled on Honey Darnell. She's supposed to be a parody of Dolly Parton. Honey is not only an excellent horsewoman, but also a darn good musician. She works in the music industry, but loves riding Skedaddle around town and competing in barrel racing contests. I felt her hair wasn't quite giving off Dolly Parton vibes, so I gave her a couple different hairdos.

When the game starts, Honey has two love interests: Johnny Johnson, another musician and horseman whom she works with . . . 

(I didn't like Johnny's hair either, so I changed it after this date with Honey.)

 . . .  and Chuck Hobble, a former rodeo cowboy turned police officer.

The guys share this ranch house in the background of this screenshot, and each has a horse. They each have their own wing of the house, and share the kitchen and living area. I don't think either is aware of the other's relationship (or situationship) with Honey. 

I had this idea of finding someone to be a rodeo clown and provide some unbroken, ornery horses for saddle bronc riding. Chuck, you're it! Quit that job and join the acrobat career. Put on some clown make-up and go to work. 

Honey practiced her barrel racing while Chuck practiced his clown act. Later, Chuck looked for an obnoxious horse to adopt as a saddle bronc. His own horse, Shadow, has too mild a temperament. He found a horse aptly named Kicker. 

Smile for the camera, Kicker!

Chuck took Kicker down to the arena to try her out. He gave this paparazzi permission to ride her.

Yes, Kicker, I think you'll do. Now to find one more. 

That evening, Johnny Johnson asked Honey out to the festival. They had a great time.

Johnny was on cloud nine by the time the date ended. Meanwhile, Chuck decided to treat himself to a few drinks after a hard day's work. He ran into his friend Oriole Bird and she told him she heard through the grapevine that Honey and Johnny were getting pretty cozy at work.

 Chuck was bummed out, but tried to make the best of the evening.

The next day, I was just trying to take Chuck and his horse Shadow down to the arena to test out the adjustments I made to the barrel routing, when all hell autonomously broke loose!

I had just sent Shadow to the arena and was looking for Chuck. He had apparently spotted Honey playing her guitar in the corrals and gave her a piece of his mind for cheating on him.

He was so upset he lost his temper with her. 

(Burglars just aren't too subtle in this game.) Anyway, Honey told Chuck that they had never said anything about dating each other exclusively, and it was none of his business who she hung out with or dated. He was just being a big baby about it. (I checked to make sure she wasn't saying she was pregnant.)

Then she opened a can of whoop-ass on him as Calvin Riffin looked on.

In the end, she put ole Chuck in his place. These guys are no longer friends, needless to say. Calvin seems to have lost interest in the altercation.

Do NOT steal my horse, you creep! This is shadow, by the way. 

Running barrels would be a lot easier if random horses and spectators weren't hanging out in the field.

This means you too, Honey. I see you trying to latch onto yet another man! I later saw these two flirting.

It's been a trying day for poor Chuck. Better luck tomorrow, dude.