A Nakusp girl’s love of the stars has won her a contest down here on Earth.
Rayne Ririe of Nakusp was surprised and shocked last month when she learned the name she had submitted to an RCMP ‘Name the Foal’ contest was selected as the winner.
“We got a call from the RCMP, and they told us Rayne had won,” says Candace Godwin, Rayne’s mother. “We decided to keep it a secret from her until we went to see the RCMP Musical Ride in Banff.”
Every year the national police force invites the public to name the dogs and horses they are training up to become police service animals. Rayne, who loves astronomy and the stars, submitted ‘Orion’ as the name for one of the Musical Ride’s foals. The Grade 6 student at Nakusp Elementary had no idea she had won when they travelled to Banff on Sept. 2 to see the Ride.
“They came up to us, and said we could sit in the VIP section,” says Godwin. “Rayne thought it was because her stepdad (Naksup Detachment Constable Lee Bellamy) has friends on the ride.
“But then they started to shake her hand, and thank her, and when we told her she had won, she was shocked. It was a great way to reveal it to her.”
Ririe was given a photo of the foal, a pennant from this year’s Canada 150 Musical Ride tour, as well as collector cards of all the officers on the ride this year.
And who knows? Maybe one day Orion will be a star of the Musical Ride.