It was just another saturday night at Mike's Livestock Auction, when I first met Rannayya
A busy night, with all stalls full of horses for sale, some with two or three per stall. Rannayya was in with another Arab mare. It was dark and difficult to see the condition of the horses, so I had to use my �braille� method of going over their legs carefully. When I came to Rannayya�s stall, at first I wasn�t that interested-Arabs are ten a penny in CA due to overbreeding. There was no mention of pedigree or even if she was registered and I typically look for big horses, but I could tell she was a nice little Arab with clean legs. The more time I spent with her-the more enchanted I became. What I really liked about her, was her interest in me. She wasn�t very tame but fairly inquisitive. I could see she was dark in color, but couldn�t tell exactly what color she was. I could see her beautiful head though. She had the friendliest eyes you can imagine.
Her stall mate was not very friendly or appealing though, so I concentrated my attentions on Rannayya. We bonded in just the few minutes we had, before her turn came to go through the auction. I was prepared to pay up to $500 for her.

When she was led in, I could see she was a lovely rich bay color with black points. It was obvious she wasn�t broke yet- they always ride the broke one�s in as they usually bring a higher price. The auctioneer started to describe her: �Nice little Arab filly here. What�ll you start the bidding at for this five year old granddaughter of Bask"? Well, that did it. Bask bloodlines are very popular and I thought, she�d make a nice broodmare even if there happened to be a soundness reason for her not being broke yet. So I jumped in with my bid of $400. A man quickly raised the bid to $450, so I bid $475 looking straight at the guy as if to say, �don�t bother, �cause I�m not giving in!� Well, that didn�t work- he bid $500. The auctioneer pointed at me shouting,�$550, will you give me $550 for this pretty little filly? She�s worth a lot more than that, based on her bloodlines�. He began reading more names from her papers. �Raffles, it says here, is her great granddaddy�. Oh lord, there was another awesome horse. No wonder she was so sweet. I had to have her. �$550�, I shouted, this time I put my hands together and prayed to the other bidder �please don�t outbid me�. This time it worked. He stopped bidding and finally, the auctioneer said the magic words, � sold to the lady on the left�, as his gavel came crashing down.
I was filled with a feeling of excitement as I ran to thank the other bidder on my way out to see my new �baby�. I loved her there and then. And she's proved to be more than worthy of my love. In fact, everyone who comes in contact with her, feels the same. She simply oozes friendliness and curiosity towards humans.

Breaking Rannayya was , to say the least, uneventful. She was such a sweet puppy dog, so eager to please and trusting. I�d have to say, she was probably the easiest horse I�ve ever broke. Not without spirit and spark, she would become tense and her eyes would show her true feelings, as I tacked her up the first time. But it was the way she responded to my voice and touch, as if to say, � okay, I�ll trust you to do that, as long as you don�t hurt me�. There were no fireworks or blowups of any kind. She just went along happily with the program, seeming to thoroughly enjoy the whole experience. What a nice change for me, after horses like Nathan and Man Tann! One thing I remember having a little trouble with, when breaking Rannayya, was her mouth. She was very uncomfortable with the metal bit, so I used a jointed rubber snaffle. That seemed to work better for her, though she would still raise her head high and try to run away from the pressure sometimes. So I tried her with a German martingale for a while. She was a different horse with it, It seemed to show her a comfortable place for her head and neck and she started to develop a nice arch to it. She moved like a dream and was very easy to persuade to do just about anything. From the pressure of legs and seat, I could make her back up several steps, then without coming to a full halt, change the direction of motion forward, smoothly into a collected canter. This was just something I was experimenting with and she was so willing, she was doing it without fear or apprehension. Just having as much fun with it as I was. She loved to hear the sound of my voice, praising her and to feel my hand patting her on the neck. I could get her to side pass up to a fence or any obstacle I chose (used to be the line of mailboxes on the main road). It became a game with us. She was so quick to learn when something was highly desired, she would almost run sideways to plant herself where she thought I wanted her to be. And all without fear of punishment, if she didn�t do it right. I don�t work like that. I like to find each horse�s own talents and aspirations, then work to bring it out, to whatever point they�re willing to give it. I never reached an emotional limit with Rannayya. Now, Rambo is another story, he will blow his top if I push too hard. Other than Danny perhaps, I don�t think I�ve ever had such a deep bond with a horse.
To be continued...........