She's not horsing around

Dog trainer and horse owner Donna Miceli is moving to Orland from the Bay Area and was disappointed in herself for bringing seven saddles up here before all of the fences were put in on her property.

That is because somebody allegedly broke into her shop building four weeks ago and took them when she was not home.

Her fencing contractor Burris Mays discovered the break in a month ago on a Monday, Miceli said, and called her with the news.

She told him she was on her way to Orland, and she called the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office once she reached town. A report was taken. The search was on, but Miceli did not know if she’d see her saddles again.

Internet searches of Craig’s List yielded no clues, she said. Then she remembered she belonged to the Orland Area Chamber of Commerce and e-mailed it about the theft a week later.

Chamber manager Candice Anderson put a description of the saddles out to chamber members via e-mail on a Saturday, Miceli said. The next day, she got a call from a deputy that a woman reported finding seven saddles at her home or shop that did not belong to her. That was a week ago.

The saddles have all been recovered but remain in the possession of the sheriff’s office. However, Miceli expects to get them back soon, she said. They include five western and two English saddles.

One of the saddles belonged to Miceli’s mother and was custom-made in the 1930s by a saddlery company in San Francisco. Her mother used to exercise polo ponies and race horses at Golden Gate Park and received the saddle as payment in the 1950s.

A pony saddle that belonged to her children also was important for sentimental reasons, she said, and the rest all have value, too.

“I did not want to put too much pressure on the Internet because they might have dumped the saddles in irrigation ditches,” Miceli said. “At least they did not drop them somewhere they could not be properly retrieved.”

Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said this is a bizarre case where a lady said she found the seven saddles in her barn that did not belong to her, and she had no idea how they got there. He added the theft is under investigation and deputies are trying to find who stole them.

Miceli decided to move to Orland from Santa Rosa because of the land values and the area’s position for growth.

Her 19.5-acre property is completely fenced for her dogs and horses, so it is unlikely intruders will be around again.

“A county guy was by this morning and got barked at good,” Miceli said Tuesday. “I’m sure the word will get around about these big dogs.”

Miceli trains German shepherds for obedience, tracking and working trials and plans to set up training rings and conduct classes in Orland once she is settled. She also wants to put up a covered arena, horse stables and corrals for the horses, she said.

“Orland is starting a growth spurt again,” Miceli said. “Chico just passed 100,000 population and Willows is planning a Super Wal-Mart, so it’s good to get a foot in the door of this place – especially for a dog trainer.”

She added Orland is a friendly community where people will wait for you to back out of a parking spot. “In the Bay Area, they will run over you,” she said.