A local girl, 7, and her friends raise $519 for a Sams Valley ranch that cares for neglected horses

When Annika Faught thought about what she wanted for her seventh birthday, she decided in lieu of presents to ask the 35 friends attending her party to help neglected horses.

And on Friday she handed $519, in small bills and change, to the Res-Q Ranch.

"That’s a big heart on a little girl," said Michele Register, who with her husband John-Paul Register, owns Res-Q Ranch in Sams Valley.

Annika, who is not intimidated petting the large animals and has taken to galloping around in circles, likes horses for the obvious reasons.

"Because they’re cute and they’re fun," she said.

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Her mother, Melissa Faught, said she has no idea where the interest came from, but when Annika was 3, she suddenly rejected all dolls in favor of horses.

"She’s saving all her chore money for a horse," said her mother. "I told her she has to save $5,000 — she’s only got a couple hundred," she said, breathing a sigh of relief, adding that they live in town and would have to keep a horse at a stable.

Annika first saw wild mustangs in North Carolina where her grandparents live, according to her mother. She has wanted to help them ever since. Her mother did some research and learned that Res-Q Ranch has a few captured wild horses in their care.

The Registers were so moved by Annika’s gesture, that when they rescued a starving horse on Thursday from a person in Selma who no longer wanted the animal, they named her Annika Pumpkin.

Annika Pumpkin is about 30 years old, said Michele Register. The pumpkin-colored mare was just skin and bones when found, left out in a field with no care.

She said it would be like putting a 100-year-old man in the street in the winter with no clothes on and wishing him luck.

But the Registers thought Annika Pumpkin would do well once she got some food in her, and young Annika giggled as the old mare nibbled grain and snatched carrots out of her hand Friday.

The Res-Q Ranch, which has been rescuing horses for about 15 years, adopts out the horses once they’re healthy.

"We ask for an adoption fee," said Michele Register, adding that they’ve placed their horses with people for costs ranging from no fee to $1,000.

For more information about Res-Q Ranch, call 830-4999 or visit www.fognot.net/members/resqranch/ on the Web.

Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail mlanders@mailtribune.com