The Insider

Issue date: 6/5/08 Section: Profile

Danni and Maverick

Glendale Rancho equestrian neighborhood is a rare patch of green between freeways and movie studios. Signal buttons tower above crosswalks to accommodate high riding locals. Hitching posts are as common as hedges in front yards. And children arrive to play dates on their mothers' saddles.

"We don't have an alarm clock," says Danni Schultz, 36, an eight-year resident. Her gleaming Arabian stallion, Maverick, resides in a cozy backyard corral a stride or two from her bedroom. "Every day at 7a.m. he's up and whinnying at the window."

An actor by trade, Schultz's, chic sunglasses and glamorous physique might say urban princess, but her broken-in Justin riding boots and sandy jeans scream country girl all the way. Known as Danielle Rayne professionally, her fans might not know the "other Danni." Her stuntman husband, Tom, 38, assures that despite the brick compounds and gabled estates that line the neighborhood's main avenue a blue-collar ethic exists here, too.

"We sacrifice a lot of space to have the horse with us," he says, opening a storage shed crammed with saddles, horse blankets, laundry detergent, and the family washer-dryer. "We sacrifice space for quality of life."

His wife adds, "We're zoned for 1.5 horses." The city permits one horse per 3,000 square feet. The Schultz's lot - affectionately dubbed "Triple-Two Ranch" - is 5,500 square feet.

"We're still looking for the other half-a-horse.

The full horse they do have didn't always afford such comfort. Before the Schultz family, Maverick was wrangled in the divorce of his previous owners. When the squabbling couple couldn't settle on who would get him, they decided neither would. Meanwhile, Maverick paced in a corral, under-trained, wary, and un-ridden.

At the same time, the Schultzes were looking for a horse to replace Doc Holliday, a veteran of the Wild Wild West show and a notorious "rearer." Upon meeting Maverick, Danni felt an instant connection. "I thought, 'I have no business training a horse this green," she recalls, "but I've got to have this horse'."

Within minutes the skittish animal prone to hiding in the shadows and jumping at the sound of grooming clippers was gently plucking carrots from Schultz's palm and nuzzling her chest. The wife of the couple wanted a companion for Maverick, a "trail buddy" as Schultz puts it. Apparently, she found her match; she sold the horse to Schultz in spite of more lucrative offers.

Continued...

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