TRR photo by Tom Kane Horse farm owner Marguerite Illing and her dog, Odie, approaching a nervous Arabian colt. (Click for larger image)

By TOM KANE

SULLIVAN COUNTY - Marguerite Illing takes her horses seriously. So seriously, in fact, that she breeds and shows them.

Her farm, called Twin Brooks Farm, is up in Cooley on County Road 63 near Parksville.

She and her husband Henry raise Arabian horses and show them at exhibits within a 300-mile radius all year long. Henry is a professional engineer and spends his free time helping his wife.

"We have stallions that have gotten international recognition," Illing said. "That brings in higher stud fees. These fees are where you get your money."

The Illings have been breeding Arabians for 35 years.

"We have 12 Arabian horses now," she said. "One is being bred down in Texas-a mare. The stallion is leaving for Israel in a few days, so we don't have much time."

The horses are judged on such qualities as conformation, balanced body, correct legs and breed type characteristics.

Horses are not just bred but are also trained for shows in specific types of gaits and prances. "With English style, the horse has to have its head up and more alert looking. In park style, the horse has to be highstepping and canter alertly," Illing said.

All this has to be meticulously taught to the horse. "We don't train so much anymore because it's so difficult. We send them out to be trained," she said.

Besides show prizes and breeding fees, income results from selling a prize-winning horse. "We sold one recently for $10,000," she said.

Arabs are very diversified horses and can be taught almost anything, according to Illing. "They enjoy being worked and being with you." The Illing horses trace thin blodlines directly to Egypt and then to Arabia.

Recently, the New York State Horse Council was given a $100,000 grant from the state through Senator Joseph Bruno. "The money chiefly goes to prizes so that it will encourage horse shows," Illing said. "That promotes showing, training, breeding and is a source of economic development in the state."

Another type of horse farm is Ed and Barbara Moran's Stonewall Farm on Cochecton Center Road outside of Jeffersonville. "We train riders and we board mostly," Ed said.

Stonewall houses 35 horses on the 40-acre farm. Ed holds a B.S. in Dairy Science and Barbara a B.S. in Animal Science, both from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, PA, where they met.

The Morans have been horse farming for nine years. "It's a lot like dairy farming," Ed said. "You handle a lot of money but you don't get to keep much of it."

But, there's another way horse farming is unlike dairy farming, he said. "On a dairy farm, you have a barn full of cows. On a horse farm you have a barn full of horses and people."

Stonewall Farms has about 65 riding students. "They range in age from five to 75," said Ed.