As Fewer Cattle Tread, Horses Step In Equine Enthusiasm Prompts New Arena At Fauquier Exchange By Ian Shapira Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, April 20, 2004; Page B01 John Ameen and Jackie Boink were shopping at the Fauquier Livestock Exchange's monthly horse auction with a tight budget and strict specifications. The trainers from Leesburg and Purcellville needed a quiet, 6- to-10-year-old, something that looked flashy, could jump over a few logs, and would let cars go by without spooking at them -- something, in other words, they could sell to one of the many urban expatriates who have moved to Northern Virginia's hunt country for pleasure riding. But the 41-year-old livestock exchange, a white cinder block building streaked with rust stains, is better suited to the cattlemen who buy and sell cows and calves. It doesn't have a place where equestrians can get a really good look at a horse's gait or jumping ability before they plunk down their money. "It's really potluck what you get here," said Boink, watching a horse trot unevenly on a grassy field and driveway at last weekend's auction. "You have to believe whatever the seller tells you. It's a gamble." But now Northern Virginia's sole livestock exchange, faced with a shrinking local cattle market, is cozying up to the area's more prosperous equestrian clientele. Next spring, the exchange plans to open an indoor riding arena where horses can be shown more safely and more thoroughly. Performance sales not only will allow buyers to see horses in action but also will allow owners to set prices higher, increasing the exchange's 5 percent commission and its chances of surviving into the next decade. The arena is envisioned as the centerpiece of a larger equine one-stop shopping center to be developed on the 18-acre property in Marshall, about 50 miles west of the District and adjacent to the vast horse farms surrounding Middleburg and The Plains. A feed company, Tri-County Feeds, and a veterinary clinic, the Piedmont Equine Practice, also plan to open on the site next year. COMPLETE STORY AT: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25884-2004Apr19.html