time. And it started with a $12,000 horse that I donated to a charity auction.” When she does have time off, Hoffman enjoys her own horses. She now has more than 50 at her Blue Moon Ranch in Mineola, Heather Garland, trainer at Marilyn’s Blue Moon Ranch, with Louis Vitton, a Half Arabian gelding donated by Marilyn Texas—among Hoffman and Brookville Arabians to the Cattle Barons Ball, them 11 national benefiting the American Cancer Society. His sire and dam are both Unanimous National Champions in Halter. Heather will and national reserve be showing Louis Vitton in Halter and Hunter Pleasure. champions—and has been breeding and showing for years. Her older stallions NNL Ultimate Bey, Rayzaar (a straight Egyptian AK Nazaar son), and CF Jett have been joined by newcomers Justis FF and Alibi FF. In 2008, Alibi won a gold medal at the Las Vegas World Cup, while Justis was named Top Five. Another favorite at the farm is her mare U.S. National Reserve Champion Half-Arabian Yearling Portia LRA, who is in foal. “I should have a beautiful baby soon,” she says, with the ever-hopeful outlook of a breeder in springtime. Hoffman’s Arabian involvement, clearly, is not all marketing. She points out that while she has donated more than 100 horses to various charities, she always chooses venues where the bidders have the wherewithal to care for the four-legged ambassadors. And if a charity transaction doesn’t work out, she is ready to take the horse back—as she told the buyer of her donation for the Boys and Girls Club of Fort Worth.
Marilyn Hoffman’s son Lance winning a Halter National Championship with Psyc It Ritz.
Marilyn and Scottsdale Halter Champion, Tymeless VF.
“The guy called me the next morning and he said, ‘I must have been drunk last night,’” she recalls, and smiles. It’s a good story. “He said, ‘I bought this horse, I have no idea what I’m doing, and I don’t want the horse.’ I said, ‘That’s fine, I’ll sell him for you.’ Then he asked if he could come out and see the horse, and I said sure. So he comes out and takes one look at the horse, and it’s a gorgeous black stallion, and he says, ‘That’s my horse?’ I said, ‘Yes, what did you think?’” It turned out that the man’s friends at the party had assured him that no one would donate a good horse to a charity, so his purchase must be “a nag.” “He said, ‘Of course, I want him! And I want to buy another one.’ So he ended up buying another one and he put both of them in training at Tamar Arabians, and now he’s showing extensively.” Soon, Hoffman’s new recruit may need his own facility. He’ll know who to ask to find the right one. n
Lynn Andrews with Marilyn and her son, Lance, winning Reserve Champion in the Amateur Stallion class at Scottsdale with NNL Ultimate Bey.
Marilyn can be reached anytime on her cell at 214-674-3961 or see more online at: MagnificentProperties.com