side of the horse trade.

And many would say his 40-odd horses live better than some people on the family's 250-acre farm in Somerset, England.

At only 21, Collins, one of the Island's best known riders, has begun a stud management business. And he's already finding similar success after being invited to show off one of his prize stallions -- along with only 14 other stallions -- at the prestigious Tribute to Thoroughbreds at Burghley in September.

Collins' father, Mike, put up the money for the top class facilities at Stretcholt, and Tim hopes the breeding business will be successful, especially for his father's sake.

"He has always put his trust in me and although in the beginning he would have preferred it if I had got into cricket, golf, or his line of business he now realises that there hasn't been a single day in my life that I haven't been into horses,'' Collins told Eventing magaine recently. "I want things to go well so I can show him what I have achieved.'' The farm is complete with a swimming pool for the horses, an indoor ring as big as a football pitch, an outdoor ring, a timber-lined corral and closed circuit television to every bedroom in the house to keep an eye on the foaling box.

On a horse since he was five, he has competed in many events, including twice at the four-star Badminton Horse Trials, one of the largest and toughest in the world.

Collins and his sister Annabelle have been living full time for the past year at Stretcholt. And he's focused on making his stud business a success, breeding competition horses for both himself and others.

"I have six competition horses, Annabelle has one horse, then we have three stallions, 12 broodmares and 14 young stock at the moment,'' he said this week during a two-week vacation with his sister back in Bermuda.

"I love the stud, and I'm 110 percent into the whole thing and the moment I wake up I start thinking about it,'' he added.

With their three prize stallions -- Donnerwerther, Woodmount Magic and Lacardo -- their progeny have proven to be winners at eventing and dressage.

Tim, stud manager and head of the ranch, spends about four hours a day riding the horses and training them and in addition he teaches a few friends and helps them improve their riding techniques.

Tim gets a bit of coaching himself from current world champion, New Zealander Vaughn Jefferis, and some coaching from his sister Annabelle's dressage coach Emile Faurie.

Even though he is now breeding horses, Tim will continue to compete.

"I had a bit of bad luck lately as far as competitions -- I couldn't take my horse Brincador to the Olympics last summer because he couldn't stand the heat, and I withdrew Beta this year in Badminton because it was too dangerous to continue the steeplechase in a hailstorm with 35 mph winds.'' He now he intends to take his horse, Bermuda Twist, to Blair, a one-star three-day event at the end of August.

September will see Collins compete at Burghley, one of the toughest equestrian events of the year, and then he hopes to take Bermuda Twist and two of his younger horses to the European Championships in Boekelo, Holland another three-star event.

Both Tim and Annabelle, who is making a name for herself in the dressage division, are hoping to compete in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

Annabelle, 19, recently won a dressage event in Guernsey in the Channel Islands on her horse Francoli, with a score of 66.8 percent in the Prix St.George. She will attend Bristol University this fall to study economics and accounting so she will not be able to train as seriously as her brother.

She will, however, be representing Bermuda in a Young Rider International competition this fall at Hickstead, England. "My horse is just recovering from a blood clot in his jugular vein, but everything is stabilised for the moment.'' she said.

TIM COLLINS