MARKHAM | Two Chicago men accused of aggravated animal abuse at a horse stable in unincorporated Bloom Township pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

Bar-L stable owner Frank Lee, 67, of Chicago and caretaker Donnie Edwards, 62, of Chicago, face charges of four counts of aggravated animal abuse.

Lee and Edwards entered pleas Wednesday and are next scheduled to appear in court Nov. 6 in Markham, said Andy Conklin, spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.

They face felony charges after Cook County sheriff's police found horses living in substandard conditions, authorities said.

Officials say a tip led officers to raid the stable in the 1900 block of Glenwood-Lansing Road in unincorporated Bloom Township on July 28. Police officers found four underweight horses in pens where feces was piled 2 feet high. The horses' hooves also were overgrown, cracked and bleeding, officials said.