Horse crazy is a good way to describe Holly.  Her life has been spent as a horse advocate.  She is passionate about horses.  She thrives on horse information and loves to learn more about equines and the mystery of how they help heal people.

After spending her childhood on the back off a horse, her adult life starting at 16 was teaching others how to ride.  In college, she coached the Equestrian team at Texas Tech.  She was also able to compete and placed 7th in the intercollegiate Nationals.

As a 4-H horse-show kid, a combined training eventer, and a Western riding coach, her life changed after marriage and she planted roots in Brenham, Texas.  Brenham is horse country with the most impressive legendary horseman around every corner.  Brenham is where Holly learned to deliver horse babies and run a Thoroughbred racehorse broodmare/baby  horse facility as well as managing cattle ranches.  She continued to teach riding and once she opened her lesson program (Equitation Thyme), she had 40 lessons a week.  During those exhausting years of raising 2 boys and working a demanding schedule, she realized she needed to learn more about therapeutic riding since a few of the kids riding in her lesson program had some mental and physical challenges.  Realizing she didn’t know how to therapeutically help these kids, she decided to get certified as a therapeutic riding instructor.

After working for Wunderhill Farm for 23 years as an equine horse midwife and baby horse kindergarten teacher, she had learned enough to start a nonprofit therapeutic riding program, horse sanctuary/rehabilitation, and an equine assisted therapy program.

Her boss and best friend Virginia Jago Elder who owned Wunderhill Farm gifted some land to Holly which helped her start the new Wonderhill Farm to honor Virginia and her love to the majestic equine.  

Holly learned most of her equine knowledge from her experiences while working for Virginia Elder, her team of horse professionals and the proud, spirited, and incredibly sensitive mysterious Thoroughbred race horses.

Holly wants to give back and share all the kowledge she learned while delivering babies, training babies, and rehabbing Virginia’s horses who retired from racing and needed a new career or a sanctuary for the rest of their days. She has built an amazing team of professionals in whom she depends on for her rehabilitation program and sanctuary.

As a Certified Therapeutic Riding instructor, Holly has now worked with riders who have the following diagnosis: Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s , Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, Developmental delays, Intellectual Disabilities and other physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

As an instructor Holly has been called empathetic, patient, open minded, particular, safety conscious, creative, fun, calm, grounded, and a multitasker (with eyes in the back of her head.)  She thrives on teaching others how to build relationships with their horses by understanding how horses communicate and how they help us process our own emotions.  She sees pictures to relate with what students might already know and teaches horsemanship safety at the beginning of every lesson/ride.

Holly believes in building relationships thru:

Respect (setting boundaries/limits), Trust (faith and reliability), Confidence (knowing who you are/learning who you are), Focus (being fully present) and  incorporating these principles in training horses and humans.