Holly Hover – A Lifetime Commitment to the Quarter Horse

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68 – November/December, 2017

“I learned from a young age the basic skills of working with horses…We learned how to read a horse, how to tell when it would spook, or when it was mad or dangerous. These were skills I learned from trial and error…and you know what, we didn’t die!

Holly Hover’s reputation is towering. A tour de force in the horse show industry, Holly has spent her career training and judging at the highest levels of Quarter Horse competition. As a trainer, she has spent nearly four decades coaching clients to all-around and individual event wins at the AQHA World Show and the All American Quarter Horse Congress. As a judge, she has more than three decades of experience, including judging the AQHA World Show on 11 occasions. She currently holds cards with AQHA, APHA, NSBA, and NRHA. Holly serves on several AQHA committees, has been involved with the AQHA Youth World Cup, and is credited with developing the idea for the AQHA Level 1 Championships. She conducts educational clinics around the globe, mentors high school riding teams, and will soon be coaching for the Arizona State University equestrian team. Adding to her impressive list of accolades, in 2015 she was awarded AQHA’s prestigious “Most Valuable Professional Award.”

Yet, for all her accomplishments, Holly is quick to turn the attention away from herself. Instead, she humbly attributes her success to those who have supported and guided her throughout her life – in particular, to the foundation established by her parents at a very young age. “Looking back, I realize that everything I have become is because of my parents and the way I was raised,” Holly says. “I didn’t understand it at the time, but they worked tirelessly to build me into the woman I am today. It was through riding horses that they taught me to be a strong and upstanding person. I see their guiding hand in my life every single day, and I’m filled with gratitude for them. It’s because of this that I try to walk in their footsteps and to instill the same qualities in the youth I work with.”

To understand Holly Hover, it is necessary to go back to when she was just seven years old and was introduced to Quarter Horses for the very first time.

Click here to read the complete article
68 – November/December, 2017