Holly is a sweet, quiet, and gentle soul who loves attention and being pampered. She is a very non-marish mare (no kicking, biting, squealing, etc.) with a lot of personality. She has mostly lived with geldings but has been turned out with mares and geldings and gets along with both, always falling middle to bottom of the herd. She is the first to greet you in the turnout, will walk away from food to put her head in a halter, and even lay down and roll over for belly rubs.

While she is NOT a finished kid’s horse, Holly absolutely loves kids and has a natural sense of caution around them taking care to slow her walking pace when being led by them and putting her head down to be brushed, haltered, and unhaltered. She has been used for lead-line rides/lessons in an arena and on the trail, and has been ridden independently in a halter by children 6 and under in an enclosed, arena setting. Holly has excellent ground manners and will stand tied all tied with no pawing or dancing, though she does occasionally like to chew on her lead rope. She couldn’t care less about fly spray, clippers, hosing her face, etc., and stands quietly for the farrier, saddling and un-saddling. She walks in and out of the trailer without hesitation and has been hauled with and without dividers, saddled and un-saddled, alone and with other horses without issue. She has been extensively hauled to local arenas since she was a yearling for exposure, can be ridden in anything from a bosalita to a correction bit to bridle-less and is one-handed broke. She knows all the maneuvers; side pass, roll back, two track, counter-arcing, moves off your leg, knows her leads, has a good and correct spin started, will give you a sliding stop if you know how to ask, and has a solid start to her flying lead changes. She rides around quietly in the arena and on the trail with no bucking, bolting, or funny business, but can sometimes be vocal if she hears other horses calling out. She is great with obstacles, including walking and side passing over ground poles and jumping small jumps and has been exposed to mounted shooting and shot off. She has also been started on the flag and cows for cutting. While she rides quietly in the arena, Holly seems to much prefer the wide open spaces and sites of the trail and has logged many trail hours locally. She can be ridden out alone or with a group and will pony horses of any size without issue. You can open and close gates on her, and she will walk over through, and under anything. She is not spooky but if something catches her eye she will pause for a closer look, then quietly approach to investigate further. She will walk all day and has a pace that will out-walk horses twice her size. Holly can also sit for months at a time and ride off like you rode her yesterday with no funny business. While she is very versatile, and broke, Holly would also make a great lesson horse, trail mount, or backyard horse for someone who just likes to casually ride around.