Holly Leasor grew up in New Hampshire, where she began riding at a barn that did western riding and hunt seat. Holly quickly became interested in jumping and within a year of starting riding had joined Pony Club and started taking lessons in eventing. Her first eventing instructor Robyn Reilly, introduced Holly not only to the sport but also allowed Holly to get “mileage” on some spectacular horses including Ben Arthur who Karen Stives rode in the 1982 Olympics and Laurenson, Mike Plumb’s 1978 World’s horse. Through Pony Club, Holly was introduced to a virtual who’s who of eventing in New England; Nancy Guyotte, Nancy Bliss, Jane Hamlin, Heather Smith, Mike Plumb, Denny Emerson and many more.
Holly stayed in Pony Club through college achieving her H-A rating (old format) before attending the University of New Hampshire where she graduated with a degree in Animal Sciences, Majoring in Equine Studies.
Through high school and into college Holly worked through the levels of eventing eventually going as far as preliminary. After college, Holly who had gradually been becoming more and more interested in Dressage, decided to spend a winter in Florida working for Pam Goodrich, where she fell in love with the sport!
Holly’s next stop was in Connecticut working for 1987 Pan Am Silver Medalist Ann Guptill at her Fox Ledge Farm. Here Holly was first able to ride a Grand Prix school master. After working for Ann, Holly returned to Pam Goodrich’s Foster Meadow Farm, on a full time basis. Not only was Holly able to bring along her own horse but she was given the opportunity to ride many incredibly talented horses at different levels of training. It was in the late 1990’s at Foster Meadow Farm that Holly was first introduced to Lars Peterson, whom she would continue to work with on occasion for many years.
Over the next few years Holly would move to Wellington, Fl at Pam’s recommendation and take over the care and riding of one of Pam’s amateur clients horses. Holly was there for a number of years riding and training. Eventually training her own horse through the levels and teaching him piaffe and passage. While he never competed at FEI it was a great opportunity to take a horse from green broke through the highest levels of training. She was also able to compete through fourth level and ride many horses through all Grand Prix movements for a number of people. In Florida Holly worked with another former working student of Pam Goodrich’s, Julie Lyons. Julie introduced Holly to Friesians and Andalusians as dressage horses.
Through-out Holly’s career she has worked with a wide range of breeds. From Arabians, and Morgans to Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods and just about every breed in between. She feels very fortunate to have worked with trainers who did not discriminate against any particular breed but were only interested in the individuals’ abilities.
Holly believes that a happy horse is a healthy horse both inside and out. A happy horse enjoys their job and is a pleasure to ride. A horse that fears his work will never truly be happy and therefore will never really try for you. To keep a horse happy about his work Holly believes in varying the work he is asked to do from day to day. While flat work is important she also incorporates trail riding, in-hand work, ground poles, cavaletti and jumping as part of the horse’s regular working routine. The mental health of the horse, the inside part, is also important in Holly’s training philosophy. Turnout is an essential part of keeping a horse happy. As a trainer Holly believes it is important to remember that every horse is an individual with different needs, fears and abilities and that your job lies in finding a way to make each individual shine. It is your job as the trainer to instill in each horse the belief in their ability and a desire to do the job that is asked of them, when you accomplish this with patience and kindness you can have faith that you have a happy, willing partner.
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