Hollahan Stables

Heather is a USDF Silver Medalist and FEI competitor. She is currently competing at I-1 and schooling the Grand Prix.  She enjoys helping horses and riders of all levels, goals and budgets. Although the barn travels to major recognized shows on the east coast, many students are happy to show on the local level or not at all as they simply want to ride more effectively.

Heather started riding at the age of 5 and went on weekly trail rides at a local barn in Rockland County, NY. She spent the rest of her childhood working at the barn in exchange for riding opportunities even if it was a quick bareback spin on a pony. She rode sales horses at a jumping barn to pay the board for her first horse. She then went to Cornell for pre-vet and took classes as an undergrad at the Vet School such as "Joints: their structure and function with an emphasis on arthritis", "Biomechanics" and "Exercise and Thermoregulation". During the summers, Heather was an intern for an equine rehabilitation center in California where Olympic vets would fly in to diagnose mystery lamenesses. The horses would sometimes stay for rehab and the center would use many alternative therapies including lasers, ultrasound, electromagnetic fields and even a high speed Sato treadmill. She ended up being hired as the Director post graduation.

Horses in the rehab center ranged from family pets, to Olympic horses, to racehorses. Since racehorses are commonly injured, Heather earned her trainer's license in California and started a training barn at San Luis Rey Downs for horses coming back to racing after injury. She used all of the experience she gained at the rehab center and put it to work on the horses in her care before turning them back over to their main track trainers when they were working at racing distances soundly. She now uses this combined experience to help injured horses at her own barn that are part of the farm's rehabilitation program.

Below, swimming a horse at San Luis Rey Downs:

It was at the rehab center that she met Corky. Corky's real name was Frascotti and was a son of the legendary Furioso II. He was imported as a stallion and ended up having Wobbler's Syndrome, a type of OCD which effects the spinal cord and causes neurological problems. Corky had a death claim paid out at the insurance company but instead of putting him down, they did experimental surgery to fuse the vertebrae in his neck and he ended up at the rehab center for recovery. He was Heather's project and they ended up defying all odds as this used to be a death sentence for horses. She competed him in the hunters successfully in California and people would come up to her and tell her that she had to do dressage with him since he was such a nice mover. That was the beginning of the dressage "bug". It was also believed that dressage would be good for Corky's residual unevenness that resulted from his surgery. Corky ended up doing up to 4th level before his retirement mainly because of his excellent attitude and resilient nature. He was the horse of a lifetime and he taught her a lot.

Corky below with Lucy the dog and a couple of nosey cats.....