Holly Heidemann
Holly Heidemann is the founder of HH Performance Horses. Together with her son, Douglas Melling, they operate HH Performance Horses in Cedar Creek, Texas.
Holly and Douglas share a love for God, horses, and people. This combination allows them to be enthusiastic and passionate teachers and trainers.
Holly grew up in Northern California near her grandfather's ranch where she spent all her free time riding and working goats and cattle. Grandpa had great cow ponies and would let them do the teaching while he chuckled at the gate.
Holly moved to Southern Utah in 1990, to go to college. There she earned her degree in Elementary Education and began teaching first and second grade. For two years, she took Dressage lessons on her 14.3 hand barrel mare. This gave Holly an understanding of horsemanship that her previous western training did not. During that time, she was also raising and training barrel horses for futurities. She rode for Bill and Bruce Bunker, training many of their horses over the years. Bruce was an old Bulldogger and Roper. He was tough, but was instrumental in developing her ability to start horses. In the summers, Holly had a job pushing cattle on Cedar Mountain daily. This gave her a chance to keep her colts working slow, paying attention, and focused on something. Often, a horse would work cattle all day, then be hauled to a barrel race that night. Holly won buckles, saddles, and several titles aboard Bunker's horses. She later purchased some Dash Ta Fame daughters with the help of her father, and a stallion by Proudest Effort out of a Calyx mare. This was the seed stock for her breeding program.
Although it was fulfilling to train new horses to run barrels each year, Holly began to see the benefits in taking more time with her colts. She stopped doing futurities in 2001 and began training horses for the long haul...that meant waiting until they were 5 or 6 to run them. This changed her training schedule and allowed the colts to learn at their own pace without being hurried. She noticed her horses were more confident and were experiencing less injury as well. Throughout this time, she attended many clinics by Marlene McRae and credits her with changing her riding style for the better. Holly continued to attend clinics and take lessons from the barrel horse trainers she admired and infused what she felt was their best into her riding and training program.
Even through her busy schedule, Holly would often ride several horses after work and gave lessons to students. In the winter, that meant several layers of clothing, insulated coveralls and boots, and still freezing! Ground conditions could be a foot of snow, or frozen ground. Often, when the arena was frozen or slick, the only choice was riding one and ponying two horses up the side of the dirt road for exercise. It was tough sometimes, but was what had to be done to continue training through the winter months. Cowgirls in Utah are tough for a reason!
In 2002, after teaching for nine years, Holly left her teaching career for a position in her father's flooring company. Holly managed his company for two years before opening her own flooring import, wholesale and retail company with his help.
When an offer came in 2005 to buy both companies, Holly and her father sold them and Holly decided to move to Texas. In the spring of 2006, she and Douglas moved 20 horses to a little place in Cedar Creek, TX. There, she began building an arena, barns, fences, etc. to create her new operation. As the horse market and economy slowed, Holly sold half the horses and got down to a smaller, more manageable number. She retained her stallion and one broodmare, but has focused all her efforts on training and instruction along with her boarding program.
Holly's heart is for her students. She enjoys seeing them succeed and gets excited as they progress. With several nice barrel horses in the barn, it is easy to provide students with a step up in horsepower as they attain new skills. When students are ready to purchase their own horse, Holly enjoys assisting them in choosing the right horse for their budget and abilities.
Recently, Holly has expanded to include ranch sorting in her training of colts and going to Watterson Ranch has been the highlight of her week. Visit Holly's page about Watterson Ranch and her testimony about what she experiences there.
In addition to barrel racing and sorting, Holly's horses are all worked through her Extreme Cowboy course, which is ever evolving. Many of her horses are well rounded and can do much more than run a set of cans. She believes this is vital when you're riding a horse that is bred to be a bit on the hot side. It gives them something to focus on besides running all the time.
Holly's future plans include continuing to compete in barrel racing and ranch sorting. She has plans to expand her clinic schedule and will be bringing in fellow barrel racing experts to create a team of clinicians to assist students. She continues to learn everyday and applies that to her program so she can share with students.
Along with her horse program, Holly is also a western artist. You can take a look at some of her work at www.artofthewest.org.
