AQHA November / December 2019 Magazine AQHA NOV-DEC 2019 PRINT (2) | Page 12

PG.10
AQHA FEATURE
Let’s get to know...
AQHA SENIOR YOUTH
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Chris
ARTICLE BY: LYN HOFFMANN © 2019
PHOTOS BY: EV LAGOON PHOTOGRAPHY & TANIA HOBBS PHOTOGRAPHY
Having been around horses his whole life, Chris Holmes
can’t remember not being constantly drawn to them.
M
AYBE his affinity with horses began the
day his Mum brought him home from the
hospital and held him up on the back of
one of her quiet eventing horses! However
it happened, his love for horses started
from a very early age.
‘My first pony was a little part-bred Welsh Riding Pony by the
name of Curly,’ Chris recalls. ‘Curly was very naughty, and
although she didn’t turn out to be the ideal kid’s pony we
thought she was when we bought her, she actually taught
me quite a lot. I started having riding lessons at an English
riding school when I was eight years old, continuing with
that for the next few years, and competing in disciplines like
Dressage, Jumping and Cross-Country.’
Competing in Eventing was an exciting time for Chris,
until the day he suffered a particularly bad accident over a
jump. After being heavily landed upon by his falling horse,
Chris’ left arm was badly broken in four places, all the
way from his wrist to his shoulder. After spending a very
painful time enduring countless hospital visits, casts and
operations, including an elbow reconstruction, getting
back into the horses, particularly in the competitive side,
left Chris feeling far from confident. The healing time was
long, but Chris missed the horses and the competition.
Baloo, one of Chris’
childhood pony buddies
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