Introducing Your Executive Committee
Member At Large Youth – Holly Reynolds

By Sarah Gee
©Voice, July 2007

The daughter of a Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy, Holly Reynolds lived in a lot of places growing up. However, there is one place she considers home – Billings, Montana. Holly’s parents, Cyrus and Lois Lee, were both native Montanans, and when her father retired in the 1960s, they moved their family, including daughters Holly and Laura and son Cyrus, to Billings. Holly is a graduate of Billings West High School and the University of Montana.

Married for 26 years to Dennis Reynolds, Holly considers her family her greatest accomplishment. She and Dennis have two daughters, Mattie and Dava, both of which are proven scholars and active horsewomen. Dennis enjoys a career in the high tech hardware and software industry while Holly runs her own dog boarding and training operation, Holly’s Bed and Biscuit, from their home in Canby, Oregon.

In addition to running Holly’s Bed and Biscuit, Holly is a very well known dog breeder and trainer having won both the U.S. National Championships and Canadian National Championships with her German Shepherds, both in conformation and working events. She is also licensed with the AKC to certify dogs in their highly successful K-9 Good Citizenship Program. While she is still actively breeding and training German Shepherds, Holly has turned the showing duties over to her younger and more agile handlers. She now indulges her passion for showing dogs by leading her two pugs.

Holly has had a lifetime love affair with horses that began on the ranch owned by her aunt and uncle. She was introduced to the Tennessee Walking Horse by Bob and Wayne Westbrook. Holly was pregnant at the time, and was no longer comfortable with her Arabian. The Westbrooks let her ride their WGC Pride’s Sky High and within a year of that first glide ride, Holly had two Tennessee Walking Horses of her own including WC Royal’s Rolls Royce.

It wasn’t long before Holly was a full-fledged Walking Horse enthusiast working as a representative for Voice magazine, showing at the Celebration, and representing the breed at Equitana in 1995. Most recently, she became a licensed TWHBEA Judge. On the local level, Holly and her family have shown in the Northwest since 1992. She has served as the President or Vice President of the Tennessee Walking Horse Exhibitors’ Association of Oregon (TWHEAO) since 1995 and, in recent years, she has been the show chairman for the Western International Walking Horse Association (WIWHA) Versatility Show as well as the fast growing TWHEAO Summer Extravaganza.

The Reynolds’ Canterlope Farm is currently home to six Tennessee Walking Horses including WC Generator’s Rock And Roll, Supreme Versatility Champion Cherokee Renegade, Superior Versatility Champion JFK’s Lady, Futurity winner Certain Gold, and up and comers Rock And Royal Master and Shake That Money Maker.

In addition to showing at Walking Horse events, Holly’s daughters, Mattie and Dava, have both earned varsity letters and numerous awards on the Canby High School Equestrian Team. They have also been active in 4-H and both are frequently sought catch riders. An incoming freshman at the University of Montana, in 2005 Mattie was invited to represent the breed at Equitana. Dava, a student at Canby High School, is currently serving as Parliamentarian on the Tennessee Walking Horse Youth Association Board.

It was her daughters’ involvement in the breed and the encouragement of a friend that led Holly to seek the Member At Large Youth seat on the TWHBEA Executive Committee. She explains, “We are challenged as an industry to keep up with changing times and values. I felt the time was right to get more involved.”