Meet Brandy Von Holten

What do martial arts, horses, mules, science, and homesteading have in common?  Brandy Von Holten!  If you are looking for the best cowgirl that ever was, then you will have to keep looking.  That’s not Brandy.  If you are looking for a cowgirl that has dealt with confidence issues, who is persistent towards her horsemanship goals, and wants to have a good relationship with her equine, then look no further. 

On her 5^th birthday, Brandy received her first horse, a Shetland pony named Blacky.  By Brandy’s 8^th birthday, she graduated to her first quarter horse named Silk Chic Long.  She had Silk Chic until Brandy was 32.  Silk Chic’s last foal was born in 2005 and named KTM.  Brandy believes horses are family.  She did not take her first formal lesson until she was 32 years old.  Even though horses had always been in Brandy’s life, her dream of becoming an Olympic fighter was her primary goal.  She competed internationally in five countries and won multiple state, regional, and national titles.

Brandy has bachelor’s degrees in biology and criminal justice, plus her Master's in Teaching. 

It wasn’t until Brandy and her husband, David, bought David’s family’s century farm and turned it into a trail riding facility that her horsemanship became her primary goal.  Their trail riding facility opened in 2014.  Fast forward, Von Holten Ranch won Missouri’s Best Ranch for 2024.

The ranch has hosted over 45 different clinicians, all of which Brandy either participated or audited their clinics.  Owning Von Holten Ranch has also allowed her to be around tens of thousands of riders. 

Trends that she noticed:

• Massive amount of passion toward horses
• Lots of people needed and/or wanted to improve their equine knowledge
• Lots of riders deal with confidence issues
• A portion of female riders have a gap of time in which they didn’t have equine or that they were not active with their equine.

Brandy appreciates a good trail horse or mule that is a good mount, obedient, and trustworthy.  She achieved this by the combination of ranch horsemanship, obstacle training, and trail riding.  She loved this training combination so much that she formed a versatility association called Country Tough Trail Versatility.  2024 will be the 7^th year for this thriving association with nothing but continued success in its future.

Brandy still had the fire in her to compete; she found her passion this time in mounted archery.  Brandy had never done archery before starting mounted archery in 2017.  The hand-eye coordination from all of her years of fighting transferred to mounted archery. 

She believes every rider can improve, it is never too late to learn, and clear communication is key to the equine and the rider.  Brandy uses her understanding of how the body works plus, with the plethora of knowledge she has gained to be able to reach students where they are at in the horsemanship journey.  She is always rooting for the underdog and is exceptional in leaving no leaf unturned and covering all details to ensure there are no gaps in a solid foundation.  Brandy’s goal is for each of her students to surpass her knowledge base and continue to learn.  The “cowboy” way of life is a good life.  Brandy’s goal is the help those who need help to continue this way of living. 

Four hooves + two feet = one heck of a life.