There are a great many things I admire about Lisa Holtz as a mentor and professional. I always appreciated how gentle and patient she is when teaching and how encouraging she is while still pushing me to work hard. She continuously shares resources she thought would be helpful to me. Her demeanor with her students is warm and friendly, but she doesn’t waste their lesson time and is so good at staying on schedule. She is also the first instructor I had who focused on developing the horse and rider as partners; she teaches the rider to think like a trainer and remind them to prioritize their horse’s long-term soundness. She doesn’t use demeaning language when speaking about the horse and tries not to use force where there are better options. She helps the student set achievable goals and work towards them consistently. It’s honestly very difficult to find any fault with her.

I started taking lessons with Lisa not long after I resumed riding after a break of almost 20 years. Initially, my goals were modest since I was so out of practice. She was extremely encouraging and positive throughout, especially in the early stages when I needed a lot of assistance. Under Lisa’s guidance, I was able to improve quickly through her clear input about how to make my rides better. It was riding with her that I learned about dressage and eventually grew to love it so much that I made a complete change of discipline. Lisa truly cares about her students understanding of riding concepts, and incorporates talking about how and why a given exercise is structured. She is a trainer who really cares about helping her students and their horses improve, whether it be by sending along articles she thinks you might like or organizing video nights to discuss riding in a fun setting. Most importantly, I know Lisa always has the horses’ best interest in mind and will tell me honestly what she thinks.

Lisa Holtz is a beautiful upper level dressage rider that we all aspire to be. As a dressage instructor she is patient, knowledgeable, smart, and kind. When I found Lisa I was a new owner of an OTTB gelding and I new I wanted to re-start him in dressage to give him a good foundation. Lisa helped Charlie, my then 5 year old, gelding become confident, fit and most important balanced horse! Charlie and Lisa had a connection that was magical. He adored her. She took it slow with both him and I, working us both at a pace we needed to become a solid, connected pair. Lisa was the first trainer that I ever had that used a communication system during the lesson. I found this to be very calming and peaceful. She never had to holler from the other end of the arena, which if you’ve experienced this you know it can be stressful and hard to hear. Instead she was right there in my ear walking me through my lesson step by step. It was lovely. Lisa loves the equestrian sport and the dressage discipline. She devotes herself to the horses and clients she works with and becomes a friend and a valued asset to your team. She takes pride in her work and truly takes you under her wing and helps you become the rider you want to be.

Lisa Holtz was my instructor as well as my daughter’s for several years. She also trained our two horses, Danny and Thor. Although my daughter and I were very different types of riders, and our horses were quite different from each other, she was an excellent instructor/trainer for all of us. My goal was to be able to ride safely on trail. Lisa taught me to require proper ground manners from my horses so that I didn’t get hurt. We focused in the ring on walk/trot/canter. Sometimes we went out on trail together. She used positive reinforcement with the horse and me but did not hesitate to correct either of us. My daughter was a competitive jumper. In addition to training, she also trailered my daughter and horse to horse shows and coached at the show. They even won a few awards. I would recommend Lisa as an instructor for all types and ages of riders.

I started working with Lisa after a long break from riding. She quickly helped me rebuild my confidence and regain my ability to effectively communicate with my horse. I continued to train with her for 7 years with multiple horses and through several barn moves. It was so nice to always have Lisa as the constant in my riding career. She truly cared about me and my horse and made sure we were on track to meet our goals.