Testimonials

I participated in one of Lisa’s Equine Professionals Mastermind groups. A group of professionals spoke on a conference call weekly. Lisa was a great coach and helped us feel comfortable sharing and discussing our businesses and ways we could grow. Lisa created an environment that allowed for a great experience for all of us. It was a wonderful experience, friends were made and the networking with other professionals was invaluable.

We all need guidance in our lives and I really enjoy Lisa’s approach as a coach. I am looking forward to working with her again in the future. I highly recommend Lisa and the Mindful Equestrian to anyone from amateurs to professionals.

Lisa has been doing clinics at our facility for a few years now and I always look forward to them and walk away with something new to work on and a better insight to problems I have when riding. Though I have no nervousness or fear when I ride I tend to ride too much and over think things therefore getting in my horse’s way. Lisa has helped me find other ways to channel my energy when I ride so that I can ride smarter instead of harder and allow my horse to do her job freely. She’s very kind and personable and very easy to understand and work with. I would very much recommend her clinics and will be doing more with her in the future. My horse and I have become a better in-sync team since working with Lisa and look forward to using what we’ve learned in the show ring and at home!

I met Lisa in a clinic I participated in at Platinum Stables, a stable I ride at. I read up on information about Lisa, and knew immediately that I wanted to be apart of the clinic. I am very glad I did. For about a year now, I have been struggling a lot of fears for riding a horse, especially jumping. I had a rough fall two winters ago and ever since have been scared to jump a horse. Lisa helped me understand that I can’t fight my fear, that I have to befriend it. That I have to accept that it is there, and understand that my fears are real. My confidence level has since increased, because I grew to understand that my fears are legitimate and that they’re just something that I can’t keep pushing away. I have to work with them, and continue to work harder. Thank you very much Lisa for coming and teaching many students at Platinum Stables many different lessons. I hope to see you soon!

I remember telling Lisa that I thought I was doing pretty well for an old lady beginner. Her comment was keep your cup half full. Her comment really perplexed me as I thought I was being positive about my progress. It finally dawned on me that my comment was passive aggressive cup half empty. This was a turning point. No need to compare myself to others. I needed to stop making excuses about my (lack of) riding skills. I now focus more on what is getting better and on what I am actually learning. When something doesn’t go right I use it to learn from instead of put myself down. This results in less stress (mentally and physically) and a lot more fun as I learn to ride AND in everyday life. Concrete results- I see the progress in myself and my horse and continue to have a blast! On the days when things aren’t going well, or there is a frustration, feelings of doubt, I remind myself, “cup half full” which keeps me from falling into a funk of hopelessness and/or failure. I am more relaxed, less self-conscious, laugh more and am a much happier rider person. Thanks Lisa!

My daughter and I recently took a ‘mindful equestrian’ clinic with Lisa. Little did we realize how much our riding concerns, and habits, were so conditioned by the way we thought and spoke to ourselves! She taught us how to verbalize both our successes and challenges as we performed a task, empowering both of us to recognize, and potentially change, our cues to our horses and our relationship to them. We left the session feeling more in control of our riding. We highly recommend ‘mindful’ riding!

I met Lisa Eklund as a student at Morrisville State College, when I was entering the Equine Science and Management Program as a transfer student. While riding and training under her watchful eye, we often had to just get it done! Having a combination of green horses, horses with varying pasts, and seasoned show veterans, we were instructed to ride them all as if they were good, moving forward through and out of the turn, looking where we are going, and riding off our eye. Establishing this mindset early on brought success, and when we doubted it is when the issues would arise.

Now that I have left this program, and I have ventured into a different aspect of the equine industry, I can tell you that this philosophy still holds true. I have been successful as a rider, as a farm manager, and now in the retail sector of the industry, and the same principles apply: look forward, move forward, and keep your eyes up! Being able to see where you’re going, moving towards a goal, and also knowing that your next best option could lead you down another path were the messages I took with me, and I continue to utilize.

Lisa came to Morrisville State College in my sophomore year, 1998. I didn’t have a lot of contact with her, but she taught an elective, basic dressage class that I had decided to enroll in. That class gave me more confidence in my riding and made it fun again. Lisa became the head instructor of the hunt seat specialization at Morrisville for my junior year, and that was a major factor in staying for the then brand new Bachelor’s Degree program.

My final two years at Morrisville were so busy but well worth it. I learned so much under Lisa’s tutelage and watchful eye. She gave me the confidence and motivation to join the hunt seat IHSA team after not having made the team in my freshman year. At my final IHSA show, I was first in the flat and third over fences. Lisa also gave me the confidence to mentor others. As the only junior in the program at the time, I was expected to manage the underclassmen while doing barn duty, as well as manage most of the care for several of my project horses.

Now, I am a professional and USHJA certified trainer, and the coach of Brockport College’s IHSA team and a young IEA team, managing and owning my own facility that we’ve built from the ground up. I use many of the exercises that Lisa used with us. I have her out every year for a clinic and my students all rave about her. She builds confidence, helps the rider think through a problem, and is a wonderful coach. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Lisa’s help and I’m so grateful for her continued influence!

I have known Lisa professionally for over twenty years. She has participated at our farm, Evergreen Stables, as a clinician instructing our students and helping them achieve greater goals with their horses. Lisa has a profound way of teaching students to ‘listen to’ and feel what the horse is ‘telling’ them. She motivates her students to think, encouraging a symbiotic relationship between horse and rider. Lisa inspires. Her teaching and coaching is a reflection of her mindfulness and how it is intertwined with her students, horses and life in general.

I have been fortunate to have known Lisa for many years, I have watched her transform students from nervous, non-confident riders into accomplished, capable, well rounded horsemen and women. She has great instinct into the horses mind and is truly a fantastic trainer, instilling good workmanship, and confidence not thru gadgetry, but thru old fashion work. Her compassion and positive emotional support for both animal and student is unsurpassed. Lisa’s new chapter in life as a mindful equestrian coach is an enormous asset to the horse community, she will make a profound difference.

Over the years I have had the pleasure of being coached by Lisa, both on and off horses. Instruction in the ring is well planned and effective, optimizing the time spent working for both horse and rider. Classroom material is carefully curated, and instruction clear and thought provoking. Lisa proves in every session, that ‘time spent learning is never wasted

Lisa began coaching me at Morrisville State College when I was a freshman in 2008. Her training does not end when you get off your horse. Her mindfulness is her passion both professionally and personally. She integrates mindful thinking into her training and coursework for all of her students. She creates confident, smart, well-rounded horsemen in and out of the barn. Her passion for horses, this sport, and the riders is proven by the many successful men and women in various branches of the horse industry. I know I would not be where I am today without all of her guidance and support. Her new chapter with The Mindful Equestrian will be a great benefit to the horse community.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Lisa since 2013. Her mindful approach to teaching and life in general really hit home with me. She has acted as a mentor as I grow my business, Affinity Farm, Inc. Her guidance is always upbeat, concise, and inspiring. She has helped me to look at my life holistically and find areas where I need to focus and strengthen. Lisa has also conducted clinics for my students and IEA team. She teaches with patience, clarity, and directness. Students come away feeling inspired and challenged.