First lesson at Holistic Horsemanship!

First of all, here is the link to Holistic Horsemanship's website:

https://www.holistichorsemanshipllc.com/

I am in love with this place. :)

My first lesson was last night. As part of my training I have to take so many hours of lessons, observes so many hours of lessons, etc.

I learned that pretty much everything I have been taught thus far was very western, which is fine, because I think I am naturally more of a western rider. However, Lisa is switching me to english riding, because most of the students I will be teaching are english students.

I am learning how to keep contact with the horse's mouth, how to have elastic elbows, how to keep contact with my legs, etc. It's all very different...I have some habits to break.

I love the way Lisa teaches though. She always makes sure to give me a reason why something works. She tells me WHY we do this instead of this, WHY we have this...she gives me a reason behind the theory, which is EXACTLY what I need in order to retain knowledge! If You just hand me a rule and say "we do it this way cuz it works", that means nothing to me. I have know WHY it works. Otherwise I forget. I believe this is the main reason why I do not understand math! x)

I rode Cherokee, who was one of the first horses to ever greet me at HH. He was of course, a dream. On ground he is definitely a left-brain introvert. I've known that for months. On his back though, he is more of a go horse. And he loves cones. Must step on all of the cones in the arena! :)

One note I should probably put here: At HH, Lisa does not use Parelli Natural Horsemanship. Many of her students came to her because PNH failed them. And I understand why it failed them- they got confused, and got their horse all confused, and now they have a huge mess to clear up. That's the only reason why PNH can fail, in my opinion. And it is easy to get confused with PNH, so I certainly don't blame anyone or point any fingers, but Lisa made sure that I understand that she does not plan on starting to use PNH on her farm.

I am willing to comply with this. Almost everything Lisa does anyway is literally PNH. Literally the same. And the root foundation I have in PNH will help me considerably, I know. The psychology of it. I still do not like getting on a horse without ground working it first, but oh well. Until I have my own farm where I can do things 100% my way, I will gladly comply with Lisa's rules and theory. She is very good about discussing things with me when I get confused, so if I find what I think is a kink, I'm sure she will be willing to explain to me why she does this a certain way.

Next lesson is on Thrusday morning! :)