Nicola believes that schooling your horse in the correct way is not just essential for competing in the dressage arena, it is also crucial for producing a well-rounded and well-balanced horse for eventing, showing, showjumping or general riding club activities. She teaches riders from grass roots level up to 2* dressage for eventing and on to Prix St. Georges/Intermediare level dressage. Although she does not teach beginners to ride, she enjoys teaching those who have never set foot or hoof in a dressage arena and demonstrates patience and kindness when introducing them to the world of dressage.

Your first lesson with Nicola will involve her getting to know you and your horse, hearing about your previous experience and understanding what your ambitions are for the future. She will then examine your horse’s walk, trot and canter to see what specifically needs working on. She is a sympathetic trainer who understands that a different approach may be needed for each rider. She encourages riders to make a breakthrough with their horse in order to understand why their previous techniques weren’t producing the results they wanted.

In Nicola’s eyes each horse is an individual and as such must be worked with and ridden in a unique way in order to produce the best results from that particular horse. She likes to understand why a horse is doing something in a certain way before finding a way to explain it clearly to the rider in order for the combination to progress.  She will work with clients to make sure they feel confident enough to ride a test accurately by learning how to put movements together smoothly and how to get the very best out of their horse for the judge. She can also help choreograph freestyle tests to music.

Lessons generally last for 40 to 45 minutes and take place at Nicola’s base between Scotch Corner and Gilling West where she has a quiet 60m x 20m outdoor arena with mirrors. Please do get in touch if you would rather Nicola travelled to you and she will assess these requirements on a case by case basis.