The savagery! I’m living for this comment 
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Gotta say… #AgedLikeMilk
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Oh man whatever happened to SW.
Do you really care? 
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I have just realized I am a Grand Prix Dressage Master trainer too! And all along, I’ve been thinking I was just a lowly 2nd level amateur. I found these old pics of my stallion doing the airs…both levade and a courbette! That gives me the credentials to give clinics all over the world now!!! Yay!
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Ah, yes… the wisdom of the inimitable @kellydressage …
But back to Van Gogh. Years ago, my sister and I finally made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art… we split up at the front door and agreed to meet there in 3 hours. I wandered around with my inner art history geekness on full alert. Every corner I came around was like seeing an old friend again. I once did an Art History paper (kind of like a dissection) on Rosa Bonheur’s “The Horse Fair” - but was not prepared for how BIG it actually was - an entire wall… about 8’ x 16’… I was amazed.
There was a Van Gogh of irises that got my attention. I got closer and closer, lost in the thick glossy brush strokes, the overlapping swirls of colors - and an actual brush hair stuck in there after all these years… when a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to back up. 
Getting verycloselikethat was very wrong but what can I say - I was caught up in the moment. The guard just smiled at me and said that people did that all the time.
We met at the front desk after our designated 3 hours… agreed to have a pricey lunch there (sitting at the feet of a Rodin) and then resume our explorations for more hours… 
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Holy gorgeous horse!
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Thanks. He’s been gone for 11 years now, and I miss him every day. Lost him at 31.
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Aww, well he was absolutely amazing. Very classy and refined without the too extreme “sea-horse head” that seems to be popular today.
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If you are ever in Louisville you can sit at the feet of another Rod in on the steps of the U of L administration building
Anybody see any schedule of NPs upcoming clinics? Just wondering….
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IMO, the only way Nick could get a clinic is if he rented a place and put it on himself, but he doesn’t have the money to do that.
I seem to recall that Nick said he gave clinics internationally. I suspect it was around the time he was jonesing to give a clinic in Portugal.
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I missed his Portuguese ambitions somehow. Did this have to do with his idol Nuno? NP thought the Portuguese riders would appreciate his crotch hands more than us ugly Americanos?
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Probably. I have no idea why he thought he could teach anyone there; they already have enough genuine dressage masters.
It was on the Free Speech Horse Forum — > “he [Nick] posted on the Portugal horse FB page and tried to set up a clinic , which is a bit hard when you consider we have some of the finest true Maestros and their students that offer clinics.”
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He would be even less likely to get away with having no credentials in Portugal than he is here.
I can only imagine the reaction if he showed his photos to a Portuguese dressage rider and said he wanted to teach.
Do you think that the owner of the black horse knows that the photo of their horse has been published in this book?
What is it with Nuno that has the dressage scammers so fixated on him? If I recall, the Reverend Buck was obsessed as well.
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I have heard second-hand that the owner of the black horse at the time of the clinic picture doesn’t own him any longer.
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So Nick trained up the black horse so well that the owner was able to sell it? /s
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I honestly don’t understand how Nick thought he was qualified to give clinics to anyone. He lacks street cred in any riding discipline. Aside from a few years as a part-time working student, he rode in relative obscurity. No dressage icon has put their Stamp of Approval on Nick as a trainer or instructor. Plus, his writings and social media posts are rife with vulgar language, personal attacks and confrontations. (Not exactly a “people person”).
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It is bizarre that a person who stopped riding as a teenager and has had no lessons since, would think they were in any way qualified to teach.
I also think that the descent into name calling on this thread does not reflect well on the COTH membership.
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This is not an apt comparison, as your lovely horse actually has a top line and appropriate musclature for horse being developed in dressage.
Where as poor sweet Chevy is the eternal pencil neck, steep crouped geek.
Not dissing that sweet, lovely horse, but the difference between trick training and ACTUAL dressage has a lot to do with the physical, gymnastic development of the horse.
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