He preys on the I’ll informed or uneducated… Those who haven’t been around, hasn’t spent time learning, or even observing…
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If you look at the behaviour in isolation, yes it is. But look at it in the context of how he behaves in life. His work history is transient. He has had multiple interactions with civil, if not criminal courts. He goes “hard and fast” into his next Big Idea - Enterprise Steaks (what happened to this business?), bounty hunting, Grand Prix dressage instructor - which cannot be sustained.
Has he ever demonstrated the ability to work a job from the bottom to the higher levels? Not to my knowledge. He went from high school to horse trainer in one jump. When that fell over - it was someone else’s fault.
He displays very classic behavioural traits of someone who could be diagnosed using the DSM-V. In that context, his behaviour makes perfect sense.
My credentials: used to be a forensic psychologist. Have seen similar behavioural patterns and traits, though typically more at a criminal level.
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I’m not happy with having my post changed. As you can see, when it is further quoted it seems as if those are my words when they aren’t.
It’s the principle of the thing. Not cool to edit other people’s posts.
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Sorry, I thought it was just bolding. Have edited my post to reflect your actual quote.
Thank you @Old_Mac_Donald. Not your fault. You weren’t the person who changed my words. 
I don’t mind the content of the edit in this case but I do mind having my words changed in any way, on general principles. As I mentioned, it’s the editing of other people’s posts, changing what was actually written, that is the issue.
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And why is it always the stallion “that no one else could/would ride”? That’s elementary school age girl daydreaming stuff (I had that daydream too), and it’s a giant 3D IMAX screen sized red flag that the person making the claim is full of it.
We all know it’s mares who control everything. The mares know it too. Stallions…pffft. But if you tell me that you got an Alpha mare with an F-people attitude to let you play in her sandbox, I might suspend any harsh judgments, at least until further review.
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A mare put Nick in a corner and he had to be rescued. 
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It was a 6 y/o mare that he was unable to move forward when he was applying for a “trainer” position so there is that…
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Here he is, trying to reinvent the story, and here is the farm’s response to it as well.
He doesn’t seem to understand that the farm he tried to scam has a proper reputation and verifiable professional credentials in the equestrian world, and that he does not. Why he would think anyone would be fooled is beyond me.
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Exactly. According to the people he boarded with, he rarely appeared for his lessons, and was not frequently at the barn.
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What an airing of his dirty laundry he created for himself. Can ypu imagine trying to bully a professional like he did? Or cold calling a barn, or going there and pretending you know what you are doing. What flummoxed me every time I read about that barn call he made is how he thinks experienced horse people won’t spot his ignorance. The man doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, refuses to learn, or acknowledge the need to learn, and is so ignorant he can’t imagine women knowing enough to see through him. I mean. The bar is so low. Almost anyone with a sense of personal boundaries would be brought up short questioning him.
His response isn’t to be chagrined, when he is caught out, it’s a mad scramble to get around what he did wrong and howl to the moon how he’s been wronged by being exposed. Makes for someone so basically emotionally unstable, you wouldn’t want to hire him even if he had some skills. I mean, who would actually write that mess he wrote and pass it around for strangers to read? It’s exposes the mentality of a junior high school girl, and the writing skills of a 6th grader, and actually confesses some severe mental instability that’s apparent to see in the stories, and how he perceives himself and others.
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I think he underestimated the equestrian world because he was able at one point to con some folks who were less knowledgeable about dressage into having him to “clinic” at their barn.
No one wants to see people taken in by this type of person. He just didn’t realize how close the equestrian community is.
He thought that Golden Gait Farm was clueless (wrong), that no one knew the Van Olst stable well enough to check his (false) claims (they did), or to check his claims with the Board at Dressage at Devon (they did.)
What seemed to be easy marks for a con, turned out to be not as easy as he thought.
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Yes, agreed, but it doesn’t explain why he continues to be surprised we see through him. It’s as if having done the two clinics he is pounding his pillow blaming others for souring his con, when these clinic folks came to the conclusion he was a fraud all on their own.
One of the clinic sponsors said the lessons were short I forget whether a half hour or a 40 min lesson, that he asked her if there was anyone he could hook up with while he was there because he and his wife were in different zip codes, that he was verbally inappropriate with clinic riders, some of whom were minors, that he strangely took three or four showers a day, excusing himself during the clinic to shower, and that he offered little to teach other than walk trot canter and several people asked for their money back. She said when she called him to tell him people asked for their money back, he said he was busy and would call her back but never did. It didn’t take COTH to bring that clinic to that conclusion. Nick did that all by himself.
Another clinic was canceled when he made a requirement that cell phones would be left at the door and he would be bringing security to ensure no one filmed his clinic, and when his resume said he had audited Robert Dover clinics, and he had not.
Nick ruined all that all by himself. Yes people talked about it; the horse world is a small town, but he did it to himself.
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I can’t understand his state of mind either.
I’m sure you are right, people did see through him when he pretended to be a teacher, and his odd behavior made his claims of being a “Grand Prix Dressage rider and trainer” even more suspicious.
The jig was up, but I don’t think he realized how quickly and how publicly his delusions of grandeur and dishonest claims would be debunked.
The internet, the vehicle he tried to use to pretend he was a “Grand Prix” rider/trainer and to profit from the disingenuous representation of his CV, was ultimately his undoing.
Just as you are, I am surprised at his reaction to being exposed.
He put all the lies out there for the world to see.
Did he really think that no one would notice that he wasn’t in any manner qualified to teach people or to train horses in any discipline, let alone dressage?
Being deceitful about his CV was weird enough, but the use of the photos of people’s farms and their addresses as his own took it to a whole 'nother level of creepy.
Some professionals here recognize and understand this type of personality. To most of us it’s a mystery, and one that I hope I won’t encounter again.
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His state of mind is very small. It is his inner world seen through his own filters.
If his book were indeed the blockbusting exposé of the “equestrian world” as he claims, there would be more than the paltry 11 (last I counted) reviews on Amazon. SW would have picked him up as part of her crusade of clicks…but she hasn’t. That would be the litmus test. His opus doesn’t warrant the eyeballs, even on DH. Sad.
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What I find most unsettling is that he actually doesn’t seem to think he’s running a con. He truly seems to believe he is what he says he is. That kind of delusional behavior is pretty scary stuff. He lies, and then stands up for the lie as if it were truth. And he gets angry and belligerent with anyone who sees him for the scammer he is (I can’t say con artist, because there is no art in what he does), then threatens and bullies them. I’m glad I live far, far away from that train wreck. And I feel sad for his family.
Just reading more about the so called “clinic” where he was showering multiple times a day and was inquiring about a hook-up because his wife was unavailable…there is some majorly serious instability there.
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It would be kinda fun to see DH pick up on his book and do her usual trashing…wonder if SW needs to see a copy?
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“Nobody puts the Maestro in a corner!!!”
Mare: “Watch this.”
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I keep coming back to the question of - why is it so bad to just be an adult ammy rider?
Why does NP think he has to be more than that?
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This ^^^ is my take, as well. He truly believes he is who he says he is, has done what he says he has done, and has the talent he claims to have. Anyone who challenges these delusions is a wrongheaded bully, and should be treated accordingly.
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