Nicole Bours: bringing the Dutch riding tradition to New Zealand

Nicole was taught the traditional way of Dutch riding by her riding-school cavalry-instructor when she was young. This very strict and proper method gave her the basis on which her riding and training was developed.

After moving to the US, managing and training an Arabian breeding farm further grew her riding and training ability. When riding for the Deep South Dressage Association in all levels available with different horses she was noticed by the American gold medallist dressage rider colonel Howard Morris. He invited her to visit his farm and show her abilities on his horses. He was duly impressed and invited Nicole to stay in training for the Olympics.

Being married at that time to a US military who got stationed at Okinawa, Japan, she followed him at heart. There she found more horses which she took under her wing and taught US military people the skill of dressage and jumping. This went not unnoticed by Japanese government officials, and she then was invited to teach at the Olympic development facilities in Naha and help cross the t and dot the i for the Seoul Olympic jumping team. After that she stayed on as trainer/instructor until 1998. 

After three years she returned to the US and opened a training facility in North Carolina. Unfortunately, after an accident which injured her back, she was forced to sell.

After returning to the Netherlands, she  was able to ride again and trained her own horses in dressage. Her husband developed a breeding program for Dutch Warmblood horses which Nicole took to all stallion owners and invited them to participate. The program was a huge success and is still being used as of today.

Through the website people in Rome (Italy) noticed her and asked them to help them find potential GP show jumpers in the Netherlands. After a very successful trip, riding, showing and buying these horses they invited her to teach in Rome in several stables. The next few years were spent between the Netherlands and Italy, teaching and training dressage and jumping to Italian riders of all levels, but predominantly Grand Prix.

They understood how important it is to be able to ride dressage at a high level of communication between horse and rider so the time spent in the jumping ring dropped drastically, which made them more competitive.

The leading principle of Nicole's training method is that a happy horse is willing to work for the rider, and as long as it stays happy, it continues to do so. Therefore forwardness and gentle hands are the basics on which the horse's trust is built.

If you want to improve your riding, or just want to learn about the Dutch method of training horses, just give us a call at 06 324 8853 or 021 149 6689