Nicole Bours provides horse riding lessons to dressage, show jumping and eventing riders in the Palmerston North
area (New Zealand). If you have your
own arena, she can come to you and give you instructions you in your own environment. Alternatively, you can come to
Tangimoana and use the arena of Dutch Horses Unlimited. Afterwards, you can go to the beach and enjoy a cool-down
walk with your horse. Some horses just love it to get their feet wet. Be
careful though: it can be addictive...
If you live in Wellington -or anywhere between Palmerston North and Wellington-, you can arrange with Nicole to have her
come over and teach. There is usually a group of people who take a horse riding lesson in the weekends at several locations.
Just give Nicole a call and arrange a suitable time for you.
Nicole Bours 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, she rode for the Deep South Dressage Association and was invited by
the American gold medallist colonel Howard Morris to stay in training to prepare for the Olympics.
As her husband from that time was to be stationed in Japan, she declined and followed to Okinawa, where she
was invited to teach at the Olympic development facilities in Naha to help for the Seoul Olympic Team.
She stayed there as an instructor/trainer until 1998, when she returned to the US.
In 2001 she moved back to the Netherlands. Due to several back injuries, she only trained a
limited number of horses there. However, she travelled regularly to Rome where she
gave horse riding instruction at various
show jumping stables, mostly for Grand Prix riders, emphasizing the importance of dressage in show-jumping.
Now in New Zealand, Nicole gives horse riding instruction to riders from different disciplines at different levels.
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.
The feedback she has had is overwhelming. This is what students have said about Nicole:
- "Nicole is an outstanding rider and she can get more out of a horse in five minutes than
I can in several lessons. She is under-utilised in this country.
Strongly recommended if you need a high standard of horse riding
tuition."
- "Horse riding is about trust and partnership, something that Nicole diligently
pursues in her training and instruction."
- "Nicole has a wealth of knowledge and experience in working with horses, both trained and untrained,
and she is a very good rider herself. An asset for all those who need
superior horse riding instruction."
- "Right from the beginning we were impressed with Nicole's skills, knowledge, enthousiasm and hospitality."
- "Working with Nicole transformed us from horse and rider to dance partners!
I recommend her horse riding tuition."