About

Nicky began riding horses at the age of six thanks to a fateful pony ride. For fifteen minutes on his sixth birthday, he grinned ear to ear as he gripped a Shetland pony’s mane while it was led blithely around a dusty round pen; after that, he was enraptured by the animal that would eventually become his passion and career, and started taking lessons shortly after! Fortunate enough to ride several days per week and have his own horse before he was ten years old, his initial education was in the hunter-jumper and equitation world, and he thanks the horses he learned to ride on for teaching him grit and compromise. As a teenager after the retirement of his own childhood horse, he continued to ride and was committed to continuing his education wherever he could.

As a young adult, he learned to drive a horse and vehicle as part of an apprenticeship for a commercial carriage company, and subsequently broke his own pony River to harness. In addition to working in childcare, he began teaching riding during the pandemic, running horse camps and teaching clubs and private lessons, and it became a full-time job when he was certified as a riding instructor and trainer through the Certified Horsemanship Association. Having taught at many facilities and programs, he considers himself to teach ‘functional’ riding more than any particular discipline: Whether hunt seat, dressage, western pleasure, trail, liberty, eventing, mounted games, driving, polo - all equine sports have something to teach the well-rounded equestrian. 

Although all horses are valuable teachers, Nicky has a soft spot for ponies because of their intelligence, dignity, and sense of humor. 

When he’s not teaching, riding, or otherwise at the barn, he is usually hiking, crafting, or at the gym.