NKS Horsemanship

10/15/2024

NKS Horsemanship in Clarence Center, NY, will have just a few openings heading into winter! Our freshly redone indoor arena has mirrors and bright new lighting, and the property was just upgraded with two spacious all-weather turnouts to ensure everyone can stretch their legs all through the wet seasons! Don’t miss out on the chance to ride and train at this gorgeous facility - or have a professional trainer work your horse for you through the cold months so you’re ready to step out strong come show season! Please reach out with any questions or to schedule a tour!

09/23/2024

Another successful clinic with Jeff Davis in the books! 🤠 Thank you to everyone who came out to ride, audit, hang out, and help out! There was lots of learning and lots of laughs! We worked hard both in and out of the arena, finishing up with a fantastic group trail ride! We hope to see you all again next year - Jeff loved our trails and promises we will make ample use of them next time!

Anyone wanting to be kept in the loop when he comes back please reach out to me and I will make sure you are updated with dates and sign up information for next time! And if there is anyone else you are interested in having me host here in the future please reach out!

08/05/2024

This stunningly glossy yearling is Festive (Furst Knight x Dolce Amore/Davidoff's Hit), and she is hard at work growing big and beautiful so that in a few years she can join Tesoro on my personal dance card! 🤩

07/22/2024

🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉
We got our bronze!!!
🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉🥉

There are many roads leading to this destination, and I chose the long and difficult one when I decided to make this journey by starting and training a little blonde noodle of a horse through all the levels myself! We’ve had so many other great trainers share their wisdom and support along the way, and I appreciate every single one of them, whether it was years of work or just a couple of clinics! Tesoro has grown and matured so much, particularly in this past year, and while he is a tricky ride that requires a huge amount of emotional support at times, I can honestly say I enjoy every single ride with him. I couldn’t ask for a more talented (and FUN) dance partner!

When I saluted after this final test of the weekend I knew it was our best work to date, that he had given me 100% of what I could hope for him to give at this stage, and I could not be more proud! We earned the final score of our bronze with a 63.4% at third level test 2! A big milestone in what I hope is a much bigger journey yet to come! ❤️❤️❤️

📸Alex Hopple Photography

06/30/2024

Raise your hand if you see these pictures and can immediately smell the Pine-Sol 🙋🏻‍♀️😂🐴

06/18/2024

Just a reminder of how to check that it’s safe to ride in summer weather! Heat and humidity are going to be a major factor this week!🥵

04/19/2024

Reminder that this WNYDA event will be going on this Sunday! I will be teaching at 9 AM and 9:45 AM, and doing a demo of second-level test three on Tesoro (with judges commentary) at noon! Come out and soak up some fabulous dressage education! 

02/26/2024

One last picture all together, and so concludes our first joint venture in sales horses! Qordelia (Qredit x Sabina/Sandro Hit) has sold! Congratulations and best of luck to her and her new owner, we can’t wait to see how far you will go with this gorgeous girl! 🥂

02/15/2024

02/11/2024

I made this post privately, but I’d also like to make it public. It’s a good reminder of why it’s important to always look at every angle when considering our horses behavior! This will be a bit of an essay, so if you just want the summary update I’ll put a TL;DR at the bottom.

Over the years Savannah has touched many lives. Sometimes with her hooves, her teeth, an unexpected hip check, and even the occasional chest slam into a wall. But touched nonetheless. And somehow, though she can be an absolute terrorist at times, she is also very charming. Almost everyone who asks me for updates on her remembers her antics with a laugh. When she’s not trying to kill people she is just adorable, and despite her strong opinions she and I still manage to reach a compromise when it comes to a great many things from jumping, to trail rides, to extreme obstacle courses. At the end of the day she is capable of being a very excellent horse when she wants to be!

I spent the first several years of her life trying to find a medical explanation for her behavior. Wouldn’t life be simple if it was something we could fix? I had her scoped for ulcers, always the first thing people cry out when a horse misbehaves in anyway, but we found one of the most pristine stomachs that ever existed. I had her hormones tested, thinking maybe high testosterone could explain her aggression and occasional stallion like behavior? But the hormone panel came back normal. I had chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturist, body workers of every kind, PEMF treatments, magnetic blankets, you name it. We went through every brand of saddle, every discipline, I tried everything to make this horse happy. In the end I just decided she was who she was and we soldiered on. The fact that I have persevered with this mare and trained her to be as good as she is in spite of her personality has been one of my proudest accomplishments. Managing her behavior certainly held me to a higher standard, and absolutely made me a better horse person.

But recently I caught a wild hair to go digging again. Someone had mentioned to me that spaying procedures are much safer than they used to be, and even though her hormone panel had come back normal and initial palpations had not indicated any major problems in the ovaries, I wondered if that might do her any good. I mentioned it to my amazing veterinarian, who said there were several tests she would like to run before resorting to surgery. We ultrasounded the ovaries, and at first check she said they appeared perfectly fine, healthy follicles, all looked good. Neither was enlarged. No real reason for concern. I told her the hormones had been run before, but she decided to run them again with something very specific in mind. 

Thank goodness she did. The original hormone panel had been done specifically to pursue the idea of high testosterone, which she still does not have. In fact most of her hormones remain normal. But there was one that was not normal, one that was not on the original test, and it indicates granulosa cell tumors of the ovaries. We were all shocked by this result after the ultrasound had looked so good, but when the vet looked back and compared it to clinical images she said that on review it’s very possible that what looked like healthy follicles were in fact an unusual presentation of the tumors. This could explain everything. Mares with GCT are often aggressive and display stallion like behaviors. This could be the answer I searched for years ago - and it makes me feel awful I didn’t dig deeper then. But I try not to beat myself up, the presentation is so subtle it’s amazing we even caught it now. But we did, and now I can fix it.

TL;DR: Savannah has been a recalcitrant bitch (who I love dearly) her whole life, and we may have found a medical reason for that finally. She is scheduled to be spayed later this month to address granulosa cell tumors affecting both ovaries.

01/14/2024

Never fear, the manager is here! We planned ahead for this forecast, so everyone can rest assured that all the horses here are fed and happy, cozily tucked in to in their clean stalls! Stay warm and safe everyone! 🥶❄️

01/08/2024

Today I addressed a “squeaky stair” item at the barn. Squeaky Stair Syndrome is all about complacency - the little things in life we could fix, but have found it easier to just work around. We step over the squeaky stair instead of fixing it because we are busy, tired, in a hurry, and it takes almost no effort to just avoid stepping there. Sure, it’s a little annoying, but over time we just kind of accept that that’s the way it is, it becomes a fact of life, and eventually we take that extra step without even considering that the stair could be fixed any more.

This latch has been like this for years - a weird assembly of hardware, none of it intended for a gate. The springs on the clips froze stuck on cold days, and the clips even broke on several occasions only to be replaced by another of the same clips destined to break at some later time. That was the quickest, easiest way to just get through a busy day and forget about it again. Everyone just kind of got used to “that’s the way it is”.

I finally decided to buckle down and fix it. It only took about $10 and ten minutes to put sturdy all-season gate hardware on there. Such a minor effort in the end. But it will make a difference every time we use that gate, hopefully for the next several years. And in retrospect, it feels awfully silly that for all the hassle the old hardware caused this simple fix wasn’t done sooner!

So many New Year’s Resolutions are grand, long term goals or new endeavors. But why not start by finding a “squeaky stair” in your life, and just fixing that? You’ll be surprised by quick and easy it might be, and what a big difference it can make! Let’s all start the new year with a small success like this that we can enjoy and build on!

12/25/2023

This NKS Horsemanship Christmas Special is dedicated to all the barn managers, trainers, working students, barn staff, folks who keep their horses at home, basically anyone who loves these bad-decision bicycles enough to have them in their life and be out there caring for them on the holidays! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

12/14/2023

It may be winter, but at least we still have a short burst of beautiful sunny skies, and of course our bright and cozy indoor arena! Come on out and keep your horse fit and ready for when the warm weather returns (or have me do it)! 💪🏼😎

12/12/2023

This is what I remind myself of when I’m tempted to let cold weather deter my riding… 😂🥶

But if you really hate the cold and still want your horses to make progress this winter, you can always pay me to ride them for you! 😉

No more excuses. 💪🏼

11/08/2023

I often say we should treat ourselves more like we treat our horses…. Chiropractor, massage, regular mani-pedis 😂 At least for now I can say I’m getting my supplements in too! 🤣

Check out NKS Horsemanship's video.

11/06/2023

Available for sale or on site lease in Clarence Center NY, Bold Glitter is a 7 year old 16hh Thoroughbred mare! Extra sweet personality, still on the green side but a fast and willing learner with a beautifully steady canter. She has been in light work under myself and a friend, and has traveled to dressage clinics throughout the summer. Works forward into contact but more of a push ride at the trot, and has a nice start to a leg yield already. Not properly started over jumps yet, but has shown a willingness for them when we did a couple small rails for fun.

Ideal leaser would be an experienced rider who enjoys the process of developing a young horse. We have an indoor arena on site to provide the ability to ride in all weather, and I am available to give lessons.

11/02/2023

Validation can come in the form of having your achievements recognized, or from having your challenges recognized. The Anne Gribbons clinic at Chestnut Ridge this month provided both forms. Tesoro showed his incredible talent for easy and dramatic laterals, but he was tense in the new setting and it showed very much in his inconsistent contact. It was also pointed out that he is perhaps the most difficult kind of horse to ride and train due to his extreme sensitivity and strong emotions - something I know to be true, but I always appreciate when a clinician catches on to it so quickly!

It is easy to second guess myself as I move through this long dressage journey with him. He is VERY tricky to work with, and not every ride feels like forward progress in the traditional sense. I can try to remind myself of how far we’ve come and how well we’ve performed at competition, but to have someone so talented and experienced tell me that I’m handling him excellently is incredibly reassuring.

We finished off a productive weekend with something new - Tesoro’s first taste of piaffe steps! He is naturally very talented at collection, and while it stressed him out a little as new things do, he caught on right away. I’m very excited to add this tool (in small doses) to our kit as a way to activate his hind end and push his energy up and through the bridle!

Thank you to Alex Hopple for such excellent photographs, even under less than ideal lighting!