In October of this year, World Cup polo-cross player, Ryan Murphy came to PA to give a polo-cross clinic for our local club.  He was unable to bring a mount so NLH was asked if we would be willing to provide one for him to use.  We were excited to offer him “Nikki”, a 5 year old Quarter Horse mare owned by Sue Ellen Greggo and started and trained by Suzanne at NLH.  Nikki is an awesome gal and Ryan thought so too!  While aboard Nikki, he approached Suzanne and said “she is so nice….I love how she moves off of your leg and is so responsive!”.

Nikki was brought to NLH after Sue Ellen purchased her as a 2 year old at the Penn State University’s annual Quarter Horse sale.  Nikki was started using in the NLH Program and progressed to showing her skills in a regional Reining show circuit in 2010.

When we started Nikki she was very good but had a lot of “thrust”.  She is big girl and had power she didn’t know she had.  When she moved out she made our arena feel as though it was 10 times smaller than it really was because she just power housed around in her gaits.  To resolve this, we began breezing her on the trails prior to her lessons in the indoor arena.  This gave Nikki the opportunity to stretch out, learn to balance a rider, and develop her cadence without being restricted to the confines of the arena.  When Nikki began to develop some rhythm and cadence to her stride, she also began to rate herself and started to slow down and wait for the rider’s cues.

Nikki is now extremely fine tuned and a very versatile horse.  She and Sue Ellen have so many options available to them from trail riding to showing in various disciplines.  Who knows…maybe she will find herself in a polo-cross match some day or even up against cows in the reined cow horse competitions!  She’s an awesome mover too and may even compete in some hunter classes.

With NLH training, you get the good stuff.  You get what you need give yourself options with your horse.  We build the Partnership first, then the Foundations for Performance and Possibilities!  Ask us how we can help you with your horse!