Revere Saddlery also built Nikko a custom saddle. “He has a long back, very high withers and a concave area behind his big shoulder. He’s very difficult to fit. With the new saddle, everything started to change. He used to look so old and brittle. Now he’s supple and filled out.” When Nikko came into Robert’s life
as a 13-year-old, Robert’s fantasy was to compete at Second Level some day. Unsure, he hoped Nikko would take him there. It was a guess that Nikko had been trained to Prix St. Georges and that the move further up the levels was when the training “issues” and their demands sent Nikko over the top and he became dangerous. “He probably was twitched so badly to get him to piaffe, that even today if you go to his nose suddenly he will rear up and nearly fall over backwards. Someone had seen him show and he would get an 8, a 9, and then a zero because he would blow up,” he says. And even today, at the age of 17, he will buck people off. Robert was at the airport to fly to Seattle to
choreograph a ballet when he got a call from the friend who was to ride Nikko while he was gone. “She got bucked off within three minutes at the walk. Then he continued bucking and finally fell down and then got back up and bucked again,” he recalls. “The stall cleaners are afraid of him. He
steps on people’s feet. So when I leave town, he just gets turned out,” he adds. But with Robert, Nikko has proven
to be a show champ. His first show was at Northern California’s Pebble Beach Dressage Show, where the pair won five of the six Training Level classes they entered, and Robert tied for the Adult Amateur
Perpetual Trophy. This year Robert is elated that they are competing at Third Level and are in the running for USDF Region 7 Third
Level Freestyle Horse of the Year. Finding Robert, or finding Nikko, has been a remarkable twist of fate for both horse and rider. “I’m not sure what the future brings in the dressage
arena for Nikko and me. Nikko has to decide when he’s ready to take the next step. I’ll just be there to guide him, if and when he’s willing.”
26 November/December 2011
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