✨ “I’ve never used Baucher to train anything. I’ve always used Baucher to heal.” – Nahshon Cook
✨ “Does your horse feel good after you’ve done what you’ve done with them? … That’s connection.” – Nahshon Cook
Nahshon Cook is a classical dressage trainer based in Colorado whose path began riding donated horses as a kid at the Urban Farm at Stapleton, an inner-city youth program in Denver. Two mentors — Cynthia Spalding and former Cadre Noir rider Jean-François Fabier — introduced him to dressage before he was out of his teens, and after a detour through divinity school, Southeast Asia, and a stint training show and race horses in Thailand, he returned to Colorado and built a reputation for taking on horses other trainers had given up on.
The conversation moves through Nahshon’s approach to kissing spine, poll and TMJ tension, and how he reads a horse’s tongue as a barometer for what’s happening throughout the rest of the body. He walks through three distinct flexion positions he uses to unlock the hips, stifle, and hocks, and describes rehabilitating horses diagnosed with DSLD and a herniated disc using Baucher-based flexion work, treats, and nervous-system regulation.
A rich, wide-ranging conversation that moves between technical dressage detail and questions of safety, mercy, and what it means to truly listen to a horse.
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What You’ll Learn in This Episode
00:02:07 – How riding at the Urban Farm at Stapleton in Denver opened the door to dressage
00:06:13 – What mentor Cynthia Spalding taught him about feel, not just technique
00:11:21 – Learning from ex-Cadre Noir rider Jean-François Fabier and matching training to each horse’s breed
00:19:18 – Leaving divinity school for Southeast Asia, and training horses in Thailand
00:31:14 – Why he swore off training for clients, and how horses get used as “bait”
01:05:13 – The real cause of kissing spine: tension in the poll and TMJ
01:07:38 – How to use a noseband correctly so it helps the horse feel safe
01:15:44 – Reading the tongue as a map to the horse’s fascia and poll
01:26:16 – The three flexion positions that unlock the hips, stifle, and hocks
01:30:45 – Treats, poll work, and grooming tools for regulating the nervous system
Memorable Moments from the Episode
00:38:31 – A client asks a 15-year-old Nahshon to fake a South African accent to hide his age
00:49:34 – Healing a chronically colicking horse with stones and touch
01:14:33 – Popping a horse’s spine and ribs back into place with Baucher flexions
01:28:06 – A herniated-disc horse’s dramatic physical release during a flexion session
01:55:15 – Nahshon closes the conversation with an original poem
Guest Contact & Links
Nahshon: https://www.facebook.com/NahshonCookHorsemanship
About Nahshon Cook
Nahshon Cook is a classical dressage trainer based in Colorado who began riding at 13 through an inner-city youth program and went on to study with mentors from two different dressage traditions before he turned 18. His approach centers on reading tension in the poll, TMJ, and tongue as the key to unlocking a horse’s back and hind end, and he’s known for taking on horses — including cases of DSLD, PSSM2, and herniated discs — that other trainers and vets had written off. He now holds small working gatherings in Wisconsin rather than teaching public clinics.
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