Conference noted::equitation

    Hi Dave,
    
    I am in the process of getting my training license for harness horses.
    To train my own horses I have to fill out an application and provide
    6 people who have seen me train and they will be required to fill out
    a questionaire.  If I want a license to train other peoples horses I 
    have to take a written test that consists of 50+ questions, and
    I have to take a practical exam.  Even after I pass these tests through
    the US Trotting Assoc, the racetrack that I am racing at will also make
    me take a practical exam, usually they will follow someone while they
    are going a mile on that particular racetrack to see if they know how
    to read a watch, handle a horse, etc.  The cost of this through the
    USTA is $35.00.  

Hi folks,

I didn't see any other notes in the conference discussion qualifications for
teaching in different parts of the world and would be interested to learn
about what qualifictaions it is possible to get? Specifically in the USA.

In the UK the British Horse Socity is one of the main institution for gaining
qualifications.  I may be a bit out of touch but as I understand it the
teaching qualifications are as follows :

You first of all gain your 

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3

certificates these are horse riding and management examines in increasing 
degree of difficulty.  You can then go for you teaching certificate (which
might be part of your stage 3 I can't quite remember!!) which will mean that 
you are a qualified

Assistant Instructor

Although this is just as it implies an assistant instructor you come across
a vast majority of riding stables run but Assistant Instructor's.  After that 
you can go for increasingly more difficult examines.

Intermidate Instructor
Instructor

I think next is a Fellow of the B.H.S  of which there is very few in the country.

I am sure the uk noters will be able to fill in some more acurate details 
here.  To gain any of these certificates you have to be an accomplished all 
round horse person with a good pratical horse management skill.

Training for these would normally be done on an apprentiship bases but there
are a few course you can take through colledges now.

What about your countries?  I would love to know.

regards

michelle

    There are no national laws in the US regarding licensing to train
    horses. Most states require licenses of some sort to train race horses
    but very few have any requirements on trainers of riding/driving
    horses. SOme states require trainers to get a "business" license but
    that's just so they can collect taxes, etc. They don't care whether you
    know anything about horses or not. The USDF has recently begun a 
    voluntary program for the certification of dressage instructors.

Wow I can't believe that you have no qualification proceedures for 
instructors.....

What about approved stables.  Again in the UK you can contact for
example the British Horse Society to get a list of riding stables
which qualified for Approval.

This usual means their instructor are at a recognised standard, their
horses are all in good condition, they have appropriate facilities,
insurance, equipment to loan novice riders, etc.

They are inspected at least one a year to keep there approval.

There are other orginizations you can contact as well which each
have there own standard and approval scheme.

 

    We do have licenses for our instructors (of people) but not for our
    trainers (of horses)....Massachusetts is where I am from.
    
    I really don't know about the other states.
    
    Kathie
    

    Yes, I forgot about the MA law for riding instructors. That became a
    law just about the time I left New England for the wild wild west.
    That's the only state I've heard of which has licensing requirements
    for riding instructors. 
    
    As for the question of stables, I don't know of any approval/rating system
    although most places require them to have a business license and pass
    health inspections or things like that. 

    >Wow I can't believe that you have no qualification proceedures for
    >instructors.....
    
Europeans are frequently amazed that we don't have national 
certification of riding instructors/stables in the US or regular/required 
breed inspections although both are common in Europe. One of the primary 
reasons for the differences is simple: European countries are 
geographically small and densely populated compared to the US.
It takes only 5 minutes of looking at an almanac to see that the 
population density in European countries is 4 to 10 times greater 
than in the US:

Country		Area(Sq Miles)	Population		Density
_______		_____________	__________		_______
France		  220,668	 56,595,000		256/sq mile
Germany		  137,838	 79,548,000		577
UK		   94,226	 55,486,800		588
US		3,618,770	248,709,900		 66


In Europe, things are compact enough that centralized national 
programs are realistic. A certifying agency would have several 
options that make testing/certification fairly effective and 
relatively affordable. Because of the relatively small travel 
distances and high number of people per square mile, it is 
practical for people to travel to national/regional sites for 
tests/inspections or for inspectors/testers to travel from a 
central office to remote locations.

Such things simply aren't practical here. For example, my home state
of Washington is contains about 70,000 sq miles - about 74% the
size of the UK. But, our population is only about 4.8 million people 
- roughly 9% that of the UK... So, we'd have to travel similar 
distances to those in the UK and pay more to serve many fewer people 
in a single state... With 49 other states remaining, it's not too
encouraging to think about national riding programs, eh?