American Riding Instructors Association

[Adamantane]

@SapeloApp;2228979

ARIA has done that, Adamatane. It’s called a web site. http://www.riding-instructor.com . Complete with a listing of those certified, as well as discussion on what it takes to achieve certification.

Thanks for the reminder. It’s a useful website, SapeloApp. Of course even with the website and ten people yakking away at the topic, how long did it take before everyone developed some common sense of that part of the discussion?

A good old hardcopy stick-it-in-your-pocket and talk it over with your family brochure (2 colors, not some expensive 4-color marketing glossy) would be both practical, professional and informative for a client and an instructor.

You and I might live and die by the internet, and most people in the market for riding lessons are wired, but even for internet devotees there is an energy barrier to getting information from a website. (Like remembering the URL, or even the name of the outfit.) Even once that’s surmounted, when there’s something I want to examine in detail, I invariably dump a copy to the printer rather than to read it at the monitor, and many others seem to have the same preference.

A printed brochure is right there, in your face, and it gives the instructor something tangible and relevant to hand over, possibly personalized with a name and address sticker and contact information. (There is an element of sales in this.) And the brochure can point to the URL for details that might be important to some but not to most.

Maybe the website could add a couple of pages tailored specifically to be usable as a freestanding brochure, suitable for laser printer-dumping that its members could print out to use as handouts. Not as elegant as a preprinted brochure, but a lot handier logistically and available in infinite supply to overcome the hazard of flyspray spills, etc., in truck or barn. (Didn’t see anything like that there, but maybe I missed it.)

[Sabine]

[QUOTE=siegi b.;2228722]
Sabine,

I’m getting to the conclusion that this is a cultural thing…
In Germany people that want to become riding instructors/horse trainers go to school and learn their trade (which results in certification). You never hear of riders taking legal action agains their teachers.

In the US there is very little certification, and what little there is is derided as being stupid and non-sensical. In the US there are also plenty of law-suits because a horse kicked somebody or a student fell off.

Who benefits?
In Germany - the students do because they learn how to ride well.

In the US - the insurance companies and the legal profession.

Stupid me, why would I even suggest a certification program in the US?[/QUOTE]

100% agreed- and since very few trainers here offer that level of knowledge and constructive teaching- I believe we can not really discuss it.

Adam- I used the schoolmaster as another example of how many shortcuts there are in this business…stuff that will make you believe on the surface that your are dealing with a pro- where in reality- true professional level knowledge and accomplishment is not present. This does of course not apply to everyone- but sadly to a large majority of trainers.

[BarbB]

[QUOTE=throwurheart;2226725]
We have multiple certification programs in the US. None are perfect. They have to have some participation to stay in business. Do they

A) make it so hard (and therefore expensive) to get the certification that very well-established trainers will honor the certification? (Note I said ‘honor’, not actually ‘do’ - as established trainers they have no real financial interest in doing so.)

or do they B) focus more on the entry-level professional who would find the certification helpful in getting business?

There will always be the leaders who see the big picture and put themselves through a certification process even though they don’t ‘need’ it. But there are many more who will theoretically agree that certification is a good thing, then fail to find one that meets their standards.

Here’s the long view: every single instructor in the US should get certified by some organization. Period. Over time, having that much business - a ‘mandate’ if you will - will allow certification to ‘grow up’ in the US to meet most everyone’s standards - from the most excellent, safe and caring up-down instructor who’s only been riding for four years, to the David O’Connors and George Morrises among us.

Corollary thought - if you don’t like what’s happening with a particular group, raise your hand to serve on a committee and do something about fixing it. Or at least write a letter.[/QUOTE]

Have to agree with this. Everybody who is serious about horse sports in this country needs to get their head out of the sand and get serious about protecting what we value. Horse sports in America have always gone their separate ways, often with unconcealed disdain for those ‘other’ horse people.
If we want horse sports to be around in the future we had better start doing something now. The H/J people alone, the dressage people alone, the reining people alone, the trail riders alone CANNOT protect the industry. Developers know how to get county commissions and city councils and even the US Congress to let them do what they want with public and private lands. Do we have an effective way to fight back?
The average person seems to think that going shopping at the mall is a healthy outdoor sport. Do we have an alternative to offer them to entice them out of the mall?

We need to start viewing ourselves as an industry and fight back to survive. One step in that process is uniform criteria for instructors that can be presented to the public. What we really need is a system like the British have that everyone understands and that has credibility. Unfortunately we are going to have to build something similar from scratch.

No organization has a total handle on it yet, but we all need to support SOMEONE to get a handle on it. The way to start is to get everyone on board with the CONCEPT and raise the standards and re evaluate the criteria as we go along…not the other way around.

Successful trainers/instructors who say they don’t need to get certified are proably right…but the sport that they profess to love needs THEM.

stumbling off my soapbox
:winkgrin:

[FuelsterFarm]

Right on Barb!

I think at the core of this “discussion” is the fact that we all agree and share concerns about our particular sport, and the equine industry at large.

[Adamantane]

Couldn’t resist linking this other peripherally relevant thread.

http://chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?p=2264324&posted=1#post2264324

Siegi and Sabine, I may be doing you both a serious disservice by deciding a priori that this eBay approach probably will horrify more than intrigue each of you. (Yes, there may be cultural differences, if not necessarily quite as stated a few days ago. And I have too much respect for everyone on both sides to spar in the culture wars, even though I have definite opinions. Baron von Steuben is not exactly the definitive arbiter.)

Although as the saying goes, ‘man tut, was man kann,’ [what ones knows, ones does] arguably to know more and to do more, one needs to take fresh approaches in the context of tradition as expanded by recent developments. At least I believe so. (Heck, I’m really one of you! By ancestry I’m more Prussian than anything else, admittedly with a century and a quarter of acculturation in the US. But you surely appreciate how rigid, smug, know-it-all, and arrogant we Prussians are…:D)

[Sabine]

Adam- very cute in deed- not quite up to your prussian heritage though…

Although e-bay has many uses- serious dressage training doesn’t seem to fit into the realm of its purpose…and although I do appreciate your attempt at diffusing the very politically correct tension- I frankly see very little value in this…I think Barb did a very nice job of describing where we are at…and I agree- I think there are in deed many that feel the need for a more formalized education and certification process that gives credence to the profession and would help to establish itself firmly on the list of desirable professional activities. Sadly- so far- in this country- the ones that rule are the ones that compete a lot in the major centers and get to ride a lot of really good horses and travel abroad to further their training…those are the ones where you can say- there is probably little risk to invest in training.

But this trainer is not reachable for most and certainly does not operate at the grass root level- where the future participants of this great sport are borne.

[siegi_b]

Adamantane - for your edification (and yes, you do sound Prussian on occasion) …

Man tut was man kann… = you do what you can possibly do.

for example - the displaced citizens of New Orleans need temporary housing accommodations, so you do what is within your possibilities.

signed/
non-rigid Bavarian

[Adamantane]

Of course your translation is more accurate than mine, prone as I am sometimes to confound meanings of similar sounding verbs. :o

In East Prussia they would haul me out and make me cut trees down barehanded with an axe while repeating definitions until I was hoarse and my hands were blistered. (Or post without stirrups until my thighs were blistered or I toppled off the horse in agony with leg cramps, or both.):yes: :yes:

Lucky soul, you, from that far happier part of Germany – under the same circumstance, maybe a slight scowl from someone, and then off to the Hofbraeuhaus with your friends for an evening and a couple of liters to assuage your momentary shame.:winkgrin:

[KayBee]

@Adamantane;2190187

Perhaps the most ridiculous examples are places where manicurists and hair-braiders must be occupationally licensed: it should be instantly obvious to anyone whether a hair braider can braid or a manicurist can trim nails and cuticles and file as needed. And if they can’t, there is no real harm done, customers just don’t go back and they tell their friends. (Of course the real reason for the licensure is to keep out competition by legal force, but that’s another story.)

OT, but I ABSOLUTELY want a licensed manicurist. There are health issues – people can have fungal infections in their finger/toenails and if manicurists don’t sterilize their equipment? Or if they don’t disinfect the pedicure foot baths?

EUGH!

[ESG]

And every person on the “backside” of any racetrack, from trainers down to hot walkers, must be licensed. One wouldn’t think that someone who walks out horses need be licensed, but apparently so.

[CosmosMariner]

Here’s my .02:

I was an ARIA certified instructor. I stayed certified for over 5 years. The certification really didn’t help me much at all.

Before I took the tests I was very pro-ARIA/ARICP. I enthusiastically answered all 20 questions and put a lot of thought into them. I did my videos. I put all of my ducks in a row. I was so excited to become certified and participate in this program.

During the tests my doubts began to surface. There were many people who didn’t really know their stuff but had done enough of the homework to get the certification at the lowest level. I found the test much to easy and simple to really rule anyone out. It was disappointing.

After the test and once the renewal notice was sent I was even more disappointed. I saw that their are levels of renewal fees. If you pay by X date you get this fee, if you pay by XX date you get this higher fee, if you pay by XXX date you get this even higher fee. I began to think it was a racket. Membership dues are a part of every organization. But the escalating scale is just offputting.

I kept the certification and payed the dues but really did not believe in the program any longer. Lately there are so many people in my area who are certified including some who really should not be. It seems to be just a way to get the insurance premiums down.

If I pursue a certification program again it will be one in which I directly prove my skills and are judged by a skilled professional. It will not be one in which all of the answers can be prewritten, memorized, pre-recorded and edited. Life is not that way nor should certification.

JMO