Wow! That’s way more thorough than I was thinking! It makes sense though. I certainly reference riding when building other skills; why shouldn’t it work the other way too?
Since you are in CT, you might want to keep an eye out for the Weekend Educational Program in Southbury CT. It’s usually held around the first weekend in February, around the time of the Super Bowl. It’s put on by Lendon Gray’s Dressage4Kids Inc. It’s two days of varied programs for all ages and levels. There is usually a specific track for instructors/professionals. You should be able to meet people with the same concerns and trade a lot of ideas. There is plenty to see/do for all your clients, old and young, so you won’t be abandoning them for the weekend. Entire barn groups often attend.
Scruffy the cat – I actually contacted the director there, as it is only an hour from my house. This is the program I think I will pursue. They do take on adults, but it’s more an individual type program. He said he would design a program for me to lead to certification. Now I just need to figure out how to pay for it! :lol:
Thank you all for your insights – VERY helpful! I do think I will start with the BHS certifications. I bought a couple of the manuals, including the “Teaching Riding” manual and it has been a great resource so far (only a couple of chapters in). But it seems that this is something that instructors feel is lacking – maybe we can petition the USDF to include that in the certification? Different from Trainer Certification (ie. you can get on a young/green horse and train it to a certain level). Maybe an INSTRUCTOR specific course/testing? Like the old adage – “Those who can’t do, teach”. :lol: But I’ve seen riders who were only ok understand the theory and be excellent teachers/communicators. Do you HAVE to be both to be successful?
Did you check this one out? https://www.riding-instructor.com/
Not sure if it’s still doing much, or if the program has improved.
Great Topic, thanks to the OP for starting this thread!
Over the last 3-5 years I have been toying with the idea of creating an instructor program to help instructors gain the knowledge skills and attitudes that are required to be a good or great teacher. I have started to put together some courses, however keep getting sidetracked with work, my farm, horses, and family. I have been a student of horses for almost 30 years and a corporate trainer with a Masters Degree in adult education and numerous continuing education on management, coaching and mentoring. With this background, I am astounded by the gaps of knowledge and skill in teaching of riding instructors when it comes to preparing lessons, analyzing audience and tasks and modifying teaching to meet the students needs. Teaching is such a complex matter but there are proven models to analyze training needs and design training programs and then develop instruction that work! As I did some research to see what was out there I found that most programs started with the intent of helping teachers teach better but quickly lacked and veered to a philosophy of teaching horses.
So OP, if you would like to contact me I would gladly share some knowledge on this topic and maybe you can share some areas that you think more support and knowledge are needed in the industry.
