Amazon.com Widgets Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

home    archives    subscribe    contribute    consultations   

Instructor certification and the ARIA Convention

From: Nancy

Dear Jessica, I've been getting the Riding Instructor magazine for some time and really enjoy it (I love your columns, they're the best part of the magazine!). I've always said, and I really believe, that certification isn't really necessary because bad instructors can get certified and there are a lot of good ones (and I consider myself one of them) who have plenty of students and don't need a certificate to "prove" anything. And, you and I both know that there are a lot of places that will give you a certificate for anything if you just pay them. But reading this magazine and especially the columns by you and Cameo Miller, not to mention reading everything you've written about certification and the ARIA on HORSE-SENSE, have made me think again. I'm even thinking that I might want to go to the National Riding Instructors Convention at the end of October. That doesn't mean that I'm going to take the certification tests, but I'm starting to think about that too.

What I'd like to know from you is (or should it be "are"?) two things. I want to know why you think certification is important and why it would be useful for someone like me. I have been teaching for ten years and am very good at my job, and I have a waiting list of people who want to take lessons with me. So what exactly would I get out of it? And I want to know about the convention and what goes on there, what is a typical day like, and would it be worth it for me to take almost a week away from my barn and my students just to attend? I have a huge amount of respect for you and I promise to take your answer seriously even if I decide not to take the exams or not to go to the convention.

Nancy


Hi Nancy! Thanks for the kind words about my columns, and I'm glad you enjoy Cameo's columns too. I certainly do.

I think that certification is important because when the certifying organization has high standards and a way to enforce them, certification means something. I agree with you that there are far too many meaningless certificates being sold these days - but the fact that meaningless certificates exist doesn't detract from the significance and importance of the other ones.

Look at it this way: If you take your child to a doctor and the doctor says that the child needs surgery and that you will need to enlist the help of a specialist, you're likely to feel much better if you know that both your doctor and the surgeon graduated from good medical schools with tough programs, and that the surgeon is board-certified. If the doctor has no on-paper qualifications at all, or if the surgeon is NOT board-certified, it's still possible that they are both wonderful and highly skilled, but... you might not be quite as confident. And if they both said "We don't have diplomas or certificates, but don't worry, we know just as much as all the doctors who do..." you might, understandably, be less than thrilled at the notion of handing over your child to them.

Qualifications aren't limited to diplomas and certificates, of course, but those pieces of paper are tangible proof that their holders met THOSE standards on THOSE dates. If nothing else, they show that that person was judged to be competent in that field, at that time. This isn't something that you should take on faith. Your child's life is too important for that. Anyone can say or imply "I'm a great surgeon, don't hesitate to turn your child over to me", but most people aren't qualified to judge whether this is true or not. Unless you're a surgeon in the same field, and you've seen this person operating, what are you going to say - "Yes, I can see that you must be a great surgeon, your office furniture looks very expensive and you look good in your white coat"? I don't think so. We all want to know that educated and highly-trained professionals and experts in that area of surgery have personally evaluated OUR surgeon's knowledge and skills and training and agreed that YES, he DOES know what he's doing. He may not be the best or most talented or most inspired surgeon in the world, and he may have a horrible personality, but you can know that his knowledge and skills and training have been evaluated and that he HAS met a set of high standards.

What does this have to do with riding instructor certification? Let's begin with the fact that riding, too, involves your child's life - or your own. Horses are large and tall, humans are small, there's a significant element of risk involved in riding, and that risk is present during riding lessons too. Learning how to ride well can help to minimize the risk, but unless you're an expert yourself, how do you know that someone is going to teach your child, or yourself, to ride safely and well? This is the problem faced by thousands of parents every year.

The ads in the Yellow Pages don't necessarily tell them what they need to know. Going to a show and seeing who has the biggest trailer or the most horses isn't much more useful - it may tell you which instructor has the most money or which instructor fills every class with his or her students (thus guaranteeing that they will go home with a lot of ribbons), but it won't tell you which instructor is the most competent or ethical or safe. Here again, certification tells you that the certified person has met certain standards. If the certification is legitimate, you'll be able to find out just what those standards are, and just who does the evaluations. All of this makes a difference. ARIA certification, for instance, means more than "my students like me and think I'm great" - it means "My knowledge has been tested, my teaching skills have been evaluated, and Sally Swift, George Morris, Denny Emerson, and other luminaries of the equestrian world have judged me to be a competent, safe, ethical instructor." These are people whose experience is vast, whose standards are high, and whose approval is NOT for sale.

A certificate from a genuine organization with actual standards and testing should carry more weight than a "certificate of completion" from a one-day or weekend clinic, in the same way that an earned degree from a legitimate university should be much more impressive than a $50 or $100 "Master's Degree" or "Doctoral Degree" from the Nonexistent University of Post Office Box 66, Somewhere, California.

For riding instructors, certification certainly isn't necessary to get students, although it may attract more students nowadays, because more parents are wise enough to care about such things. More and more parents are beginning to insist that their children's instructors be certified, and I think that's a good thing. If all instructors had to PROVE that they had genuine, extensive knowledge of horses, riding, and horse management, the good instructors would pass the exams easily. Some instructors would undoubtedly fail, but instructors who lack knowledge of their subject area shouldn't BE instructors.

There are quite a few instructors like you, who don't choose to become certified but whose experience, knowledge, teaching skills, and integrity are such that they would have no difficulty achieving certification if they wanted to take the exams.

Unfortunately, there are also many (far too many!) instructors who are NOT like you, and who don't want to take certification exams because they know that they would never stand a chance of passing them and achieving certification. They don't want to be tested because they have good reason to believe that they would fail.

The problem is that most non-horsey parents looking for instructors for their precious children CAN NOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE. How could they? They don't know enough about the subject. They might get lucky and bring little Johnny and little Susie to YOUR barn, or... they might take little Johnnie and little Susie to Ye Olde Lesson Mill, where the horses are sick and injured, the tack is unsafe, the instructor is a drunken incompetent, and there are accidents in every lesson. The point is that if people who don't know anything about horses, riding, or riding instruction have no reliable guide to help them avoid the bad instructors and patronize the good onew, they have no way to know which is which.

That's why I'd like to see certification become MORE important in the minds of parents - and not just parents! There are a lot of adult beginner riders who also need to be protected from dangerous, incompetent, unethical instructors. It's not just the ten-year-olds who are willing to sign anything and go anywhere just to be around horses - a lot of riders in their forties and fifties feel exactly the same way. They want to learn, they're looking for someone to teach them, and they have no way to evaluate instructors, no way to guess that of the three local barns in their area, Barn A is dangerous and unsafe, Barn B is mediocre at best, and Barn C is a great place to learn to ride.

Someone with your knowlege and experience would have no problem passing any organization's exams, I'm sure. But for someone like yourself - a long-time instructor with a waiting list and a good reputation - the question may be less "What can certification do for me?" than "What can I do for certification?" After you've reached a certain point in your career, you may begin to think of yourself as part of a profession, and you may begin to look for ways to put something back into that profession. One of the things you can do for THIS profession is to support good certification programs by becoming certified yourself, thus using your own reputation and your position in the community to publicize and promote that program and to educate students and parents about the importance of certification. In that way, as situations change, and as the parents move or the kids grow up and have kids of their own, they'll be better equipped to find and recognize their NEXT good instructor. In other words, there's a point at which it's more about GIVING than TAKING.

That's why I became certified - that was MY motivation. It certainly wasn't because I wanted more students. ;-) I looked into the various instructor certification programs available in the USA and elsewhere, and decided that I would support the one that I found to be doing the best job of testing and certifying instructors in a wide variety of riding styles and disciplines. I then elected to take the American Riding Instructors Association (ARIA) certification exams myself, because I thought that it would be a good and meaningful way for me to show my support for (a) the idea of certification and (b) the particular organization that I found to be doing the best job of evaluating and certifying instructors. I've been supporting the organization for a long time as a volunteer, with no regrets. I write columns for the organization's magazine, I speak at the national conventions, and I do my best to help member instructors when they bring me their problems and ask for help.

I strongly encourage you to come to the ARIA National Convention this year. It will be in Orlando, Florida, at the end of October - the dates are October 28-31. If you need information about this event, you can visit the ARIA website (www.riding-instructor.com), or you can call 239-948-3232 or e-mail aria@riding-instructor.com. This year's event is rather special, as it will be the organization's twentieth anniversary.

Yes, the National Convention is worth the trouble and expense of attending. A typical day at the convention will involve a series of lectures, workshops, and round-table discussions from morning until evening, with a break for lunch. It's all fairly intense, and you should plan to bring a couple of notebooks and pens so that you can take notes. Bring your own business cards and flyers too, as these meetings are not only excellent educational opportunities, but excellent networking opportunities as well. There are usually informal get-togethers in the evening, and occasional breakout sessions during the day. You'll have a chance to meet with some of the top teachers in the business, and you'll find all of them to be interested, friendly, approachable, and generous with their time. Whether you're looking for inspiration, support, or a cure for burnout, you'll find what you need at the National Convention.

And when you get the next issue of RIDING INSTRUCTOR, look for your letter and this answer to be printed there in my "HORSE-SENSE for INSTRUCTORS" column. I think that the question you asked here is one that will resonate with many other readers of RIDING INSTRUCTOR; I hope that my answer will, too.

Hope to see you in Orlando!

Jessica

Back to top.


Copyright © 1995-2024 by Jessica Jahiel, Holistic Horsemanship®.
All Rights Reserved. Holistic Horsemanship® is a Registered Trademark.

Materials from Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE, The Newsletter of Holistic Horsemanship® may be distributed and copied for personal, non-commercial use provided that all authorship and copyright information, including this notice, is retained. Materials may not be republished in any form without express permission of the author.

Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org

Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.