From: Ellen
Dear Jessica, I don't think you have answered this question before, so I am hoping you will help me. I have just moved to a new town and state (please don't print the names) and I have been looking for a certified instructor for jumping lessons. I thought I had found one and signed up for a course of ten lessons. I have had three of the lessons and am frightened to go back for the others. My riding skills are very basic and I feel that I really need to learn flatwork before I do a lot of jumping, even though jumping is what I want to do eventually. But I don't feel like I am in control of my horse at trot or canter yet, and it is hard for me to canter and steer at the same time. Sometimes it is even hard for me to trot and steer at the same time, and I'm frightened to do the things I'm told to do like running the horse into the wall to make him stop. This instructor made me jump at the first lesson and has added more jumps and made them higher at each following lesson. I have told her that I'm afraid, but she says "If you want to learn, this is what you have to do." My husband says that I should get my money back and look for another instructor. I don't think it will be so easy, and I don't want to feel like a quitter. I'm in my forties and I am ashamed to be afraid of jumps that the other riders don't even blink at. There are nine in the class including me, but the others are much younger, some are only ten or eleven years old!
I guess I have two questions, one is the reason I wrote this letter, and I haven't even gotten to it yet. The other is what I should do about the situation I'm in. I was so excited that I could finally take riding lessons, and now that I have the lessons, I get sick at my stomach before I go to the barn. Please give me some of your excellent advice.
Now the question I meant to start with: how can I tell if my instructor is really certified? She says she is, but won't talk about the program or even name it. Her cards and flyers and her barn sign all say "Certified Riding Instructor". She told one of the mothers of the other students that she is certified with ARIA, but I don't think that's true because they have a website and I looked at the list of instructors and she isn't on it. She told my husband that she was with the AHSA (I think), but that's the American Horse Shows Association, isn't it? And I didn't think they certified any instructors. I began to think that maybe she wasn't really certified because she doesn't seem to follow any of the practices that you have identified as good instructor safety practices. Most adults don't wear helmets, and most of the kids wear huntcaps instead of real helmets, and a lot of them ride in tennis shoes). From what you've written about the ARIA or ARICP, it seems to me that this instructor probably ISN'T certified. Or does the AHSA really certify instructors and just not have any safety standards? I'm confused. I want a certified instructor, not someone who's pretending to be certified so that people like me will sign up for lessons. How can I find out, and what should I do? Should I take her to court? COULD I take her to court?
Please help me,
Ellen
Hi Ellen! It sounds to me as though you're a sensible person in a bad situation, and you already know that you need to change that situation. Your lessons are inappropriate to your level, they're overcrowded (NINE riders???), and the focus seems to be on a set timetable rather than on skills acquisition (running the horse into the wall to make him stop????). As for letting students ride in sneakers and without helmets.... that's not a lesson, that's an accident waiting to happen. You are right to be worried, and I think that your husband's advice was golden: get your money back and find another instructor.
If you can't get your money back, kiss it goodbye and find another instructor. You've paid money for lessons, and you've now learned a very valuable lesson -- even if it wasn't what you signed up to learn. Don't try to "use up" your money by finishing the lesson series; you'l only be putting yourself at risk for no good reason. You won't learn anything useful from such an instructor, and there's a very good chance that you'll get hurt.
Going to court might be an option, but it's not one I would recommend. Incompetent instructors like this one are far more common than you can imagine; she's bad, yes, but nothing out of the ordinary. If you've just moved to a new community, you may not want to start off by taking someone to small claims court, and even if you DO, cases like this are notoriously difficult. And in any case, any legal action against her would have to involve the certification issue, not the issue of competence. The one can be proven easily, the other is not really small claims court material, and in any case the lawsuit would and should be brought by the organization by which the instructor is claiming to have been certified.
As for the question of certification, you're right, this person obviously isn't an ARICP-certified instructor. But that doesn't necessarily mean that she isn't certified at all! There are other organizations that certify instructors, and some are much less stringent in their requirements. There are also some organizations that give out certificates that don't have to be renewed, and as a result, there are some "certified" instructors who got their certificates thirty years ago after a six-week summer course. ;-)
All this, of course, to say that it IS possible that this instructor has some form of certification from some organization. But it's also quite possible that she has nothing at all, and is, as you suspect, claiming certification when she has none.
The way to find out will be to ask her the name of the certifying organization, and don't give up until you get that name! Then contact that organization and ask. Certifying organizations maintain lists of certified instructors, and they are happy to share that information. They will also be VERY interested to know about anyone who is claiming certification where none exists. People who do that can give a bad name to the organizations they claim to represent, and if that's what is going on, legal action is a very real possibility.
The AHSA doesn't certify instructors. It's possible, though, that your instructor actually said "HSA" -- that's something else entirely. The HSA (Horsemanship Safety Association) does certify instructors, maintains a list of instructors, etc. If I were you, I would contact them and ask about this person. Again, she may be claiming something that she doesn't actually possess. I'm sure that the HSA will be interested to hear your story! Here's the telephone number and e-mail information:
Horsemanship Safety Association
1-800-798-8106
email: HSANews@aol.com
In my experience, instructors who go through the expensive and demanding process of certification are very eager to mention it, and very proud to identify themselves as "certified by --". You're quite right, it's a clear warning sign when someone puts up a sign saying "CERTIFIED" and won't identify the origin of the claimed certification. Even on a tiny business card, if it's possible to print "CERTIFIED", it's also possible to print "ARICP-certified" or "BHS-certified" or "CHA-certified" or "HSA-certified".
On the other hand, I'm sure you can understand why someone claiming nonexistent certification would be unwilling to name the organization, since that would make it easy for anyone to check that information. So, if your instructor refuses to identify her certifying organization, you can investigate by calling the various organizations and asking -- or you can simply save time and effort by assuming that the certification is imaginary. ;-)
If you DO choose to contact the organizations, which I would encourage you to do, use your time wisely. Don't devote the entire conversation to the instructor you're leaving; ask for the names and contact information of actual certified instructors in your area. I always warn riders that certification is no guarantee of a perfect psychological match between teacher and student, but in terms of a starting point, it's much better than sticking a pin in the phonebook under "Riding lessons".
Good luck!
Jessica
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