cha, CHA, certified horsemanship association, certified horsemanship association instructor certification program, how to become cha certified, what is cha certified
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By emily esterson and Jenny Sullivan
Get Certified!
If you were looking
for a riding instructor,
you’d want to work
with someone who has
lots of horsemanship
knowledge and experience.
You’d choose an
instructor with proven
teaching skills who
could relate his or her
knowledge to you in a
meaningful way. You’d
expect this someone to
be respectful and professional.
“Anyone can hang out
a shingle and call himself
or herself a riding
instructor,” says Christy
Landwehr, CEO of the
Certified Horsemanship
Association and
a Master Level instructor herself. “I go to a
stylist who has a certification to do my hair,
so certainly I want at least the same level of
expertise from someone who’s teaching me
or my child how to ride a horse.”
Given this explanation, if you teach riding
yourself, this certification process might be
worth your time.
Validated Skills
As one of the largest and oldest certification
programs of its kind, CHA is the origi-
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Renowned trainer and
clinician Julie Goodnight
has been a Certified
horsemanship association-certified
instructor
since 1995. She’s also
editor of the Cha manuals,
which she believes
no instructor should be
without.
nal. While the association
doesn’t claim to teach
clinic participants how
to become instructors,
Landwehr notes: “You
can’t help but learn how
to teach riding when
10 riding instructors
get together and teach
four lessons each during
a five-day clinic, with
instant feedback from one another and the
clinic staff.”
CHA offers an extensive menu of certification
clinics designed to offer something to
everyone — including arena instructors, trail
guides, combined trainers, recreational vaulting
coaches, therapeutic riding instructors,
college and university programs, seasonal
riding-program instructors (summer camps,
dude ranches, etc.), and even equine-facility
managers.
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