American Association for Horsemanship Safety

Riding Instructor Certification Clinics equine law clinics

Attending an AAHS Clinic

All AAHS clinics are five days and 40 or more hours. As well as setting the standard for how to teach safe riding, the clinics are a supportive place to improve your teaching style and skills. All clinics are taught from a standardized curriculum and contain a Secure Seat workshop. The clinic text books are: Teaching Safe Horsemanship and Secure Seat, which may be purchased from our site. The focus of the clinic is on HOW TO TEACH, not how to ride; however each candidate must take a riding test on a beginner level school horse. For less experienced certifications; the riding standards are lower. There are certifications for instructors, assistants and trail guides as well as certifications for non-riding personnel, such as camp directors, facility ownersand guest ranch operators.

You can improve safe riding in your business or your community by hosting an AAHS clinic.

Why Become Certified?

Instructor Certification is important. Why? It documents your credentials. It immediately tells prospective students and clients something about your training. It tells them you are serious about what you do. It tells them you are invested in your profession. It tells them you follow certain standards that are consistent.

The AAHS certification clinic is the only clinic that is designed to teach one person how to teach another to ride, and ride safely English or western. You may be an excellent trainer and an excellent rider, the AAHS clinic can also make you an excellent teacher of riding. The clinic methods have been tested for more than 18 years, teaching many people to ride in many different locations and on many different, yet appropriate horses.

The clinic emphasis is on safe riding, because without being safe, one can not teach safe riding. Understanding balanced riding and making sure that we can achieve balance while riding is the only way to be a safe rider. Teaching balance to another rider and having a way to measure or verify their balance is the only way to make sure another rider is safe. Safety is the foundation for correctness in riding; balance is the foundation for being a safe horseman.

From a safety point of view, certification is the education that may prevent you from learning the hard way-- that is at the expense of students. Certification also solidifies the principles that you use without thinking, this way the principles become a real and concrete part of every lesson and every ride.

Some of the philosophies of the AAHS organization come from such noted horsemen as Ray Hunt, Col. K. Albrecht von Ziegner, Paul Kathen, Jackie Krshka, Pete and Tamara Kyle, John Lyons and Jan Dawson. The principles of AAHS apply to all disciplines, just as the philosophies come from all disciplines--natural horsemanship, dressage, reining, jumping and even bull riding.

You will learn:

• About negligence law as it relates to the horse industry.
• Who needs insurance, what types of coverage and amounts of coverage.
• Safekeeping of friends and relatives of students who want to visit your barn, ride your boarders horses, or wander around your facility.
• When an Equine Activity Statue does or does not apply.
• Emergency procedures for different riding scenarios.
• What quality riding instruction is and is not
• To improve your teaching methods.
• How to develop and use procedure and staff manuals.
• To focus your teaching on specific goals, and the integral parts of those goals.
• Efficient methods of instruction.
• To understand release forms and what they must cover in your state.
• To evaluate and select lesson horses.
• If leased or donated horses affect liability.
• A complete set of exercises that teach measurable skills to students.
• How to evaluate risks.
• To recognize areas of vulnerability.
• How to verify when students are ready for trotting, cantering, jumping and advancement.
• How to avoid accidents on and around horses.
• The origin of a lawsuit.
• What kinds of accidents generate lawsuits.
• That preparing to avoid an accident is preparing to defend yourself if an accident happens.

Types of Certification

Certifications are different by types and descriptions, and not different by standards of safety. One is either safe or not, there can not be levels of safety.

• Safety-Certified Full Riding Instructor
• Safety-Certified Basic Riding Instructor
• Safety-Certified Assistant Riding Instructor
• Equestrian Safety Supervisor
• Safety-Certified Head Wrangler
• Safety-Certified Trail Guide
• Safety Clinic Participant
• AAHS Clinician

Services Available

• Instructor Certifications Clinics
• Facility Certification
• Equine Liability Workshops
• Secure Seat© Riding Clinics