Do you own or manage a trail ride operation, a camp, a dude ranch facility, or a Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts equestrian program? Do you want the chance to have your wranglers professionally certified? Would you like to reduce the cost of your wrangler’s equine professional liability insurance? The Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) is currently seeking equine facilities that are willing to host a CHA Day Ride Trail Guide Certification Clinic.
CHA’s Chief Executive Officer Christy Landwehr shares about the benefits of hosting a Day Ride Trail Guide Certification Clinic. “It is beneficial to get your own staff certified and also to perhaps involve other trail ride operations or camps near you that do day trail rides to be able to fill your clinic,” said Landwehr. “So it’s good to partner. And it is a decrease in insurance for your wranglers. It can also be a fundraiser.”
The CHA Day Ride Trail Guide Certification is designed for trail guides of very short trail rides up to day-long rides. During the 3-day clinic, participants are evaluated on their trail guiding skills through demonstrations. Workshops in the Day Ride Trail Guide Certification Clinic include the following topics: planning and supervising trail rides, risk management/accident prevention/emergency procedures, horse and equipment management, and low-impact trail riding. Each participant’s certification level is at the sole discretion of the Clinic Staff who evaluates the skills and knowledge shown by participants during the clinic.
Participants must be at least 16 years old for the Assistant Day Ride Trail Guide certification, which certifies that you are qualified to assist on trail rides under the supervision of a certified trail guide. Those seeking the Day Ride Trail Guide Certification must be at least 18 years old. The level certifies that you are qualified to conduct trail rides up to an entire day in length, but not overnight, and verifies that you are qualified to secure horses away from the base stable for breaks as needed.
All host sites for CHA Certification Clinics are pre-approved before a certification clinic can be held at the facility. As a clinic host, the facility becomes the event organizer while the actual clinic is run by two CHA Certified Clinicians. Host sites have the following responsibilities as the event manager: send registration information to participants and collect fees, distribute CHA-provided course materials to participants, contract with CHA Clinic Staff, and pay any applicable certification fees from participants to CHA.
If you have already been previously approved as a host site, please contact CHA Program Director Polly Haselton Barger at pbarger@CHA-ahse.org to sign up to host a Day Ride Trail Guide Certification Clinic and to receive your Materials Order Form and Clinic Request Form.
If your facility would like to become a new host site for CHA, please visit http://cha-ahse.org/store/pages/37/How_to_Host.html. To learn more about the Day Ride Trail Guide Certification, please visit http://cha-ahse.org/store/pages/30/Certifications.html#day_ride_trail_guide.
For further questions, please contact CHA at info@CHA-ahse.org or call 859-259-3399.
CHA Instructors Change Lives Through Safe Experiences with Horses. The purpose of CHA is to promote excellence in safety and education for the benefit of the horse industry. CHA certifies instructors and trail guides, accredits equestrian facilities, publishes educational manuals, produces educational horsemanship DVDs and YouTube Safety shorts, and hosts regional and international conferences. For more information on the largest certifying body of riding instructors and barn managers in North America, Certified Horsemanship Association, please visit www.CHA-ahse.org or call 859-259-3399. To find a certified horseback riding instructor or accredited equine facility near you, visit www.CHAinstructors.com.
