The NAC Equine Training Instructor Diploma course is OPEN!! (now do the Strictly “votes are open” dance) and we’ve had two brilliant introduction Zoom calls today (two, to take account of all the different time zones). Look away now if you don’t want to see an education provider gush about their own course.
Our students are many and varied and so keen and engaged, they will be a dream to work with on this course. They are from so many different equine, equestrian and training backgrounds that they are already a multi-disciplinary resource for each other. Some relatively new to training horses, others already well established in their chosen profession. That’s how accessible this distance learning course is.
The course is amazing:
Evolution, domestication, ethology, emotions – why do you need to know all that if you’re training a horse? Because that’s what you’re doing, training a HORSE. You need to know who and what the being in front of you is, their telos (yeah, look that one up👍), how they function, how they cope with challenges and solve problems, how they feel.
Is an individual horse even ready for training – ever thought of that?
Their relationship with their trainer – does that matter, or can anyone just get on and demand collection, or start waving a target stick and a load of treats around?
The learning theories, oh my days if you ever thought that training a horse only involves fiddling around with making them feel uncomfortable so they do what you wanted them to do, or rewarding with food, or timing the removal of an aversive stimulus, think again and again and again. This is where “you don’t know what you don’t know” really comes into its own. And “what could possibly go wrong?” A Lot, and if you’re planning to train a sentient being you need to know how to avoid that.
The human side – so now you can train a horse, but how do you pass on that knowledge to others? We’ve all had that trainer who wins everything but just can’t get it across in their lessons. You’re taught about coaching, communication, lesson planning, duty of care, running a business, all the legals…..
Where did I start? Oh, with how the domestic horse emerged. So, comprehensive or what?
There has never been an equine training course as well-researched, considerately put together or as inclusive as this. And having been an adult in the equestrian community for over 40 years I’ve seen most of them. Wherever you come from you are welcome and you will learn new knowledge that will help you to help your horses, other owners and their horses, and other trainers, whether that’s for your own interest, to expand your professional knowledge or to start a completely new career, at any age at all. If you’re a BHS coach, you will understand the horses you’ve been working with for years in ways you never knew. If you’re an eventer, a dressage rider, a show jumper, you will gain more clarity and insight into what has and hasn’t worked for you over all these years, that had never before crossed your mind. If you’re into endurance or happy hacking you’ll learn how to help your horse to understand what you’re asking of them and how to ride anywhere, safely and effectively. If you have horses you don’t ride and you want to know that they are safe, responsive and happy, you will learn all those things, how to recognise when things are going great for them, or when that’s not happening and how you can make it better.
And these are no empty claims. We’ve been assessed by the governing body that regulates animal training and behaviour courses in the UK and this course, the only course specifically for equine trainers, is recognised as providing the correct knowledge and understanding to train horses humanely and competently and to communicate effectively with owners and handlers. That same knowledge and understanding will meet the performance criteria required by any of the practitioner organisations who assess and register animal training instructors. We will be sending a whole new tranche of properly qualified and assessed equine training instructors out into the horse world for the very first time.
And here’s to many more🥂
https://naturalanimalcentre.org/animal-behaviour-courses-2/becomehorse-trainer/
Debbie Busby - Registered and Certificated Clinical Animal Behaviourist for Horses and Dogs 
Brilliant Debbie! All your hard work has clearly paid off.