Certified Horsemanship Association Offers Educational Opportunities with Skills Workshops

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Certified Horsemanship Association Offers Educational Opportunities with Skills Workshops

(February 2019) – The Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) is excited to announce several opportunities for learning and continuing education with several Skills Workshops offered on its calendar. CHA Skills Workshops are single-day or multi-day events covering any topic covered in any of the CHA Certification Programs or how to teach any topic covered in any CHA Certification Program.

The CHA Region 9 Equine Facility Managers (EFM) Skills Workshop, “Building Safer Equine Activity Programs through Equine Facility Manager Certification,” will be taught by CHA CEO Christy Landwehr and CHA EFM Clinician Jill Montgomery. This workshop is designed to show the process that CHA uses in evaluating the skills necessary to gain CHA EFM Certification and to practice the skills tested in each of the four levels evaluated at CHA EFM Certification Clinics.

There will be a tour of the host facility, the Dumb Friend’s League Harmony Equine Center in Franktown, Colorado. This state of the art facility is dedicated to re-homing unwanted horses and is part of CHA’s pilot program with The Right Horse to give horses another career as lesson horses with CHA instructors. “We’re really excited to be able to do this workshop at this particular facility that is so impactful for our region,” said Montgomery.

This April 6th workshop is geared toward stable owners and staff, riding instructors interested in becoming CHA Certified Equine Facility Managers, and individuals who want to make their operations safer and more effective. The cost for non-members is $135 (which includes CHA membership for a year) and $75 for CHA members. Proceeds will go to benefit CHA Region 9 travel funds. The program qualifies for eight continuing education units (CEUs). Contact Jill Montgomery at jill.montgomery@yahoo.com for more information.

Montgomery of Pueblo West, Colorado, is CEO of JRAM Enterprises, Inc., which provides equine business consulting. She is also a CHA Certified Instructor at Level 3 in English and Western, a CHA Certified Equine Facility Manager Clinician, a Site Visitor, a director for Region 9, and a past board member. Montgomery won the 2017 CHA Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2017 Van Ness Award from the American Horse Council.

CHA has two Instructors of Riders with Disabilities (IRD) Skills Workshops this year that will be taught by Debbie Holmes. These two clinics will cover mounts and dismounts, matching up the horse and rider, adapting riding elements to a therapeutic rider, risk management, teaching techniques and lesson plans, and saddle fit. These workshops may be of interest to any CHA IRD instructor, or anyone who has volunteered at a therapeutic riding program or who wants more information on the CHA IRD program. Participants can earn six CEUs.

The first IRD workshop will be April 27 at Horses with Heart in Chino Valley, Arizona. The cost for non-members is $160 (which includes CHA membership for a year), while the cost for CHA members is $100. Contact Debbie Holmes at debbie.holmes@charter.net. The second IRD workshop will be on October 9 at Wesley Woods-Barnum Equestrian Center in Indianola, Iowa. The cost for non-members is $175, while the cost for CHA members is $115. Contact Laura Huttler at horses@wesleywoodsiowa.org.

Holmes is a CHA Master and Clinic Instructor in Western, English, and Jumping; a CHA Master IRD Instructor and Clinician; the current Oregon State Representative; a PATH Registered Instructor, Equine Specialist, and Mentor; and she has completed the Level One American Hippotherapy Association training. She is the program director and founder of White Dove Therapeutic Riding Center in Grants Pass, Oregon. Previously, she was a therapeutic instructor with Horses with Heart and at Arizona State University.

In addition to these clinics, please keep an eye on the online CHA clinics calendar at https://cha.horse/cha-certifications/#skills-workshops for the addition of more CHA Skills Workshops for 2019. For further information on becoming a CHA Host Site or to learn more about skills clinics, please visit https://cha.horse/cha-certifications/#skills.


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.horse or call 859-259-3399. To find a certified horseback riding instructor or accredited equine facility near you, visit www.CHA.horse

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