How To Become A Certified Instructor Or Coach

Why Become Certified? Click here!

Obtaining a certificate is an important life-time achievement. As a certified Equestrian Canada Coach or Instructor, your clients and students will know that you have achieved the highest standards in Canada for equestrian coaching, and adhere to best-practices in coaching.

You will also be able to take advantage of substantial savings on insurance policies. Some municipalities may require certification for you to practice at certain facilities, depending on local by-laws.

Getting Certified

Step 1. Determine which program you are interested in.

Step 2. Contact the NBEA.

Step 3. Open a coaching file.

Step 4. Begin assembling requirements.

Step 5. Train and prepare for evaluation.

Step 6. Schedule your evaluation.

"Why and How to Become Certified"

Great article from

Horse Canada Magazine

Step 1: Identify the program for which you are best suited.

Research the different certification contexts and prerequisites to see which one most describes the type of client you work with, and your own readiness for evaluation in that context. For example, a main factor may be whether your clients are competitive (Coach certifications) or not (Instructor certification). For more information, see the EC About Coaching page, or click the links below for outlines of program prerequisites.

Step 2: Contact the NBEA.

To start the certification process, contact the NBEA for Instructor or Competition Coach certification, and also Equestrian Canada for Competition Coach Specialist or High Performance certification. You do need to formally apply, but before you do so, you should declare your interest and get your name on waiting lists for courses and evaluations. Sometimes courses and evaluations are scheduled in advance, and sometimes they are scheduled when there are sufficient numbers of participants.

If you are not certain about which certification is right for you, the coaching coordinators at the NBEA are happy to assist you.

NBEA English Coaching Coordinator: Nicole Beaulieu

NBEA Western Coaching Coordinator: Cyndy Toner

Step 3: Open a coaching file with the organization that administers the certification you are working towards.

As you submit the proofs of your prerequisites, the information will be stored in your NCCP file in "The Locker". Your provincial coaching coordinator can help you.

You do not have to have your prerequisites in place to take training available. Training courses and clinics are available to any interested participant. The person administering your file will also send you additional application forms as there is an application fee and formal application process in some certificates.

Step 4: Acquire prerequisites and begin to acquire supporting documents/courses.

♦ Basic Prerequisites for all coaching programs:

Instructor or Instructor with Jump

Western Rider 4, or
English Rider 6, or
Pony Club C2, or
Saddle Seat Rider 2, or
Complete Learn to Drive Program

Competition Coach

Western Intermediate Rider, or
English Rider 8, or
Pony Club B, or
Complete Saddle Seat Rider Program

Competition Specialist Coach

English Discipline Prerequisites

High Performance Coach

All Prerequisites

♦ As you get started toward your certification:

A. NBEA Membership

B. Standard two-day First Aid training certificate issued by an organization licensed for the delivery of First Aid Training in Canada

C. Criminal Record Check - Enhanced Police Information Check (E-PIC) - Vulnerable Sector for anyone born before 1986

♦ E-PIC Matrix ♦ E-PIC Information Sheet

D. Equestrian Canada Coach License - EC Coach Licenses are designed for all coaches, certified or not. A discounted fee is available for coaches-in-training.

♦ Before your EC Sport Licence and NCCP certificate can be issued:

A. Making Ethical Decisions course - NCCP Locker

B. EC Fostering Healthy Environments training OR Respect in Sport’s Activity Leaders e-Learning module

C. Signed Equestrian Coaching Code of Ethics and the EC Code of Ethics

D. Complete the NCCP Making Head Way in Sport concussion evaluation through your NCCP Locker account

Step 5: Train and prepare.

♦ Clinic: Check out the Coaching News 2020 page for coaching preparation and evaluation activities. The NBEA Calendar also maintains a listing of these events.

♦ Mentor: It is strongly recommended that you attend training and book some sessions with a qualified Mentor who can help you prepare for the coaching evaluation requirements.Your administrator will also be able to give you names of trained Mentors in your area who would be able to assess your teaching or coaching style and help you prepare for evaluation.

You can continue to be coached by your own coach; however, only coaches that have taken training to familiarize themselves with the evaluations in the new program or who have been evaluated in it are in a position to provide information and feedback that is accurate regarding the expectations you face in the new evaluations.

♦ Study:

• Check out the Coaching Resources page for materials to help prepare.

• Training modules available in the Equestrian Canada Coaching Program

(EC is currently revamping their coach training materials - Spring 2020. New links will be added to this section once they become available.)

You can also contact your administrator for a name of a Learning Facilitator in the NCCP program who you could hire to mentor or tutor you on writing your lesson and training plans.

♦ Obtain all supplementary training and documents:

You can be working on the list of supplementary requirements at any time, such as criminal record check documents, first aid training, and the other EC and NCCP courses required for full certification.

Step 6: Apply for evaluation.

Once all your prerequisites are obtained, and your application has been received by your administrator, they will set up your evaluation by trained and certified Evaluators. They will also send you candidate information packages to help you prepare. The basic evaluation process for each certification type is listed here. You can obtain more detail in the Training and Evaluation Pathways (above).

	Instructor: Administered by the NBEA. Single evaluation day with one Evaluator. You are evaluated on your written lesson plans and teaching skills giving lessons. Typically, demo horses and ‘student’ riders are provided by the evaluation organizer. Instructor Evaluation Rubrics: English Western Saddle Seat Drive and Endurance Coming Soon!
	Competition Coach: Administered by the NBEA. Single evaluation day with two Evaluators. You are evaluated on your written lesson and training plans, and coaching skills giving lessons. Typically, demo horses and ‘students’ are provided by the evaluation organizer. Competition Coach Evaluation Rubrics: English Western and Saddle Seat coming soon
	Competition Specialist Coach: Administered by the NBEA. Three evaluation steps are conducted in order. As you complete each phase, you can proceed to the next one. Prior to each phase your administrator will send you the information you need to prepare. The steps are: initial evaluation of your submitted lesson plans and seasonal training plan; a single evaluation day with two Evaluators where you are evaluated on coaching skills while giving lessons; a final phase where your coaching is evaluated at a competition. Candidates in this context can provide their own horses. Candidates are encouraged to consider inviting the administrator to organize the evaluation at your facility, in exchange for sharing the evaluation with other competition and competition specialist candidates to reduce cost. Competition Coach Specialist Evaluation Rubrics: English Western coming soon! Competition Coach Specialist Application Packages: English disciplines (Jump, Eventing, Dressage) Western disciplines (Reining, General Performance, Speed Events) coming soon!
	High Performance Coach: Administered by Equestrian Canada. Three evaluation steps are conducted in order. As you complete each phase, you can proceed to the next one. Prior to each phase your administrator will send you the information you need to prepare. The steps are: initial evaluation of your submitted lesson plans and yearly training plan; a single evaluation day with two Evaluators where you are evaluated on coaching skills while giving lessons; a final phase where your coaching is evaluated at a competition. Candidates in this context can provide their own horses. Candidates are encouraged to consider inviting the administrator to organize the evaluation at your facility, in exchange for sharing the evaluation with other competition specialist candidates to reduce cost. High Performance Coach Application Packages Jump Reining Dressage Eventing

Only certificate evaluations which are authorized by Equestrian Canada qualify you to obtain Equestrian Canada certification. When you successfully complete evaluations, the results are sent in to Equestrian Canada. If you have also completed all of your prerequisites, EC will authorize certification, update the EC database, and advise the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) so that they can update your professional coaching transcript in their national database.

Your certificate will be mailed to you within a few weeks of your certification confirmation by Equestrian Canada. If you were evaluated in a program administered by the NBEA, the Coaching Coordinator will forward all required paperwork from your evaluation results to Equestrian Canada for certification.

► Demystifying the EC NCCP Coaching Certification Pathway - Webinar

► Demystifying the EC NCCP Coaching Certification Pathway - Q & A

$500.00 Grant

Obtaining your Coaching Certification is an important life-time achievement. As a certified NCCP/Equestrian Canada Instructor or Coach, your clients and students will know that you have achieved the highest standards in Canada for equestrian coaching, and adhere to best-practices in coaching. The NBEA would like to recognize the time, hard work, and dedication that go into achieving this goal, by offering a $500 grant to up to 10 applicants, upon successful completion of their Instructor of Beginners or Coach certification. Once you have successfully completed your certification assessment and have all your components up-to-date, your Coaching Coordinator will notify the NBEA office to issue your $500 grant.

$30 Prep Course

In addition, Instructor and Coach Candidates are invited to register to be eligible to attend two coaching prep workshops for the price of $30.