Do you need to be qualified to offer ‘ground work’ lessons??

seoirse

seoirse

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A good friend of mine is a superb horseman and exceptionally talented at working with horses on the ground, he’s a good rider too but at 6ft 2 he’s limited what he can sit on. My very nicely produced horse was walking all over me (literally) when I was bringing him in and out to the field so my friend came and gave me and the horse some ground work lessons. Made a HUGE difference and we are all much happier and in control on the ground now. Ridden work was never a problem but it has improved since doing the groundwork. My previous horse who has sadly died now had a terrible choking session in my trailer a while back and was subsequently terrified of the trailer (seriously wouldn’t go NEAR it and used to take off on the road if one came past us!), same friend came and helped us through that, it was never a problem again.

Anyway, sorry for the waffle but I wanted to set the scene a little. He’s had lots of success with lots of horses all belonging to friends. He’s a great guy but totally unqualified in all areas and currently is unemployed. I’ve told him loads of times he could make a living helping people with tricky horses but he’s not sure. He’s worried he needs to be qualified but I’m not sure he does if its not ridden work? Obviously he doesn’t want to end up landing himself in trouble, but equally he needs to make a living and I think he has a talent he should be sharing with people and earning from.

I’m not talking parelli here or any particular ‘brand’ of horsemanship, he is just a talented guy, who understands horses very very well and is great at problem solving gently and kindly in situations like leading/loading/clipping all the general stuff lots of us have trouble with.

I’d be interested if anyone knows the situation regarding the law as I can’t seem to find out anywhere.

Many thanks.
 
It is pretty unregulated, so I don't think that legally you need to be qualified (If so what in!!). However many people like to use trainers that have some sort of qualifying certification and/or belong to an association of some sort. Then they have some way of making a complaint, to the association, and getting it heard if anything goes wrong. He would require insurance of some sort and I believe that it would need to be a policy for Freelance Instructors.
 
I've recently started helping a few people with troublesome horses through groundwork. I have no qualifications at all (I'm only qualified in health care!) But have got all this 'horse work' through word of mouth. I started by helping a friend then her friend and then it just spread.
 
I take no notice of qualifications whatsoever when looking for a trainer. In fact, a BHS qualification slightly puts me off! There are so many qualified instructors who are absolutely useless and actually detrimental to the training of you and your horse. I always go on reputation and word of mouth, as well as personality. I give lessons to my liveries as well as have freelance trainers come to the yard (some qualified, others not). So I would think your friend should have no problem setting up as a groundwork trainer. He could do with getting a website and you could do a testimonial for him.
 
You don't need 'qualifications', but do need to be insured. You then need to establish a very good reputation!

My trainers don't have BHS qualifications as such, but they are proven in their abilities and have a proven track record of producing and competing at a high level, and of course have a good reputation. TBH if all someone has to advertise themsleves with is an AI or II, it just makes me think beginners Riding School.
 
he doesnt need to be qualified!! but does need to be insured. and he would have to register as self employed, so he would have to be committed to make it work. he would have to come off the unemployed "with benefits" list. maybe that is what is worrying him?? (sorry just read the benefit post)
 
I work as an instructor, but I have no bhs qualifications (don't actually think the ai qualification stands for much) I am fully insured through kbis and have the same level of cover a bhs instructor would.

If he's unsure what insurance he needs, I spoke to the julie andrews horse insurance people when I was first looking at what cover I needed, they were very helpful and got me set up with kbis.
 
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