Nevertheless, when the opportunity arose to do the MEM Instructor Level 1 certificate under the Equestrian Australia’s National Coaching Accreditation Scheme (NCAS), I took the chance.
When I did the NCAS Level 1 years ago, I actually had no intentions of teaching. I was successfully competing at World Cup and Asian Games level. I had already won 12 South East Asian equestrian titles in show jumping, dressage, combined training and eventing.
At the time, I didn’t have an actual need for certification – I was not instructing at all and I have never really used my qualification as an instructor as a primary job. I did the professional coaching diploma for my personal growth and because I wanted to deepen my understanding and knowledge of the sport.
Riders and instructors alike should keep learning. Horse sports evolve – new rules, new regulations, new teaching methods etc. If you are an instructor who hasn’t updated, you are probably out of date on procedures and new methods that have been introduced.
I was listening to an interesting podcast yesterday on Spotify. It was on an equestrian channel called Equestrian Voices, and the podcast was titled, The Student / Trainer Relationship. It was about how important it is that you find the right trainer for yourself, a real trainer, and the challenges in finding the right one.
Wan Ming touches on this also in her blog post, Teach what you know: “As a coach, I believe in teaching what I know. If I don’t know, I need to find out and know, or not teach it at all. I do see people at times trying to teach something that they do not know / not completely clear about and it ends up being messy and confusing. Think about the saying “the blind leading the blind”.
There are coaches who already know everything. We also have self-proclaimed instructors, who have never bothered with certification. They are the ones most likely to be found postulating on instructional procedures that they never bothered learning themselves.
Ironically, I find it is those coaches who are so sure of themselves that usually stopped learning long ago. Nirvana was reached at an early age. Yet in this day and age, where there are so many opportunities to keep developing, even by on-line means, it is almost criminal that we rely on coaches with closed minds, whose only certification is QBE – Qualified By Experience. Many a time, their experience is questionable. Remember, those who could, competed. There were plenty who couldn’t compete that went straight into unqualified coaching.
As Wan Ming says, “As coaches, continuous professional development is important, as horse riding is such a dynamic and evolving sport. Every rider and horse is different, and so is every horse and rider combination. This can be done in many different ways – reading, watching videos of credible riders and coaches, having lessons, learning about different topics that relate to horse riding e.g. biomechanics of rider and horse, saddle fitting, etc.
There are courses available in Malaysia – the Malaysian Equine Council exists for this very reason. Yet few ‘good’ riders bother to get a professional qualification despite it being readily available. So, to enable a better level of professionalism, KL Academy of Polo will start offering MEM courses at the Royal Selangor Polo Club. We will start with the O Level Stable Management Course, once MCO is lifted. We also hope to introduce The Pony Club tests.
The O Level Stable Management is a Malaysian Equine Council (Majlis Ekuin Malaysia or MEM) Certificate Course. It leads on to the Introductory Level, and later the MEM Level 1.
