United States Eventing Association

The mission of the USEA Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP) is to produce and improve the craft and art in the teaching of riding and horse management for the sport of eventing through the application of the highest principles of horsemanship, which ensures the ethical and humane treatment of horses and the safety of both horses and riders and extends to all those associated with the health and well-being of the horses.

ICP Committee members Mary D’Arcy, Phyllis Dawson, Robin Walker, Jennifer Rousseau, David O’Connor, and Karen O’Connor led the open forum at the 2021 USEA Annual Meeting & Convention sharing the many projects and changes in the ICP pipeline.

Watch the ICP Open Forum or read the top takeaways below:

All USEA members and eventing enthusiasts are invited to the ICP Symposium at Barnstaple South in Ocala, Florida on February 8-9, 2022. The ICP Symposium will include instruction of dressage, show jumping, and cross-country as well as the basics of sports psychology, and teaching to all four learning modalities. There will also be interactive portions with instructors breaking into small groups to analyze and suggest how horses and riders should move forward. The symposium will be led by ICP Faculty members, as well as Dr. Paul Haefner, PHD-Sports Psychologist. Learn more and how to register here.

The ICP Program wrote a USEA Eventing Handbook by the Levels. The writing of this handbook has been two years in the making and the process was led by Subcommittee Chair Jennifer Howlett Rousseau. “It was a lot of imagination and innovation. In the end, all roads lead to rider safety,” she said. The handbook was inspired by Dan Michael’s proposal of a “skills matrix” and then was carefully crafted over two years and has gone through the approval of nearly all the USEA Committees before the Board’s approval. The handbook will debut at the ICP Symposium.

There will also be changes to the ICP certification levels to align with the FEI Levels. Level II instructors will move to Level III, Level III instructors will move to Level IV, and Level IV instructors will move to Level V. Moving forward, those instructors who are certified at Level I-Training will be required to submit a list of students they are currently teaching, and a review of the competition records of their students will be conducted. Those who are certified at Level I-Training will have the option to test up to Level II at a reduced rate, by December 31, 2024. After that date, if they have not tested up, they will automatically change to the certification level based on their current student’s competition levels.

The provisional ICP certification will be eliminated. In 2007, the ICP Committee instituted provisional certification to bring ICP certification to a wider range of instructors who may live in areas that do not have a big eventing presence, however, the instructor had the skills and eye to pass assessment but did not have students competing at the level at which they were seeking certification at the time they were assessed. Recently graduated equine studies students, who were building their business and did not have students, were also likely candidates. provisional certification was never meant to be a permanent certification. Moving forward, provisionally certified Instructors will be required to submit a list of students they are currently teaching, and a review of the competition records of their students will be conducted. All provisionally certified instructors will be given the option to move from provisional to regular certification by December 31, 2023. If they do not fulfill the regular certification requirements by that date, they will be moved to a certification level based on their student’s competition levels.

About the USEA Instructors’ Certification Program

Instructors are essential to the training of riders and horses for safe and educated participation in the sport of eventing. The USEA Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP) was initiated in 2002 to educate all levels of eventing instructor with essential training principles upon which those instructors can continue to build throughout their teaching careers. ICP offers educational workshops and assessments by which both regular instructors, Level I through Level IV, Young Event Horse (YEH) instructors, and Young Event Horse professional horse trainers can become ICP certified. Additional information about ICP’s goals, benefits, workshops, and assessments as well as names and contact information for current ICP-certified instructors, YEH instructors, and YEH professional horse trainers are available is available on the USEA website. Click here to learn more about the Instructors’ Certification Program.

The USEA would like to thank Parker Equine Insurance and Stable Secretary for sponsoring the Instructors’ Certification Program.