United States Eventing Association

The Benefits of Becoming ICP Certified

You attended the workshops, have successfully navigated your assessment, and are now a proud member of the USEA Instructors’ Certification Program (ICP). What benefits do you receive from being a part of this program? What resources can you rely upon for help creating lesson plans and staying up to date with changes in the sport? How will you continue to learn and grow as an instructor?

Becoming ICP certified will confirm the instructor’s teaching principles and practices and of the Young Event Horse (YEH) professional horse trainer’s riding/training skill and their rider and horse-care standards. The required reading and hands-on experience taught through the workshops were put to the test at your assessment, and now you have shown you know the tried and true principles and practices.

Part of becoming ICP certified is being invited to an ongoing conversation with other ICP certified Instructors via the ICP Google Group. Here recent topics can be discussed and training techniques brought forward for consideration. Another resource for continued education can be found in Eventing USA magazine. Articles can be found on various topics on riding, training, and horse and stable management. Jumping lesson plans can be formulated with the help of the Grid Pro Quo article series which is easy to pull out and take into the ring for quick set up and execution.

There are various activities throughout the year where ICP instructors are offered a discounted rate for participation, one of which is the ICP Symposium held in Ocala, Florida at the beginning of the year. A distinguished trainer is brought in to teach over two days in all three disciplines across all levels. The following two days are focused on Future Event Horses and Young Event Horses with an in-classroom session to discuss the future of the programs. As an auditor, you can learn from the best in the business and take home bits of knowledge to impart to your students. As a rider, you can learn new techniques and practice skills to help progress your training.

Continuing education is required every four years by completing various activities, one of which could be attending a co-teaching clinic, where you will teach and be critiqued by a faculty member to help clarify your teaching techniques. Other approved credits towards continuing education are as follows: attending a workshop at your level or above, observing another ICP certified instructor teach (at a level higher than their own), attending the ICP Symposium, participating in a cross-country course walk performed by an ICP instructor (at a level higher than their own), attending a USEA Course Design or Officials’ Seminar, teaching a half-day session to Pony Club, auditing or riding in an equestrian clinic, attending a business training workshop, attending the ICP Forum at the USEA Annual Meeting & Convention, attending the USEA Convention, watching an equestrian video of significance, or reading an equestrian book of importance. A full list of acceptable credits can be found online here.

Other perks of being ICP certified are as follows:

• Listing in the USEA Directory of ICP Certified Eventing Instructors, the USEA Directory of ICP Certified YEH Instructors, and/or the USEA Directory of ICP Certified YEH Professional Horse Trainers on the USEA website.
• Credits towards reduced premiums for professional liability insurance.
• ICP sponsor C4 Belts offers 10% off to all ICP instructors.
• Free one-month access to all materials at www.equineprofessional.com and a free business consultation via phone call with Equestrian Professional Elisabeth McMillan.
• Free listings of an ICP certified individual’s equestrian activities/clinics with eventclinics.com.
• Credentials as a nationally certified instructor which may be required in some jurisdictions where business is conducted.
• Professional credentials which set an instructor aside from those who are not qualified to instruct.

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 EquiAppraisal for sponsoring the Instructors’ Certification Program.