Horse Safety Australia - formerly the Association for Horsemanship Safety and Education in Australia Inc

In 1992 the Association for Horsemanship, Safety and Education in Australia (Incorporated in 1997) was formed to foster higher standards of safety within the horse industry, particularly relating to teaching horseriding to groups of beginners. Since then AHSE has accredited more than 700 instructors in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

The Association for Horsemanship Safety and Education originally obtained its structure from the Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) in USA, using their materials, which had been developed over 45 years of experience in horseriding at camps. AHSE  went on its own in 1997 and linked with the Australian vocational education system.  AHSE (now called Horse Safety Australia) certification  has been described as appropriate for instructing horseriding in the Education Department guidelines to schools in Queensland, Tasmania, NSW, ACT, Victoria, WA and S.A.

AHSE helped with the development of the units of competency in the National Training Package for the recreational horseriding industry. Status in some of the units in Certificates II, III and IV in Outdoor Recreation is available at clinics through skills recognition or ” Recognition of Prior Learning “. These clusters of units, which form the basis of our qualifications, are the same as those listed for instructors with the National Outdoor Recreation Leaders Scheme,  and in the Adventure Activity Standards.

Late in 2006, we decided to change our name to Horse Safety Australia to reflect our broader functions.

The aims of Horse Safety Australia involve safety, fun and effective teaching of horse activities in all disciplines.

In addition to the program for the accreditation of instructors, Horse Safety Australia provides the opportunity for site accreditation : with standards for safe fencing and facilities, clothing and footwear for horseriding; equipment standards, ratios of staff to students etc. Also Horse Safety Australia has recently branched out into providing workshops and units of competency for those involved in running events in the horse industry.

Horse Safety Australia runs 4 day accreditation clinics in which the participants are put through their paces to demonstrate their abilities as instructors, horsemanship teachers and / or  trail guides. Qualifications are gained through a process of Recognition of Prior Learning. Clinics should not be viewed as training sessions; though the networking which occurs is usually a valuable experience for those seeking new and innovative ideas to apply to their programs.