我叫罗山，有些人认识我，但很多人可能并不知道。多年以来，一直致力于中国马术运动在国内外的推广工作，对此，我深感荣幸。我的梦想就是帮助中国增强马术运动的实力以及从业人员的业务能力，寻找到最便捷的途径并且在多年后，成为世界上其他地方学习的榜样。这条路是漫长的，但是作为一位英国马术爱好者，能够和你们一起走下去，我感到非常的自豪。

    当我看到激动人心的奥运会竞标以及众多国际马业专家来访中国，我所担心是，许多的努力和资源都用在了漂亮马厩的建造，优良马匹的购买以及专业骑手的培训工作上。你们中的很多人拥有着前往世界各地考察马业状况所需的宝贵资源和机会，但是由于各种原因，在教练员培训方面所付出的努力却很少。

    一位能力突出的教练员所产生价值是无法估量的。这点我很了解，因为我的两个儿子曾经接受过许多中国和海外最优秀教练员的训练和指导。教练员是第一个介绍你与马儿认识的人。他要负责你的安全，而且要保证你从始至终学到正确的技术。他还要确保你享受到骑马的乐趣。

    根据我的经验，90%以上的中国教练员都希望能够出色地完成工作，但在最新知识和训练信息的获取上时常受到限制（特别是仅靠母语，不依赖翻译的教练员）。

    这一点给了我启发，且获得了中国马术协会的强烈鼓励支持，去建立一套认证体系。该体系建立的目标在于：

1．给教练员一个非常明确的跳板，让其成为符合国际资格的教练员。
2．让该体系更实用于中国的实际情况，并帮助教练员处理日常遇见的各种问题。
3．建立起中国自己的专业技术体系，而不是总依赖于外界投入，但是常见实际发生的情况和国际专业更新两者之间要平衡发展。
4．公平面向所有人
5．公开面向所有人
6．严格地执行标准
7．提出切实有效的财务方案

    有了这些基本原则，在我和一些中国朋友均拥有着国际教练员考试丰富经验的基础上，经过与中国马协长时间的讨论后，我们决定与英国哈特伯瑞学院合作，建立起中国自己的资格认证体系，即中英资格认证体系。

    首要工作是要对中国目前存在的问题，常见情况，发展目标和动机以及日前中国马术俱乐部、教练员及客人的整体水平有个清楚的概念。方便起见，我们决定将工作核心放在上海和北京两地，来自哈特伯瑞学院的杰瑞米.迈克尔斯先生和我花了两周时间对不同俱乐部，教练员及客人情况作了一次系统的调查。杰瑞米先生曾频繁往返德国，美国和英国各地授课，这一点对我们很有帮助。

    经过调查，我们明显发现中国在很多方面都比较独特，尤其是客人对高标准服务的要求。

    在这个基础上，我们设计出了中英培训体系：

    给教练员一个非常明确的跳板，让其成为符合国际资格的教练员。

    课程提纲严格根据杰瑞米先生担任英国哈特伯瑞培训体系主考官及培训主任的丰富经验和国际马术认证机构（IGEQ）的大力投入设计而成，其中国际马术认证机构的成员国包括：德国，法国，新西兰、英国、荷兰、比利时和丹麦各国。该机构计划于明年对我们的中英培训体系国际一级资格进行认证。这将意味着获得了中英培训体系国际一级证书的中国教练员的资质是具有世界同等水平且在这些国家均予以承认的。我们也将继续向各种不同的国际水平迈步。

    让该体系更实用于中国的实际情况，并帮助教练员处理日常中遇见的各种问题。

    我们曾近距离地接触过一些教练员，以确保涵盖他们所遇到的大部分问题, 例如中国教练员，为客人打圈的比例比英国要多很多，因此，我们在国内二级考试中，设置了更为严格的打圈考试。因为这关系到客人的安全。该体系是一套循序渐进的培训体系，随着更多新教练员的加入，新想法的引进，我们将会不断处理新生的问题。

    建立起中国自己的专业技术体系，而不是总依赖于外界投入，但是常见实际发生的情况和国际专业更新两者之间要平衡发展。

    这是该培训体系的核心。通过教练员的培训，我们希望他们能够将所学到的专业知识和行业标准延伸贯穿到中国的整个马业发展中去。我们日前拥有一个由9位精英教练和考官组成的团队。计划继续对他们进行培训，并且鼓励其他人士加入，当然前提是这些人员均达到了我们所要求的最低水平。
精英组的所有人员都顺利通过了国内二级考试，并且也参加了一级模拟考试，表现均超出了所要求的水平。在过去的三年中，他们一直在接受培训，其中包括在哈特伯瑞学院与杰瑞米先生共事，在俱乐部认证，考试和训练中，在杰瑞米先生的指导下，接受一对一的“观察，执行，回顾”课程的系统培训。在以后的日子里，我们将致力于以上人员个人能力的不断提高。

    公平面向所有人

    该系统的可信度和透明度是至关重要的。每个新的考官助理都会首先和一位经验丰富的考官一起工作学习，并在提升前，得到杰瑞米先生的亲自考核。每次国内一级考试都将会有一位中国主考官和杰瑞米先生交换巡视整个考试过程，以确保严格按照既定标准执行。

    中国马协将定期在已获认证的俱乐部内举办CHS培训班，以此鼓励广大爱马人士和教练员不断提高。中英培训体系还准备向俱乐部所推荐的俱乐部教练员提供奖学金，该人选将在参加考核后的某一选定考核日确定并通过我本人的面试。

    目的在于为这些热情的教练员们提供一个快速提高的培训机会。具体细节请浏览网站。

    公开面向所有人是我们一直以来的目标，但由于行业的局限性和语言沟通的困难性，因此不可能所有人都进入到这一培训体系中来。当我们首次举办国内二级考试备考培训时，特别邀请了北京和上海的大部分俱乐部前来参加，但经验告诉我们，并不是每个人都能够坚持下去。

    现在，之所以有了网站的鼎力支持，我们可以向所有感兴趣的朋友公开推广该培训体系。接收能力上仍有局限，我们不可能每天都举办考试，因此如果报名人数太多的话，将可能采取初试的方式。下一轮考试将在明年四月进行，建议您通过网站报名。

    严格地执行标准

    为了对行业起到应有的促进作用，中国马协和哈特博瑞学院志在严格地执行标准。邀请杰瑞米先生出席每次的考试，必将在考试质量监控工作上起到巨大的作用。我们也会采取其它的一些措施，以确保严格地执行标准。

    提出切实有效的财务方案

    我们的目的不是要求俱乐部主人在硬件设施上进行大规模的投入。很多建议是围绕着良好管理问题的，从而保证马匹的健康和高度的安全系数。例如：在每次用完衔铁后，要彻底清洗干净，这样可以确保马匹不会得口疮。我们将根据不同的经营目标，对每个俱乐部进行评估。例如是一个休闲骑乘俱乐部，我们则不期望俱乐部内会有进口的障碍马。但是，马匹必须安全且胜任。管理必须妥当，以确保它们的健康和安全。

    给杰瑞米先生和我曾留下深刻印象的是那些勇敢加入到该体系中的俱乐部。现在已有5家，分布于北京和上海两地。这一数字将很快有所增长。

    像西坞和天星这样的俱乐部承受的压力是最大的。在过去的三年里，他们为提高标准而非常努力地工作着，所以他们国内仅有的两家面向公众的四星级俱乐部。在人员培训提高方面，投入巨大，并且不厌其烦地提供了很多义务时间，人员和资源来帮助这个系统得以建立。

    我真诚地希望你们中的很多人能够直接加入到这个系统中，或者，至少会从中获益。

    我最后想说的是，你们的教练是无价的，尊敬他们，鼓励他们更上一层楼。他们没有理由在不久的将来，不成为中国的精英教练，而且同样的，哪一位马术爱好者都可以成为其中的一名精英教练，只是需要努力地工作和大量的时间投入，而且最重要的是对马的无限热爱和理解。

                                                                            罗山

To China Horse Lovers:

My name is Luo Shan. Some people know me, but many may not. It has been my honour to help in the promotion of Chinese equestrian sport abroad and internally for many years. My dream is to help China build on its strengths and its people, find the shortest path and over the years to become an example for the rest of the world. This is a long road, but I am proud, as an English horse lover, to walk together with you.

As I watched the excitement of the Olympic bid and the many international horse experts visit China, my worry has been that effort and resources are being put into beautiful stables, glorious horses and training professional competitors. Many of you have the resources and opportunity to visit the horse industry throughout the world- but for various reasons little effort was being put into the training of instructors.

A talented instructor is a priceless person. I know because my two sons have been trained by many of the best in China and abroad. The instructor is the first person who introduces you to horses. He is the one who is responsible for your safety and also for making sure you learn the correct technique from beginning to end. He is also the one to make sure you enjoy your ride.
In my experience over 90% of Chinese instructors want to do a good job, but access to the most up-to-date information and training (especially in their own language not relying on a translator) has been limited.

This gave me the idea, strongly encourage by the Chinese Equestrian Association, to set up an accreditation programme. The goal of the programme was:

To give instructors clearly defined stepping stones to become internationally qualified.

1. To be practical to China’s actual situation and help instructors deal with the day to day problems they encounter.
2. To build China’s own expertise rather than always relying on outside input, but balancing this with regular and practical updates from an international professional.
3. To be fair to all.
4. To be open to all.
5. To be rigorous in its standards.
6. To put forward financial effective solutions.

With these principals in mind, having experience of international coach exams both myself and various Chinese friends, and following lengthy discussions with the CEA we decided to work with Hartpury College, UK to set up China’s own qualification system: the CHS system:
The first job was to get a clear idea of the problems, issues, goals, motivation and general standard of clubs, instructors and clients in China. We decided simply for convenience to base ourselves around Beijing and Shanghai. Jeremy Michaels, from Hartpury College, and I spent two weeks working with various clubs, instructors and clients. Jeremy has the advantage of having taught frequently in Germany and the US as well as UK.

It was clear that China is unique in many ways, especially the high standard demanded by clients.

On this basis we designed the CHS system:

To give instructors clearly defined stepping stones to become internationally qualified.
The syllabus is closely designed with Jeremy’s experience as Chief Examiner and Training Director of the BHS and input from the International Group for Equestrian Qualifications (IGEQ) membership of which includes Germany, France, New Zealand, UK , Holland, Belgium and Denmark. The plan is for the IGEQ to recognise the CHS International Level 1 qualification next year. This will mean that Chinese instructors receiving the CHS International Level 1 certificates will be sure that their qualifications are at the same standard and will be recognised in these countries. We plan to continue to move up the various international levels.

To be practical to China’s actual situation and help instructors deal with the day to day problems they encounter.

We have worked very closely with a group of instructors to ensure that most of their problems have been covered. For example instructors in China, use lunging of clients much more than in UK, so we have made the lunging portion of the LL2 exam much more rigorous as this is a question of client safety. This is a continuous programme and we will deal with new issues as more new instructors come into the system with new ideas.

To build China’s own expertise rather than always relying on outside input, but balancing this with regular and practical updates from an international professional.

This is the heart of the programme. By training the trainers we hope to spread the expertise and standards throughout the industry. We have a small group of 9 elite trainers/examiners. It is our plan to continue to train them and to encourage others to join the group once they have achieved the minimum requirements.

The elite group have all passed the LL2 exam with distinction and also have performed above the required standard in the IL1 mock exam. They have all had ongoing training over the past three years including training at Hartpury working with Jeremy, individual “watch, perform review” sessions by Jeremy during Club accreditations, examinations and trainings. We will continue to build on each of these individuals strengths into the future.

To be fair to all.

The credibility and transparency of the system is essential. Every new assistant examiner will work together with an experienced examiner and will be assessed by Jeremy before being promoted. Every LL1 exam will have one local Chief Examiner and Jeremy who will rotate through the whole process to ensure that standards are maintained.

The Chinese Equestrian Association will regularly hold CHS training sessions at accredited clubs to encourage horse lovers and instructors to improve themselves. The CHS system also plans to offer scholarships to club instructors recommended by their clubs, selected at an assessment day after attending the assessment and being interviewed by myself. The objective is to give those enthusiastic instructors a chance to take part in a fast track programme. Details will appear on the website.

To be open to all.

It has always been our objective to be open to all, but because of the size of the industry and the difficulty of communication it has not always been able to include everyone in the programme. When we held the first training programme in preparation for the LL2 exams we invited most of the Beijing and Shanghai Clubs to attend, but our experience was that not everyone stick to it.

Now, with the valuable support of the website we are able to open the programme to anyone who is interested. We do still have capacity issue and can not hold examinations every day, so there may need to be some kind of pre-examination if the numbers are too great. We will advise you via the website when our next set of exams come round in April.

To be rigorous in its standards.

In order to be of value to the industry, it is the Chinese Equestrian Association and Hartpury’s determination that the standards must be rigorous. By having Jeremy at every examination there will be a certainty of quality control. We are also putting in place other measures to ensure that the standards are rigorous.

To put forward financial effective solutions.

It is not our goal to require Club owners to invest heavily in facilities. Many of our recommendations are questions of good management to ensure the horses are healthy and everything is safe. For example, washing the bits clean after every ride ensures that the horses do not get sore mouths. We will assess every club according to your business goals e.g. if you are a hacking club we will not expect your club to have imported showjumping horses. However, the horses must be safe and suitable for their job and their management must be correct to ensure their health and safety.

Jeremy and I have been hugely impressed with the Clubs who have bravely put themselves forward to take part in this system. There are now already 5 Clubs in Beijing and Shanghai. This will hopefully increase very soon.

The Clubs who have had the most pressure have been Sheerwood and Equuleus. They have worked very hard to raise their standards over the past three years so that they are now the only four star clubs open to the public. They have worked tirelessly to invest in the improvement of their staff and have volunteered time, staff and resources to help this system to be set up.

I sincerely hope that many of you will be able to either take part directly in the system or at least benefit from it.

I have one last word. Your trainers are priceless. Respect them, encourage them to improve themselves. There is no reason why they will not become one of the elite Chinese instructors in the future, and no reason why any horse lover should not become one as well. It requires hard work and time, but most of all it requires love and understanding of horses!

Luo Shan