As a Pro-EFW (Professional Association for Equine Facilitated Wellness) mentor and trainer, I regularly support certification candidates as they collect and document their hours of experience and training with both horses (and/ or other animals) and people to meet the various Pro-EFW and other certification body requirements.
While the Healing Hooves training programs include consideration of various certification processes within both the AAT (Animal Assisted Therapy) and EFW (Equine Facilitated Wellness) fields, this article will specifically focus upon the requirements of Pro-EFW in the EFW field. If you have questions about any other certification program please let me know in the comments section below and I will do my best to help you locate the information and support you are looking for!
One area of confusion which seems to be shared by many Pro-EFW candidates is where to include which hours, and how to accumulate the required hours in each certification requirement area. My aim here is to shed some light on this area and hopefully reduce some of the confusion. I will define some of the key areas where you need to show experience and then, through a series of examples, show which hours can be included where. While my focus here is the requirements of the Canadian Certification body, Pro-EFW, I hope this discussion will also be helpful in providing ideas for meeting practicum, experience and personal growth requirements for other equine and/ or animal assisted therapy certification bodies.
If you are unsure about any of the terminology, acronyms or terms we use in this article please refer to our previous article in this series: What are Equine and Animal Assisted Therapy?
We also encourage you to become familiar with the requirements set out on the Pro-EFW website for the most up to date information, and remember that your Pro-EFW trainer and mentor will provide you with lots of support in terms of understanding all of these requirements and applying them to your specific situation and goals. You are not alone in this journey!
Areas where you need to collect hours/ show experience for Pro-EFW certification:
1. Pre requisite Equine Hours
All candidates need to show some experience with equines, separate from any training and experience in Equine Facilitated Wellness. The amount and nature of these hours depends on what level of certification you are seeking on the Equine side.
If you are seeking certification as an Equine Professional (EP) you need to show 2,500 hours of experience with equines. 1,000 of these hours need to be with you in a leadership position (i.e. you teaching horsemanship rather than being taught it), and 500 of that 1000 need to be with you in a leadership position with novices.
If you are not seeking certification as an EP you still need a minimum of 60 hours of experience working with and learning about horses. This is what Pro-EFW refer to as your ‘cross training’ hours. This is also where the level of expertise table comes in. 60 hours of equine experience puts you at a level one, while 2,500 hours puts you at a level five which is equivalent to certification as an EP. Levels 2, 3 and 4 lie somewhere in between and while specific numbers of hours are not defined for levels 2 and 3 descriptions are provided (on the levels of expertise table) and your Pro-EFW trainer or mentor will help you determine where you lie on this table. The levels of expertise tables also define what you can do with equines as a non EP and what level of equine supervision is required.
2. Pre requisite Human Service Hours
This follows a similar approach to the EP hours discussed above.
To certify as a MH (mental health) professional you need to be a member of a certifying MH body, have a masters degree in a relevant field or have membership in a provincial college, plus have 2500 hours of experience in your field. To certify as an LP (Learning Professional), you need to show 2,500 hours of experience working in a leadership capacity with people. This can be met through a credential and related work experience (e.g. if you are a teacher or certified life coach) or it can be met on a portfolio basis similar to the approach discussed above for EP.
If you are certifying as an EP only (i.e. not MH or LP) then you will need a minimum of 60 ‘cross training’ hours in a human services field and will refer to the level of expertise tables to define your level of experience and expertise and thus need for supervision in this area.
3. Personal Growth Hours
All certification candidates are required to show 30 hours of personal growth of which 15 need to be in an equine environment. These are hours where you are the client. Thus your personal growth is the key and direct goal for these hours. Personal counselling and personal growth workshops would be good examples.
Other training courses, riding or horsemanship lessons do not meet these requirements. There is no denying that we experience personal growth within a number of contexts and environments and this certainly extends to training workshops including those with horses. However there is something different about attending a workshop or session where the defined purpose and focus is upon your own personal growth, rather than the personal growth being a by product of another training or educational experience. While this can be a vulnerable and scary experience it is precisely what we ask our clients to trust us to create and provide for them. Thus we need to be ready to experience it ourselves.
Pro-EFW allow you to choose who you complete your personal growth hours with. This does not need to be with an Pro-EFW trained or approved program, provided it is a program within which the horse is respected and worked with as a sentient being and partner as per Pro-EFW core principal in this area. That being said I do recommend that you check the credentials of the person offering the program you are considering attending and be sure you feel comfortable doing personal growth work with them.
4. Core Training
All candidates take the core Pro-EFW training courses: Exploration, Foundation, Focus and Integration training. It is recommended to take these trainings over a minimum period of 18 months and a longer training schedule is often followed. During 2020 many of these trainings moved to a full or partial online delivery platform to allow for safe delivery.
5. Practicum Hours
All candidates are required to collect 85 practicum hours. This is where you are facilitating EFW work with clients. It can be paid or unpaid. It can be at someone else’s program or within your own developing program. For your practicum hours to be valid you need to first have a supervision arrangement in place with an Pro-EFW mentor (see below). Your supervisor/ mentor does not have to be physically present during your practicum hours.
Up to 20 of your 85 practicum hours can be collected by supporting a trainer at a training you have already attended and up to 15 can by doing practice sessions with another Pro-EFW candidate, provided a minimum of 50 hours are with actual clients.
6. Supervision/ Mentoring Hours
All candidates are required to complete 10 hours of supervision with a Pro-EFW mentor. These are in addition to (not a part of) the 85 practicum hours discussed above. A minimum of four of these hours need to be with your trainer. These can be in person, by Skype/ Zoom or by phone. One of these hours needs to be completed before focus training and two before integration training. The purpose of these hours is to supervise and support you through your practicum (through case consults and the required four session evaluations), to guide your development of your scope of practice, and to provide you with support and guidance during your training process.
More information on all of the above is available, with updates posted on any changes as they are approved, on the Pro-EFW website
Examples of Which Hours Could be Counted Where:
Riding lessons, horsemanship lessons or attendance at horsemanship clinics
These would be counted within your pre requisite equine hours, or cross training hours if you are not seeking EP certification. Auditing clinics can be a great and low cost way of gaining some extra hours in this area.
People sometimes ask if these count as personal growth hours as we often learn about ourselves as we learn abut horses. However the main focus of these activities and lessons is learning about horses and horsemanship; it is not personal growth and you are not in the position of a client, thus these hours fall within your equine hours.
Personal growth workshops in an Equine Environment (e.g. Epona’s ‘Way of the Horse’)
These count as a part of your 30 personal growth hours. They also count within the 15 of these 30 hours which are required to be in an equine environment
Personal counselling sessions
These count as a part of your 30 personal growth hours. 15 of these hours need to be in an environment which includes horses but 15 can be in a non equine environment.
Practicing sessions with another Pro-EFW candidate
Up to 15 of these hours can be included as a part of your practicum. The advantage of this approach is that the person facilitating counts these hours as practicum while the person ‘receiving’ can count them as personal growth, ideally at no cost to either of you. While this is a wonderful, and usually low cost, way to accumulate some of your personal growth hours I usually recommend that you do not seek all of your hours this way. There are many advantages to gaining at least some of your personal growth hours with an experienced EFW practitioner.
Reviewing session plans or case consults with your Pro-EFW mentor
These count as part of your 10 hours of supervision/ mentoring time. This can be done in person, by phone, over Skype, Facetime, Zoom or by e-mail.
Volunteering with or working for an EFW program
Provided you are working with both clients and horses, and are discussing this work with your Pro-EFW mentor, these hours count towards your 85 hour practicum requirement. Your hours here should match the certification stream you plan to certify within. E.g. if you are working towards certification as a MHP in EFW you need to ensure a significant number of your practicum hours are within a program which also has a MH scope and focus.
Working with clients within your own developing EFW program
Provided you are working with both clients and horses, and are discussing this work with your Pro-EFW mentor, these hours count towards your 85 hour practicum requirement.
Volunteering with a mental health related organisation (e.g. crisis line) and related training
If you are a credentialed MH professional, a member of a credentialing professional body and this work falls within your scope of practice as defined by that body then these hours will count towards the 2,500 work experience pre requisite hours required for the MH professional.
If you are not seeking certification as a MH professional these could count towards your 60 hours cross training requirement.
Volunteering at a horse rescue program
These would be counted within your pre requisite equine hours, or cross training hours if you are not seeking EP certification.
Volunteering at a therapeutic riding (TR) program
These could be counted within your pre requisite equine hours, or cross training hours if you are not seeking EP certification. If you are also interacting with and supporting the TR clients then some of the hours may be counted within your LP pre requisite hours. Depending on the scope of the TR program there may also be the possibility of these hours counting as a part of your 85 practicum hours. Your mentor will be able to guide you on where best to count these hours.
Caring for your own or other people’s horses
These would be counted within your pre requisite equine hours, or cross training hours if you are not seeking EP certification.
Teaching Horsemanship to Family Members, Foster Children etc.
In most cases these hours will count towards your overall 2,500 EP pre requisite hours (for the EP) or the cross training hours form the MHP/LP. Whether or not they will count within the 1,000 leadership hours for the EP will be considered on a case by case basis in terms of the nature of the hours and what other horsemanship hours you possess. If you can show that you are following some sort of recognised and respected curriculum during these times (e.g. sharing content from an online course or following pony club or 4H curriculum), or collaborating with/ following the guidance of a credentialed EP this will certainly help. As always, showing that you are prioritising safety and working with the horse as a sentient being is important at all times.
Teaching 4H or pony club lessons
These would be counted within your pre requisite equine hours, and would be included with the 1,000 hours which require you to be in a leadership role with equines.
Experience or Training with Non Equines (e.g. dogs, cats, farm animals)
Pro-EFW define ‘equines’ as horses, donkeys and mules.
Experience with non equines cannot be counted towards the Pro-EFW equine pre requisite requirements, and practice/ practicum hours completed with non equines cannot be included within the Pro-EFW 85 practice hours/ practicum requirement. In addition, if you are completing online training with a Pro-EFW trainer and thus completing some experiential exercises at home, this also needs to be completed with equines. Experience, training and practice hours with non equines are very likely to be helpful (and most likely required) for any certification you decide to pursue in AAT and, depending on the nature of the training and experience, may be recognised as part of your LP pre requisite hours by Pro-EFW, in addition to meeting your AAT certification requirements.
Personal growth hours completed within an AAT (non equine) environment would count towards the 15 non equine personal growth hours.
If this situation is relevant to you, I recommend you discuss your specific experience, situation and questions with your mentor and trainer.
Work experience in a mental health setting
If you are a credentialed MH professional, a member of a credentialing professional body and this work falls within your scope of practice as defined by that body then these hours will count towards the 2,500 work experience pre requisite hours required for the MH professional.
Work experience in an education or other human services related setting
These hours will count towards the 2,500 work experience pre requisite hours required for the Learning professional (LP).
Working in an equine environment (groom, horse handler etc.)
These would be counted within your pre requisite equine hours, or cross training hours if you are not seeking EP certification.
Equine Canada, CHA, Centred riding or other equine training and certifications
The time spent achieving these would be counted within your pre requisite equine hours, and any portion which included you in a teaching or leadership role would be included within the 1,000 hours which require you to be in a leadership role with equines.
Attending non Pro-EFW trainings in AAT or EFW
Depending on the nature of the training you are likely to be able to count some of these hours as equine or LP pre-requisite hours. They cannot take the place of the core Pro-EFW trainings.
When Pro-EFW was first established over a decade ago, there was a grand parenting time period of several years, consistent with that provided by most regulatory bodies. During this time period pre-existing training and experience accumulated prior to the existence of Pro-EFW, with other regulatory bodies, was recognised and experienced candidates could apply to be ‘grandparented in’ for Pro-EFW certification on this basis. This time period is no longer open, as is consistent with procedures followed by other regulatory and certification bodies, as Pro-EFW training options have now been available for many years.
Prior Experience in Practicing EFW
Hours accumulated in an EFW or related environment prior to joining Pro-EFW and starting certification can likely be included within your pre requisite hours in the MH, LP or EP streams depending on the focus and scope of the hours. They are unlikely to be able to be counted as practicum hours as no supervision arrangement would have been in place to meet Pro-EFW requirements.
As noted above, when Pro-EFW was first established over a decade ago there was a grand parenting time period of several years, consistent with that provided by most regulatory bodies. During this time period pre-existing training and experience accumulated prior to the existence of Pro-EFW, with other regulatory bodies, was recognised and experienced candidates could apply to be ‘grandparented in’ for Pro-EFW certification on this basis. This time period is no longer open, as is consistent with procedures followed by other regulatory and certification bodies, as Pro-EFW training options have now been available for many years.
Other Considerations:
- You don’t need to meet all the above requirements before you start completing the Pro-EFW core training; you can be building your equine hours, human service training and experience and collecting personal growth hours concurrently with completing the core Pro-EFW training.
- You can include and are given credit within your pre requisite and personal growth requirements for hours and experience you have accumulated up to now. Pro-EFW do not currently place a time limit on how far back you can go to start counting your pre requisite or personal growth hours. That being said, I recommend that the personal growth hours be from within the past five years.
- Pro-EFW will allow you to ‘double count’ hours provided the intent of each requirement is met. Thus, some hours of experience may allow you to accumulate hours and meet requirement within more than one category at the same time.
- I recommend that you think about trainings and work experience you gained in other environments that may be relevant to EFW. This may be especially relevant for LP certification.
- Candidates sometimes ask about attending personal growth sessions with their trainer. That could be an option if you are comfortable with your trainers approach and that it would provide you with emotional safety. You would need to discuss the dual roles this may present. However, if you are doing all of your training with one program I usually recommend that candidates attend their personal growth sessions with a different program. This has the advantage of allowing you to experience a slightly different approach to the work plus avoids potential dual roles which may arise if you are doing both personal growth and professional training with the same trainer and program.
- Everyone’s situation is different; I recommend discussing any areas you are unsure about with your mentor and/ or with your regulatory body
I hope this has helped to clarify the number and nature of hours of experience you require to meet Pro-EFW certification requirements and where the various hours you have accumulated/ are accumulating are likely to be recognised.
If you still have questions, or if this article has raised new questions for you, please feel free to post them in the comments section below. You can also contact Pro-EFW directly for clarification.
Thank you for all of the specific examples for determining which hours of experience will count in the different areas around certification. While this is a lot of information to go over, I am starting to get a better picture of how this process will come together for me. I specifically appreciate that personal counselling sessions can count towards my personal growth as I feel that this is an important aspect to working with any at risk populations. I still have a lot of questions about the EP hours and need to further read up on this on the EFW Canada website to gain a better understanding and to decide if this is something that I would like to do.
I agree Kerie-Lynn’s above comments. This is great information to have to plan the next years and time needed.
Frank
This is very useful information. Does the 1000 hours of teaching within the 2500 hours for certification as an Equine Professional, of which 500 are with novices, also consider time spent teaching equine first aid? Are there other ideas we will be provided at the Explorations training?
This was reassuring for me to read with respect to the human service provider hours, as I see that there are certain categories of hours that I already meet at this time.
I would anticipate that teaching equine first aid would count for some of those 1,000 hours (especially if you can demonstrate an experiential component) but not all. Overall your hours should match your scope of practice – so unless you wanted to just teach first aid you would need to show a good range of other experience also.
And yes – we will talk about all of this more at the training workshops. Most people have more experience than they realise!
Thank you for the breakdown. I look forward to going through the hours and working towards my certification. I think I am leaning toward an EP. I have a lot of hours to record!!
Thank you for this information. When I started researching this process, this article would have been extremely helpful and still is as I work through the initial stages of this journey. I think the conversation with someone from Healing Hooves that you mentioned earlier will also be very beneficial in helping me sort out which route makes the most sense for me.
Thank you for the information. It is helpful to know that some past experience can be used towards some of the required hours (it was fairly daunting thinking I would have to complete all of the hours from the point of starting this certification). I am quite curious to see if my work experience will be accepted for MH and/or EFL certification. I look forward to learning more about the process in the next couple weeks.
Sounds good Tara! A key difference between the MH and the EFL streams is that for the MH stream you need to be a member of a MH certifying body, which almost always requires a minimum of a BA (usually an MA) in psychology, counselling, or social work. But this is for sure something we can explore for you in more depth during the onsite trainings.
wow, lots of good info here, I will have to come back to this page from time to time. I should have read that article before commenting the previous one, it answer most of my answers. I have to make myself a cheat sheet with this topic, unless you have one already. thank you. I have learned so much by reading all you articles (blogs).
All of these blogs have been great! I really like this one for breaking down the different hours and components, and looking at past and future hours!
Thank you for all of the great information on how to get hours for certification. I totally agree with what you said regarding the personal growth- experiencing it ourselves is so important as this is what we are asking our clients to do. It’s great to see that there are so many ways to gain hours. On April 26th i am visiting the Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary in Phoenix, Arizona for a session with my friend who works there. I’m excited to experience different Centres over the next little while.
This is great information Sue. I have done a lot of personal growth work and have been in leadership roles at work for many years – but I have a lot to do in the other areas – which I am really looking forward to!
Another very informative post! I was concerned about the number of equine hours needed, but am now relieved knowing that we can count hours from the past! How are the hours documented for certification? Do they need to be ‘signed-off’ by someone (a coworker, employer, etc)? I have years of work experience with horses and have owned horses for almost 15 years now. The work experience was a long time ago and in another province, will this complicate the documentation and approval process?
I’ve been working as a shelter counselor in a crisis environment for three years (not yet registered with a body). Will these hours be counted towards the 2500 MH hours?
Also, if I were to obtain a practicum through the BSW program within an equine therapy focus, would those hours count towards the 85 practicum hours?
Hi Justine
I recommend that if you have documentation start to keep it so you can provide it, but if you don’t have any then just provide as many details as you can.
We will be discussing both the EP and MH hours requirements at the training – the MH stream requires you to be a member of a MH regulatory body and (currently under review) will likely require a minimum of a bachelors degree in a MH field (your BSW would be prefect). Hours after achieving this which are in a MH job would then all count towards the 2,500. The hours you describe would most likely count towards the EFL stream requirement.
The EP hours need to include 1,000 hours where you are in a leadership role – e.g. teaching the riding or horsemanship lesson rather than being the student. As long as some is recent then past hours will also count.
Re the BSW practicum – there should be a way to set it up so that those hours would count. You would need to have an EFW Canada mentor in place and do some case consults on those hours but that should all be feasible.
Good questions!
wow I had no idea it was so complicated to get certified
I agree with the comments above what a wealth of information. I love the personal growth component. My question is that I plan to re-locate to BC in the spring. Would I be able to continue training there with the first initial course. Is there anyway for me to do the coursework at healing hooves as I love the detailed approach but the practical portion with the horses in BC?
Hi Angela – we have lots of people travel from BC for the trainings and complete their practicums in a location close by to them with mentoring done by phone. So yes, this is certainly an option. If you wanted to find a closer place for the training programs there is one on Vancouver Island and another near Vancouver. I can get you their contact info when you are here at the weekend
Hello, I will be working towards a MH certification and accumulating the 60 hours with equines. I was surprised to see this would include taking care of ones own horse. 60 hours would add up quickly:) I suppose we would document specifically what we were doing in these hours. I do have a horse now but I grew up with horses and the moved to the city for a good 30 years. Likely I could not use the hours I spent training horses and showed in my younger years?
Hi Shari
Given that you have your own horse I agree that you will likely have many more than 60 hours of horse experience! This likely means that you are a level 2 or 3 in terms of horse experience which increases the scope of what you will be able to do as a certified MH practitioner in the EFW field. I realise this is likely confusing right now but please be assured we will explore it all in more detail at the training! You can also refer to the info on the Pro-EFW website – you would be looking for the information about the ‘Tables of Expertise’ in equine experience.
Thanks Sue!
This kind of answered my question from the last blog post! It’s good to know that there are so many options to get the hours to become certified.
Sue, all your articles are so relevant and concise. Thank you. Part of me is overwhelmed and part excited! As one of your readers commented, I’m glad we can apply some hours from previous training. I’m excited to find a mentor and think this is an awesome component of the EFW training – to have someone we become familiar with who we can turn to for clarification – at the same time as having someone who learns us (the candidates) and can support us in our direction.
I can’t find EPONA’S ‘WAY OF THE HORSE’. Is there a link?
I think I need to chat on the phone with you (Sue) to really understand how and where I’m getting my hours. How far back can we count hours? Do they need to be in the country? I’ve got 60+ hours of me learning horse related stuff recently in Portugal. I also take distance ed/ online courses that are based out of Germany soon to be Portugal. Thanks! 🙂
Hi Jen
There are links in your distance ed. manual to the Epona apprenticeship program in Arizona. The Way of the Horse workshops are offered in various locations with lots of different people certified by the Epona program, so hard to provide links to. Maybe a google search would work? I would recommend the ones with Deborah Marshall at Generation farms on Vancouver Island.
We do explore the Pro EFW certification hours at the exploration training, plus there is more info in your distance ed. manual, plus you can find an outline and more info on the Pro EFW website. For some of the hours (e.g. your pre requisite hours as an equine professional) you can count back as long as you’d like. for some others (e.g personal growth) we recommend they be more recent. Equine learning in Protugal and Germany I think would be great! And certainly included.
There is lots of time to ask questions at the exploration training plus sessions at each training where we explore the certification requirements and options and help you develop your own personalised plan for developing your program and becoming certified. It is quite normal to be a bit confused and/ or overwhelmed at first but please be reassured that it all makes more sense as you move forward. You are welcome to keep asking me questions and also to post questions within the Healing Hooves FB group for trainees and graduates. There are lots of members there who have been in your shoes recently but are now certified/ close to certified who you can chat with.
I hope this helps!
Sue
Hi there,
Initially, I was feeling overwhelmed with all the information and acronyms, but things are beginning to come together. 🙂
I was especially thrilled to read that we can go back as far as 5 years to count our personal growth hours.
Looking forward to beginning this amazing journey!
I’m wondering if we can count “experience” that is not hands on. For example, I just took an Equine First Aid course online through University of Guelph and I am working through some Pat Parelli DVDS. I am assuming I could add some of that to me Equine hours?
Hi Kenzie, great questions! Yes, both those examples could be included within your general equine hours. If you are aiming for EP certification they wouldn’t count as the 1,00 hour leadership portion of the hours but could be included within the overall 2,500 hours.
This clarifies things so much! Thank you for this article, it makes a huge difference in understanding all the ins and outs.
“All candidates need to show some experience with equines, separate from any training and experience in Equine Facilitated Wellness”
So as someone without horse experience, does this mean I need to wait and do some volunteering somewhere before considering starting this process? My experience with horses is from when I had one back in high school, but that was 11 over years ago.
Hi Kirsten – your experience from high school will actually all count. Based on what you’ve told me so far I think you would be looking at certifying as an EFL professional and then you would be either a level one or two on the tables of expertise for the equine professional. We explore more what that all means in the second part of the exploration training. For level one equine expertise you only need to show 60 hours with horses and you can count past experience. You can also start gaining more experience now, concurrent with pursuing your EFW training, to update and enhance those hours and your comfort level with horses. We are usually able to connect our students with other students – e.g. there may be someone in the program who would love to spend some time with you with a horse to build their leadership equine hours – making it a win win situation. There is lots of flexibility.
Loving this response. Thanks.
How do we go about proof of this experience? It we took riding lessons, did show jumping competitions, etc would we estimate the hours based on years and times a week riding and get the trainer to sign off?
Hi Tonia and yes, an estimate of the hours spent works and if you can get a trainer to sign off on this as being reasonable, that would be great
Yup, lots of information that you’ve been able to break down for us. I still find it a little confusing but I suppose reviewing a bit more will do me some good. In having said that, I look forward to the second part of the exploration training to delve deeper into what this all means.
This article provided a lot of answers to questions I was having. Thank you for the breakdown and all the information.
This is a great breakdown of all of the different pieces of the process and where all the hours can come from. It is very helpful to have the examples of different types of activities that we may engage in and what these hours may count towards. I will definitely be referring back to this throughout in order to ensure that I am working towards the hours I need in each area.
A lot or informations to break down, and this is very helpfull.
Whew – loads of information… I think I’m going to create a spreadsheet / chart.
Thank you for putting it all together… it is definitely more helpful and takes away some of the worry about how the hours will come together, and like at least one of the others, I was concerned about having to do all of these while doing the certification. Nice to know we can go back in our lives for the hours!
This post really helped to clarify my understanding of the certification hours! Thank you for breaking it down so clearly.
This was extremely helpful and clearly laid out.
I will explore more about the hours that count towards EFL, including certified life coaching. I also look forward to the new criteria or guidelines laid out by Pro EFW Canada regarding levels 2 and 3 expertise in equine hours!
So much to take away from this. Thank you for the clarification. This is going to be of great benefit for my action planning and breaking things down into what can I do now…versus what are next steps/progression.
Ideally, I would like to get to the point where I would only need an Equine Professional onsite and not “in-session”. I know this will be a ways to go yet. So am I correct in my thinking that when I am going out and helping look after horses via grooming, applying medication (e.g., fly cream), feeding, and/or riding, etc., that I could count these as pre req equine hours? Even though it is not a formal teaching setting in the sense that I am paying for the access to the horses and paying the person leading me/teaching me?
Hi Carly – yes, you can definitely count these hours towards you EP pre requisite hours, although not within the leadership category. It sounds like you are aiming for level 2 equine expertise which is likely very doable, especially as you can continue working on these hours as you complete your EFW training.
Reading this again was a great reminder for me. It is a lot of information and it has me thinking again what I have done and need to do going forward.
Really like that personal growth is a part of the process…difficult to measure perhaps…but highlights that it is important!
Lots to consider! It really is a rigorous process.
I agree with Michelle!
Thank you for this information! I have reviewed the EFW certification requirements multiple times, asked Sue questions and gathered information from the distance journalling and I am STILL gaining clarity on my personal process with this certification, so thank you for outlining the steps so clearly! Reading this blog post was a good reminder for me to arrange mentorship prior to beginning practicum hours.
I am wondering, if I am seeking to be dually certified (EP/MH) can I use EFW personal development groups/workshop facilitation (with another EFW certified EP) as practicum hours?
Practicum hours have to be completed under the supervision of a Pro EFW mentor so that arrangement would need to be in place first, and I usually recommend people wait till they have at least completed foundations training before starting practicum hours. But yes – if you have the opportunity to facilitate personal development groups or workshops with another EFW professional these hours could count towards your practicum – provided the other conditions are in place. Your mentor does not have to be on site – you can complete supervision by phone/ zoom/ e-mail
If you are seeking certification as an Equine Professional (EP) you need to show 2,500 hours of experience with equines. 1,000 of these hours need to be with you in a leadership position (i.e. you teaching horsemanship rather than being taught it), and 500 of that 1000 need to be with you in a leadership position with novices.
Regarding the above statement, I would like to make sure I understand completely. If I am just beginning to practice with a “client” who is paying or not paying and this person wants to learn basic horsemanship while he/she is working on confidence building, does this count as practicum hours or EP hours (both?)
Also, if that is allowed, I would also need to be under the guidance of a Pro EFW mentor correct?
I love how there are so many options to do this work and need to stop confusing myself.
Thank you,
Alanna
Great question Alanna! To count as practicum you should have completed foundation training (which you have) and be working under supervision of a pro EFW mentor. This means you should be having some phone consults with me or another mentor to discuss and support what you are doing in sessions. OR – since you are building in horsemanship – you could count them as leadership EP hours. For the latter you don’t need supervision from a Pro EFW mentor so if you have completed some of these already then this would be the best place to put them. Sorry, but you can’t count them in both places
I feel I am still confused and unsure. I am hoping as I move on to the next course things will become clearer.
yes, it is a lot to take in I know! I’ve answered the questions you posted in the course and we do review this in every training and help you apply it all to your individual situation. WE also support you in this through the mentoring process.
Sue, can you correct me if I have misunderstood the very detailed information you provided in this article, but the 2500 hours equine experience required for the EP, with leadership teaching accounting 1000 hours and 500 of that leadership for novice instruction, could this be defined or outlined by a letter from a former employer? I know someone mentioned this above, but confirming these “tiers” of directed hours could be defined by your supporting info? Thanks!
HI Sara – yes, a letter from an employer confirming these hours would work really well!
I will need your guidance on these hours Sue, I am trying to figure out if any of my past experience prior to starting my counselling degree would count towards the 1000 hours for an LP. For example, would teaching at the undergraduate level count?
It should do, yes!
Thank you for this! I printed this one to keep on hand!
hard copy on hand
Is there a formal form for each area to start teasing these apart?
Yes! Once you have applied for certification with Pro-EFW (which usually happens between Foundation and Focus trainings) you will be granted access to the Pro-EFW certification portal. Within this there are forms for every requirement which you can start completing and save to your own personal area on the portal. Deb will talk you through all of this as a part of Foundation training.
A lot of good information. Thanks
The specific examples were definitely helpful! There are a lot of pieces to consider, but I like that you can go back a ways and also have some hours count for multiple categories which is helpful!
Very helpful. Reading it again was definitely beneficial since there is so much to know 😀
I did a very quick and modest calculation of my horse hours, and I am well over 8000 hours. I was kind of surprised. The challenge for me is determining what can count towards the 1000 hours for horse leadership. This may have to happen very slowly over time. Once I can figure out the number of hours that I need (and the COVID restrictions are lifted), then I would like to reach out to some local barns and rescues to find the right fit for me.
That is great that you have so many hours Brittney! In terms of how many are leadership hours this is something I can help you with through the training and mentoring process.
This article helps to clarify things for sure. I can see now that I already have some of the pre requisite equine hours from the volunteer work I do with a horse rescue, as well as caring for my own horses. I am curious to learn how the hours are added up or figured out in terms of caring for your own horses. I am pretty certain after reading this article also, that my social work background will count as hours towards the 2500 work experience pre requisite hours required for the LP certification. Please correct me if I am wrong.
It sounds like all of the things you mention should be able to be included towards the EP/ LP pre requisite hours. We do look at these with you in coordination with your scope of practice so it is more than just the number of hours – the nature of the hours need to also support your scope of practice as you define it. We help you with this in the scope of practice parts of the more advanced trainings and also through mentoring!
Thank you. That makes sense. What had me confused what when they said “in a leadership capacity.” I guess it depends on how that is defined.
Re the EP hours leadership capacity means that you are in the leadership role with a horse and a person – i.e. you are teaching the lesson rather than being the student. I hope this helps clarify things!
This was extremely helpful! I think I missed this along the way in Exploration Training and didn’t have a clear picture of how my training would unfold but now I can see it and it sounds like it will be an amazing journey towards certification. Looking forward to fine-tuning this as I move forward – thanks!
Excellent information. Thanks.
you are welcome Janet!
Thank you Sue. This has been very helpful.
I’m sure I’ll gain an even better understanding as I continue to look at my experience and hours. However I was previously thinking I’m only close or qualify for LP. Now I’m thinking maybe I’m closer to EP then I think.
you are welcome Denay! Yes – if you are able to look at dual certification that can be a great place to be working from
Really good info. It makes it seem possible. Thank you.
Great information thanks for really clarifying what is required and breaking it down. Great explanations. I wish this was on the pro EFW website when they talk about the certification it is so hard to find this information on their website.
Thank you for the clarification and the many examples for the required hours. It’s certainly something that needs to be revisited again and again, but it helps to give great context rather than just having a list. Much appreciated!
you are very welcome Dana!
Fantastic inform that clarifies the expectations for required hours. I am a visual person, so I may have to make up a spread sheet to keep everything straight, lol.
I have a spreadsheet I can send you once you are ready to start tracking your hours if you’d like!
This is quite a bit of information to wrap my head around. I’m guessing most of it will be clarified in further courses.
yes – this is an article you may come back to a few times as you continue training!
It was actually quite helpful circling back to this article! Thanks Sue.
yes – it brings different learning at different steps of your training journey!
Hi I am going to combine the LP and HP. I am a retired teacher and run my riding lessons and horse healing program out of my own facility. I worked 25 years teaching as a special ed teacher. I do hope I can be my 2500 up front. My practicum would be working with my clients. Further I will be participating in clinics and shows this year in Working Equitation. My personal counsellor passed away last year of cancer and I haven’t found anyone to my liking. Do you provide supervision? supervisors>?
Hi Erin – yes! mentoring/ supervision is an important part of the Pro-EFW training and certification process and we can definitely help you find a mentor/s to work with!
PS just started a social work degree and half way through my indigenous studies degree. I am taking narrative therapy course next week.
This is very helpful Sue! I have been a registered clinical psychologist for the past 9 years… what sort of documentation do I need to provide for the 2500 hours experience in a mental health field? Do I just estimate hours completed in various organizations and private practice? Would love a copy of the hour tracking spreadsheet if you don’t mind sharing it! Thanks!
Hi Elicia! I’ll e-mail you the tracking sheet. Because you’re already a registered Psychologist and Pro-EFW recognise the significant amount of requirements involved in achieving and maintaining this, simply providing a copy of your registration certificate and a summary of where you’ve worked, should suffice. If you are aiming for LP as well as MHP then showing where you have psycho ed/ teaching/ supervising experience within there would also be important
Thanks Sue, I hadn’t thought of my experience as a learning professional before. I did a lot of psychoeducational presentations as a volunteer in High Schools in Calgary, completed Psychoed assessments and offer public presentations on Mental Health. Do these fit or are they still too much overlap with my professional role?
those would all count towards your LP hours!
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you, Elicia and Sue, for this conversation. Elicia has exactly the same questions that I have and your answers were very helpful, Sue. Like Elicia, I hadn’t thought about all of the psycho education and leadership/teaching hours counting toward the LP certification. I was more focused on getting the dual MHP and EP certification, but perhaps all three would be within reach. Elicia, I’d love to chat with you one-on-one about your own plans. We seem to be in a very similar situation and perhaps have similar goals.
Thanks Andrea! I would love to chat further! I am also looking for someone to attend horse trainings with now that we have a baby and my husband cannot easily join me any longer and I have two horses needing to be worked! Please do send me an email ask4serenity@gmail.com and we can chat further!
Thank our for laying out all of the options and requirements; Very helpful!
Excellent detail Sue and thank you for summarizing! I will need to reflect on and formalize my professional experience with respect to the LP and EP streams. While my situation and experience is less formal and straight forward than others, I am hopeful it will be full of possibility and opportunity 🙂
Thanks for all the clarification on details related to the registration process.
Just wanting to confirm is there a limit on back dating the EP hours and how far back can you track your hours?
It’s going to be quite the tracking to do but happy I have the hours that I can qualify for the EP and MHP.
You can go back as far as you like for these hours! It is better though if you can show a decent amount of fairly recent hours within your total aswell though.
Thanks for clarifying all of the options I am hoping to find some options that are in the Toronto area.
you’re very welcome Amanda! We do have several students in your area so you’d be welcome to post in the HH FB group where you are and what you’re looking for. There is also quite a large EFW community in the Ottawa area I can connect you with if you’d like?
It is very helpful to go over this article, it helped clarify a few things for me. I am currently taking riding lessons (1 hour a week) but the instructor also has me catch the horse and get her ready, and then I am also there to untack and groom and take her back to the field at the end. Does this mean that since the entire process takes 2 hours I can count the full 2 hours towards my experience with horses and not just the 1 hour lesson? I will also look into volunteering somewhere so that I can get more hours of experience with horses that way. If I volunteer at an organization like a rescue, I am guessing I can only count the time I am specifically with horses? A few rescues list things like cleaning stalls and fixing fences as examples of what they might have you do, which I am guessing I could not count because those do not include interacting with horses.
Hi Kirsten
The time before and after the ride definitely counts! In many ways this can be the more relevant and valuable time for EFW work anyway! I’d say you could include at least some of the horse care (cleaning stalls etc) time too – its all about learning how to care for horses which is all important!
I will be participating in a three day natural horsemanship clinic coming up and have done several in the past. Would these hours contribute at all?
Hi Ginny – yes, this will count towards your equine pre requisite hours
Really nice breakdown of the requirements for each stream of certification! I’m still a little unclear about the personal growth development requirement, especially within an equine environment. Could you pretty please provide a bit more detail or an example of what this would like look exactly? Thank you much!
An example would be a personal growth session (could be individual or in a group/ workshop environment) from an EFW facilitator. Personal counselling in an EFW environment would also count.
IF I am a student member of CCPA and CAP would my master of counselling practicum hours count toward the 2500 work experience hours required for a MH certification? Or do I need to be a CCC, provisional Psych, or RPsych before accumulating those hours? I also volunteered on the Calgary Distress Centre crisis lines as a counselling student.
That one can get a bit complicated so lets discuss it when you are onsite for training!
Thank you Sue! After going through the Pro-EFW site again this morning, I found this article timely and very helpful to clarify some of the things that we can use to count towards our hours. I am especially grateful that caring for our own horses counts AND that some things can ‘double count’. Yay!!
I appreciate the clarity and guidance with this!
I really appreciate the way this article has all the requirements laid out! It’s also really helpful to know there are so many options for completing everything. I won’t lie when I say, it is still a bit daunting but moving the needle one day at a time is making a world of difference and I am truly seeing the progress.
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time!
Thanks again for this. Getting closer to the finish line. 🙂
Such an in-depth review for this year.
Some clarification for me…..85 practicum plus 10 = 95 hours? and with supervision, so do we need to calculate for supervision costs on 85 hours? 95 hours? If so at what rate?
Please let me know how I may be misunderstanding this, thank you.
The 85 hours are your hours with clients – these can be hours you get paid for or volunteer. The ten hours are supervision/ mentoring hours with your mentor and these are the only ones you pay for. Most of us charge a discounted rate for this
Sue your guidance and posts like these have helped me so much in my certification journey and choosing a certification process that I would like to follow. Since Pro-EFW is focussed on equines, if I was wanting to also practice AAT with canines, would you recommend doing another courses focussing specifically on canines? I’m sure there is overlap between the two but I have been struggling to find some certification programs for canines. I know there is Dreamcatcher, but hoping for something that could be done in BC. Any leads would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Emily – once you get to the certification and standards section of the course you’ll find some links to various options. There are university courses you can complete in AAT plus various options for certifying your animal partner/s. There’s also the blog post about working with non equines – not sure if you’ve found that one yet?
I was also wondering if you have any insight into Companion Paws Canada – it seems to be relatively newer but they appear to offer therapy dog certification.
I haven’t heard of that one Emily – I’ll go look them up!
Thanks Sue 🙂 Any information would be great!
Thanks for the summary of this information and the details. I had read it a while back on the EFW website, but this helped clarify some important parts. I am going to have to look further into it but do you have to be certified as a riding instructor in order to teach lessons or would insurers still cover you if you are not through a specific body live Cantra.
Pro EFW require you to be a riding instructor to incporporate riding into EFW but do not specify specific credentials. So it could be possible to meet the requirements on a portflio/ experience basis provided that experience included enough experience teaching riding in a non EFW environment. Most insurance companies offer a lower rate for coaches insurance if you have a recognised credential but will offer it wothout this, at a higher rate. This is a scope of practice question and thus something we will come back to many times in training! I would definitely only recommend incorporating riding into EFW sessions with an experienced instructor present.
This is very detailed and well laid out. It does indeed appear to be a rigorous process but ethically, I believe it needs to be. I feel as though none of what is being asked of candidates is unreasonable.
This was really helpful for my understanding of each of the area requirements and of cross-training. It also has me reflecting on experiences that may/may not fit within those requirements given I have an interest in certifying in both MHP and EP. Certainly helps lay out my own path more clearly going forward!
Very practical and informative advice, lots to consider but thank you for laying it all out so clearly
Super helpful and clear! Thank you.
Lots of ways to get hours! Thanks.
You’re welcome Judy, I’m glad it was helpful!
This really helped me to understand the process and expectations, thanks!
It would be interesting to see how you can start working with British training programs so EFW and these can work together!
I am trying! I’ve been accepted onto the HEIR register and every time I come back to the UK am aiming to meet up with other programs and practitioners. RDA has been very welcome and I’m also building relationships in a few other areas!