National Shooting Horse Association
How We Support Instructors
NaSHA’s goal is to make it easier for people who want to teach within the shooting horse discipline to do so with clarity, confidence, and support—without adding red tape or interfering with individual teaching styles.
The Instructor Pathway exists to support instruction by providing practical tools, shared language, and clear development frameworks that instructors can choose to use in their own programs.
Lesson Levels: Built From Real-World Instruction
Lesson Levels exist to help instructors identify readiness, organize training priorities, and provide clear, meaningful feedback based on observable skills and the horse’s response as pressure increases. They are most commonly used within lesson programs, where progress can be observed over time and adjusted thoughtfully. They are not competition rankings, certifications, or requirements. They do not replace existing classifications. They are a training and communication tool—nothing more, and nothing less.
Instructor Toolkit & Resources
To support the use of Lesson Levels, NaSHA provides an Instructor Toolkit made up of practical, instructor-facing resources designed for daily use in lesson programs. These tools include visual progression charts, lesson planning and tracking sheets, lesson-level guides, and instructor quick references. Together, these resources help instructors plan lessons more clearly, track progress more effectively, and communicate development in a way riders and families can understand.
Why We’re Sharing This—Freely
These materials are offered freely for the good of the sport. There is no certification requirement, no approval process, and no cost to access or use them. Our goal is simple: help instructors teach well, help riders progress with confidence, and help horses develop responsibly.
Giving Credit Where It’s Due
If you choose to use NaSHA Lesson Levels or Instructor Toolkit materials in your lesson programs, clinics, or educational content, we ask that you give credit to NaSHA as the source. A simple mention, tag, or reference helps maintain clarity about where these tools originated, support continued development of shared resources, and ensure consistent language across the discipline. Tagging NaSHA when using these materials also helps riders and instructors find the original resources and understand how they fit together.
What This Is—and Isn’t
This is not a certification program.
It is not a ranking system.
It is not an attempt to control instruction.
It is a set of thoughtfully developed tools, built from real-world experience, offered freely to support instructors and protect horses within the shooting horse discipline.
How These Pieces Fit Together
The Instructor Pathway provides direction and support.
Lesson Levels provide clarity and feedback in lessons.
The Instructor Toolkit provides practical, day-to-day tools.
Used together—or individually—these resources form a flexible system instructors can adapt to their own programs while keeping the horse at the center of every decision.
This isn’t about certification. It’s about building a confident new generation of educators who can keep this sport growing the right way — with integrity, skill, and a horse-first mindset.
