Instructor Toolkit

Instructor Toolkit & Resources

The Instructor Toolkit includes a set of foundational NaSHA resources designed to support clear instruction and thoughtful progression within the shooting horse discipline.

These free downloads provide shared language and basic structure instructors can use to plan lessons, track progression over time, evaluate readiness and communicate expectations clearly.

These tools are flexible frameworks, not requirements. Instructors may use, adapt, or ignore them as needed within their own programs.

Professional Instructor Toolkit

For instructors who want deeper teaching support and integrated materials, NaSHA offers a Professional Instructor Toolkit.

This toolkit builds on the foundational resources and focuses on application and decision-making, including how to teach the material effectively, assess readiness and progression, protect horses as speed and complexity increase, and communicate consistently with riders and families

The Professional Instructor Toolkit includes instructor-specific guides, teaching context, decision tools, and structured materials that bring the foundational resources together in one place.

Use as much or as little as is helpful. The toolkit is optional and does not require instructors to adopt a specific method.

NaSHA Standards & Frameworks are published by the National Shooting Horse Association and support safe, ethical shooting horse education.

Instructor Pathway

Lesson Levels

Wondering How Everything Fits Together?

Rider Progression is rider-focused and outlines the long-term path of development within the shooting horse discipline. It helps riders understand where they’re headed over time, but it is not evaluated or assigned.

Lesson Levels are horse-focused and used during lessons and ongoing training to track a horse’s readiness. They are evaluated over time using the Four C’s and indicate when a horse is prepared to begin competing.

The Instructor Toolkit supports the person teaching. It provides practical resources and shared frameworks to help instructors organize lessons, communicate progress, and support riders and horses effectively—without prescribing how anyone must teach.

National Shooting Horse Association

Instructor Downloads

The Instructor Toolkit is a set of practical resources developed by NaSHA to support instructors teaching within the shooting horse discipline. These tools are designed to bring clarity to lesson planning, consistency to communication, and structure to tracking progression—always with the horse’s readiness at the center. The toolkit is not a rulebook or a requirement, but a shared framework instructors can adapt and apply within their own programs.

PLEASE NOTE: These downloads represent the free foundational, publicly available Instructor Toolkit resources. Instructors seeking deeper teaching guidance, readiness decision tools, and integrated program support can purchase the Professional Instructor Toolkit.

Professional Toolkit

Lesson Levels