No. Unless a course has a prerequisite, you do not have to follow a specific order. For instance, let’s say you wanted to sign up for the EQ700: Saddle Fitting and Shoeing Dynamics course. Although the EQ700 is a requirement of our Advanced Equine Body Worker certification outline, that does not mean you have to be a certified EBW or an EBW Level II to take the class. The prerequisite for the EQ700 is that you understand veterinary vocabulary and terminology. If you have taken one of our foundation massage classes or anatomy classes, you have plenty of knowledge and will be comfortable with the material. You may have this knowledge from other work and life experience. If you do want to take this course (or any course with the same prerequisite) and it is the first of its kind for you, we strongly suggest that you register well in advance. Upon registration with your request, we will send you the same study guide we send out for the foundation massage and progressive anatomy workshop.

Click here to find the information about the certifications available at
http://www.equinology.com/info/certification.asp

There are several answers to this one question, so if I may I will split these up for best clarification.

It is not that Equinology does not offer selected distance learning applications towards courses, it would be more correct to say Equinology does not offer a certification through distance learning.

First of all, distance learning is considered studying from your own home or environment. This can take various forms. Some distance learning is accomplished through one application or a combination of study guides, workbooks and videos. Others involve on-line education which can be similar to videos, or in real time through virtual classroom tuition directly with the instructor.

Many of the study guides and workbooks entail learning on paper only but no actual practical application. Others ask you to try the application on the animal but how do you know if you are doing this correctly without supervision?

At Equinology, when a student enrolls in the foundation massage course (or any other course with a prerequisite of veterinary terminology and vocabulary), we send you a pre-course study guide with your registration. Participants are expected to spend at least 40 hours working through this guide before the class begins. Many other programs base their learning outcomes from this type of study alone. This is only a prep at Equinology and is not a replacement for on site participation. We recommend on line tutorial as another great preparation for a course but again, not a replacement.

Even though students will have gone through the material before the class, we always revise the work at the actual course, mostly because learning this hugely important material on paper only offers a two-dimensional aspect. The practical hands-on application at the course solidifies the material. Eleven years of running the courses has proven this time and time again.

As for using a video medium, where this can be useful to show moves and positions it is not a replacement for classroom tuition. There are several videos available that demonstrate massage and stretching techniques, and although they assist learning, the practitioner is often not aware of what he or she is doing until someone is there in real time to correct a position, body mechanics and actual use of techniques. We usually find it more challenging to undo poorly learned techniques than to instruct first-time learners.

The virtual classroom is an interesting concept whereby the student is in front of the computer monitor at the same time as the instructor. This medium allows for real-time interaction and discussion during lecture portions. Equinology does plan to use a virtual classroom for several courses, if these meet with certain criteria. A practical portion of the course will take place after the required number of lectures have been attended and homework has been assessed. We know we will never replace any massage or foundation courses with the virtual classroom.

If you have ever taken one of the foundation courses with Equinology, you will know that we usually present a lecture on a particular portion of the course, this lasts around 1- 2 hours and we then follow up the theory with a practical session to instill the lecture outline or continue with earlier-learned techniques.

We plan to use the virtual classroom for the EQ800 (Progressive Acupressure Series) with Dr. Kerry Ridgway. This course is open to those who have completed our EQ803 (Foundation Acupressure) course which is an eight-day intensive on-site course. For the progressive series, we are breaking up Dr. Ridgway’s lectures into 10 –15 progressive portions. He will be at a studio close to his home and these lectures will be transmitted to those who have signed up for the class. Hopefully we will be able to find a studio or equipment where we can have an actual horse for demonstration. We will endeavor to present the lectures at the best possible time so students in a variety of countries with different time zones can participate. This project is still in the formatting process, but we aim to spread the lectures out to about one a month so the participant has time to implement the course material. Q and A as well as homework discussion will start each lecture before new material is introduced. At the end of the lecture series we plan to present an on-site course for the practical portion – this will be anywhere between 5 and 8 days in length. For this portion the student will have to travel to the course location to complete the series. Again, because this is not a foundation course in a particular modality or technique, we feel that we will not compromise the educational standard of the course as the student will already have a good sense and feel for the techniques with reference to application, body mechanics, safety and common sense – thus making this variable of distance learning viable for Equinology and our students alike.

The International Equine Body Worker Association (IEBWA) is the centralized regulatory and supporting body for all student and qualified Equine Body Workers globally.

In addition to receiving a listing on the IEBWA website (www.iebwa.com) Equine Body Workers have the logo present on the Equinology site listing.

There are a multitude of benefits to joining the IEBWA including affordable professional liability insurance.

The IEBWA is not an alumni membership like some associations. We recognize qualified individuals from other appropriate programs.

The Association represents its members at trade functions, in professional communications and similar. In addition, promotional and educational material is available from various divisions. The IEBWA has branches in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia/New Zealand and South Africa.

We welcome students and graduates from other programs for continuing education. Continuing education is one of the main concepts as to why Equinology was developed.

If you have taken a foundation massage course from another acceptable program of similar content and length you are able to challenge our equine foundation massage course to continue on to one of our next levels of certification. However, challenging the course does not automatically give you certification as an EBW through Equinology. We will give you education credit for the course enabling you to continue on to one of our next levels. Once you complete one of those levels, then you will be certified by us.

Only those have successfully completed and qualified for the EBW, EBW Level II, AEBW or SEBW are allowed to use the term Equine Body Worker®. It is a registered trademark and service mark distinguishing our graduates.

You can find the course list below by clicking on to the URL
http://www.equinology.com/info/courses.asp