By Jenny Booth
Clinic Participant
Waterstock Equestrian Center, June, 2007

I have recently spent a day at Waterstock Training centre, watching the most gentle and moving demonstration of communication between humans and horses that anyone is ever likely to witness.

Franklin Levinson is an American horseman who has developed a very calm and non-confrontational method of establishing a clear line of communication between a human and their horse. It is all based on establishing trust through requesting and rewarding incredibly simple tasks. There is no necessity for a round pen, as all the moves can be conducted in any arena or paddock that is safely fenced and at Waterstock he used the whole indoor arena. Franklin nearly always starts with movement on the ground, which is where most of his exercises are conducted but they can also be continued to incredible effect and benefit while riding in any school or even out hacking. The horse is requested to perform tasks in a quiet and polite way; his reward is a kind word, gentle scratch, or best of all, to stand still and do absolutely nothing. This really is the distilled, essence of horsemanship, yet it is so easy and rewarding that it can be used to great effect by professionals, club riders, children and happy hackers alike.

Training Thru Trust, as Franklin likes to describe his method, is based on the principal that horses learn most when requested to carry-out simple tasks, for example; to stop, turn or stand still and quietly absorb what has just happened. He believes they are not necessarily learning a great deal if they are rushing about a round pen or endlessly trotting round and round in circles. Horses in motion are generally on automatic pilot, doing what they are built to do instinctively i.e. cover ground quickly. Horses who are moving gently with their handler on the end of loose lead rope or rein, which is Franklin's basic aim, are taking part in a slow, subtle dance which requires both parties to think and communicate with one another. Once you have your horse in this state, you can move on and do the most wonderfully productive training and work, without any force or coercion. Your horse is working with you because he WANTS to; he understands your requests and feels calm in your presence. Fantastic before a competition!

The method is incredibly versatile. It works on horses with problems but it works as well, if not better, for anyone who is perfectly happy with their horse and would simply like to develop greater understanding and responsiveness. For example, we saw one client who brought along her enormous and very active dressage mare. The horse and rider were well trained and happy with one another but had come simply to improve their already excellent communication. Franklin led them through to an incredible demonstration of bridle-less riding, which has got to be the ultimate in communication and trust between horse and human. Neither the horse nor her rider had ever gone bridle-less before and to see them cantering round the full arena, turning and stopping with precision was truly amazing; especially when you knew, as I did, that the mare was very well but had not been in an arena for some time. As always happens at some point in one of Franklin‚s clinics, that was a real "wow" moment.

This is not the first Franklin demonstration that I have seen and it certainly will not be the last. He is hoping to return to the UK in October, probably to work with one of the biggest names in dressage training, but also hopefully to return to Waterstock to enlighten a few more caring horse people. Be there and take part if you can.