TESTIMONIALS:
Australia

Dear Franklin,

Just an update on Mack, the pinto stallion you met in Melbourne, Australia this past winter (our summer).

Thank you again for your patience and understanding with him. He has been out and about to a couple of different places without turning a hair! Really very quiet and accepting of anything that I've thrown at him.

I really feel that your clinic was an excellent way of introducing him to the big wide world in a controlled fashion (Well, we were mostly under control!).I would love to join in any other clinics that you have organised for next year. The only problem would be that I would want to bring Mack, my dressage horse, my daughter's pony and anything else I can get my hands on!

Hope you are well and thank you again most of all for putting the horse before your own ego and teaching the rest of us to do the same.

Best Wishes, Kathy Lewis

Hello  Franklin,

Its Dominic from Guanaba Equestrian Center. I loved to watch everything you did with the horses and I also found it all very interesting. I learned so many things! Especially being patient and consistent. I really had fun this weekend with you and so did everyone else. Thanks for coming. Hope to see you again.
 
Best Regards, Dominic

Hi Franklin,

Thanks very much for giving me the opportunity to meet you and watch one of your clinics. I was impressed by your handling of both the horses and their human companions and how trust and respect grew between eachother throughout the day.

I am keen on improving my horsemanship and see the appeal of combining it with a holiday on Colorado. So when you get home, or get a minute, I would like to get a better idea of the costs involved!

Thanks again.

Kind regards,
Liz  (Australia)

A testimony from an attendee at Franklin Levinson’s event at Waterstock

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 nonconfrontational 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 through 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 bridleless 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 bridleless 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. Be there and take part if you can.

Hi Franklin,

Hope you have recovered from your trip down under. Just wanted to say how much we appreciated you coming to the Gold Coast and what an awesome time we had! I feel like there's a whole new world of communication I have been missing out on for years and and cant wait to learn more. I am so looking forward to "playing" with Jordan and Patchy and am eager to come and learn more about EFL with Jodie as soon as we can arrange something. I hope your ears have been burning, as I haven't stopped talking about your visit to all my friends and family. I am already starting to plan your next visit in 2009!
 
I look forward to hearing from you,
 
Love from Hil and Alex

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