I had never tried the Franklin Method before so when Emma turned up with Franklin Balls, I found some of the exercises quite tough although Riley didn’t seem to mind…..
Riley and I had our usual Monday lesson although this week there was a bit of a twist as Emma turned up with Franklin Balls.
I’ve never done the Franklin Method before and I must admit one of the exercises was quite tough and I found it difficult to stay balanced although Riley didn’t seem to mind.
We did a lot of work without stirrups and plenty of sitting trot with the Franklin Balls and afterwards Emma asked me to put my stirrups down another hole. Amazingly it didn’t feel as though they had gone down at all. It felt very natural and I had to double check that I had indeed lengthened them.
Afterwards we did more sitting trot and rising trot. I wondered whether I might start losing my stirrups since they were longer, however my feet stayed firmly in place.
The following two days I schooled Riley and took my stirrups away for the warm-up and then worked on leg yields and circles amongst other things.
We practiced coming down the centre line
We had a great lesson practising accuracy and precision doing circles, serpentines and coming down the centre line. I’m really loving the lessons and Riley seems to be taking it all in his stride….
On Thursday we had another lesson with Emma. Originally the plan was to long rein, however I had enjoyed Monday’s lesson so much I decided to ride. We practiced coming down the centre line trying our best of keep straight from one end of the school to the other.
We also worked on twenty metre circles, serpentines, and changing the rein with precision.
Emma had a canter on Riley, and it was lovely to see him cantering around the school. He still doesn’t understand the aid for canter, so Emma explained that it was more a case of pushing him into it for now. She did comment that he felt more supple than the last time she rode him which was good to hear.
Unbeknownst to Riley, I spoke to the vet
Riley looks very snug here but is getting very woolly and really needs a clip. If only he liked being clipped..
On Friday unbeknownst to Riley, I spoke to the vet as they were due to visit the yard anyway the following week and I decided to have Riley sedated so that we could get on with clipping. He is looking rather woolly and needs a haircut. The original plan had been to get him used to the clippers although I hadn’t been as consistent with that as I should have been and the whole process was going to take too long.
So, watch this space as Riley’s going to be far less furry.
