Whisper Correction
and Shout Praise
By Nancy Troutman
Swanton, MD

I have been using your Dually Halter since purchasing it around February 2008 and am positively delighted with it. It truly is the most all-purpose halter on the market. It automatically gives the mildest correction necessary to stop unwanted behavior while instantly rewarding compliance.

It occurred to me after working with it one day that it whispered correction and shouted praise. That, and the fact that your emails often contain parallels to us humans, created an "Epiphany" for me. I decided that instead of shouting when angry and whispering when praising others, I would do the exact opposite: I would whisper when angry and shout praise.

There is no way I can tell you what a difference that has made in my life and those around me!

One of my neighbor's children frequently forgot to close the gate to the pasture with the obvious result being that the horses would get loose. When I whispered to her that she had just left the gate open - instead of the usual excuses and explanations I got an apology and that it would never happen again. It was, in fact, the last time she ever forgot to close the gate! Equally dramatic was her absolute delight at me shouting across the parking lot to her parents and for the whole world to hear that I could trust and rely on her and never had to check gates behind her because she always closed them.

Another child did an exceptional job of cleaning her horse's stall - but not on a regular basis. I whispered to her that it needed to be raked at least once per day and it became rare that the stall was not raked daily. I saw her and her parents coming into the barn one morning and purposely climbed on top the of hay so I could shout to her parents that the farrier had found no hoof problems this time because of her excellent care. It was a Saturday so there were a number of people around to hear this well earned praise. Her face glowed like a floodlight.

These are only two small examples of the extraordinary results that I have seen. Just as you have pointed out that adrenaline prevents the horse from learning, I have learned that causing a person to become defensive prevents them from learning. Shouting when angry always causes a defensive response. Whispering means that a person must be quiet and actively listen to hear what you are saying.

I am at a total loss on how to thank you enough for teaching me how to be gentle, with horses as well as with people. I am strongly of the opinion now that being gentle is not a sign of weakness but of great power.