Letters of the Month

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Dear Sylvia, I have just finished watching your Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System DVD set for about the 4th time. I love how you not only demonstrate baby stepping the horse through the training process, but it conveys the tutorial to the human in the same way. The way the volumes are broken down into lessons makes it clear how each lesson is building the foundation for the next step. The more often I watch the DVDs the more I pick up on the nuances in body language - human and equine. Since that is how horses communicate - through body language - it is so important in the natural horsemanship training process.

I have used your system on my horse (who was trained by you) to reinforce what he has already learned, because he is a young horse who will constantly test me. Every day we do a couple of the lessons to reinforce my status as his lead mare in our herd of two. If we have trouble with something, I go right back to that DVD, review and repeat the process then the next day with success.

I have also used your system on other horses, and their owners end the sessions with such big grins on their faces, because they saw their horse transform right before their eyes!

Thank you so much for giving me these clear communication tools. Anyone can successfully adjust their horse's attitude and have him/her accept the leadership following your methods on this DVD.

Judi Ludwic - Blacksburg, Virginia

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Hi Sylvia. I love your training program (Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System and Round Pen Leadership), and I have followed much of it in training a dominant 10-year-old Arab. He was gelded at 7 years old; I have had him 10 months. I had hoped to have him mounted and rideable by now, but have had to work at my job extra hours, leaving no time to work with him. But he has come a long way from when I walked him home from his previous owner's. He never thought anything was wrong with plowing me over then, but he now respects my space, backs up over ground poles with as many hooves as I request, and will jump small jumps when I point to them. Thank You,

M. C. - Temperance, Michigan

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Dear Sylvia, Thanks for a fantastic December Newsletter - I look forward to them so much every month. Yours is by far the most informative, creative and fascinating of any equine web site I have had the good fortune to view.

Thanks particularly for the advice on how to desensitize a horse to injections/needles. I have this argument each year with my 13-year-old Arab, who was horrifically abused and still bears 22 scars on his side. I know he HAS to have his African horse sickness vaccinations; he disagrees very strongly and weighs 450kgs! I eventually prevail, but nerves - both his and mine - get very frayed in the process! I'm certainly going to give this desensitizing to needles and injections a try.

You would not recognise my other little horse as the wicked adolescent of two years ago, who had me tearing out my hair in clumps. She is magnificent, and so loving and affectionate these days. You were 100% right about the moving of feet. It made all the difference with her. I am so enjoying being able to love her properly and give her all the affection that she deserves. So, thanks for that gift to both of us, too.

I want to wish you and your family, human and equine, a blissfully relaxing, warm and loving holiday season, & a fabulous 2008. Kindest regards,

N. G. - Pretoria, South Africa

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Wow, someone who actually cares more about info then money! Thanks so much. I look forward to getting your newsletter.

L. P. - Wesley Chapel, Florida

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Hi Sylvia. I want to first thank you for the great newsletters! They have been extremely helpful! I am still training my 4-year-old buckskin. He no longer bucks, thanks to you! He also got ribbons for Western Pleasure. Respectfully,

T. S. - Zion Grove, Pennsylvania

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

I just finished watching your DVDs for the 2nd time (Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System and Round Pen Leadership). That was fabulous for me to see! I learned so much. My new gelding arrives next week. Wish me luck! Your DVDs were very clear to me, and I look forward to beginning communication with and playing with my new horse.

T. S. - Austin, Texas

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Hi Sylvia! Your courses are absolutely wonderful (Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System and Round Pen Leadership) - very easy to understand and apply! My horse and I completed your course in three days and we both feel wonderful. I feel a little like Dr. Doolittle now! I can actually have a conversation with my horse! He is relaxing more and more each day and we are having a great time building our vocabulary. As you show, I also found that explaining the cues to him from the ground prior to using them from the saddle eliminated hours of confusion and frustration for both of us. What a wonderfully simple yet effective concept!

M. H.-S. - Bradenton, Florida

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Hi. I absolutely love the content of your videos (Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System and Round Pen Leadership). It has really helped me and my mustang. I recently helped save a young mare and her colt from the killer and mom is halter broke and that's about the extent of her training. I need to keep reviewing your wonderful videos 'cause I forget easily (child of the 60's). Thanks,

M. R. - Fort Collins, Colorado

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

Dear Sylvia: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! We just got our first horse last weekend. I have found your web site to be a huge blessing to me in my moments of doubt! I have never owned a horse, I’ve only accompanied my daughters (ages 8 & 9) to their weekly 2 hour horse lessons. I’ve learned so much the past year being around over 60 different horses, only 15 of them really lesson horses, but have played with most of the others, but there’s still so much to learn and I just wanted to thank you so much for your web site! Today is Thanksgiving, and I’m so thankful for your giving and your heart for horses. It will go a long way in making me a responsible and caring horse owner. Thank you!!!

T. H. - Toney, Alabama

LETTER OF THE MONTH:

December 2007

I received your Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System DVD's last Monday (thanks for the super-fast shipping) and got to work on them right away. I used them on my 6-year-old appendix mare and my yearling filly, with some pretty great results. I love your concise approach. I have a photographic memory, and it was so easy for me to get a picture in my mind to go with every step once I got out to the arena because you did not muddy it up with long explanations and endless jabbering. (I have owned, studied, and tried to implement the NH methods from [two other leading NH trainers], but always got bogged down or had trouble remembering what to do because they take too long on each topic for my liking, and seem to do a lot of talking as well.) So, I am happy to report that over the past week, I have gotten my 6-year-old mare through the 12 steps completely (1 time - working on each step until it was pretty good, then moving on), and my yearling through to the point where you would begin saddling [later when she's older]. Both have done very well, and my mare pleasantly surprised me when, only about 10 minutes after the desensitizing with the plastic bag was complete (on ground and in saddle at walk, jog, and lope), the neighbor's pack of dogs came through the woods and up beside the arena and barn area, making lots of leaf-rustling noises and causing my dogs to bark and chase them. I was on my mare at the time, walking through serpentines in the ring. Normally, she would have tensed, perked her ears hard, lifted her head, tuned me out, and possibly reacted in a mild spook. She did NONE OF THIS! She kept walking the serpentines willingly and focused on me. She looked in the direction of the ruckus a few times, enough for me to know she acknowledged it was going on, but remained calm and focused on me instead of becoming distracted and reactive. Wow! That is one of the reasons I initially bought your DVD's, and after only 1 session, there was major improvement. I am a believer! Since then, she even wears a tarp over her head fine. I did the same things with my filly 2 days later, in the pasture they share. The filly did well, after working through some fear, and the 6-year old mare watched without being bothered. She was curious about the filly with the tarp over her head, but was not freaked out by it. I was thrilled. Thanks for your help!

A. B. - Rocky Mount, Virginia

If you have a horse problem or question and you

don't see it addressed in TRAINING TIPS or if you

would like to share your success story with our

natural horsemanship training methods...

Contact Sylvia Scott

Email: Sylvia@NaturalHorseTraining.com

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