giving advice nicely

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

> I have tried saying....have you ever heard
> > of ____  or have you ever tried _____ and make it sound as if YOU 
are looking for THEIR advice.             Another way might be by telling
anecdotes - "I know a  person who
> did such and such"
  
Sounds kinda like my "A lotta guys..." method.  You just sort of comment,
"A lotta guys don't like it when the halter hangs down where they can get
their hind foot through it" and just keep walking without waiting for a
response.  Another method is to start hiding their halters when you find
them in the field. >g<  

My neighbor keeps his coondog's collar so tight that it bites into the
skin.  Every time it comes up to me for petting, I loosen it up a notch. 
I just like to think of him trying to figure out how that happens. >eg< 
I've been known to take up some kid's horse's bit a notch when they
weren't looking.  If they see me I just say, "Whoa, looks like somebody
used your bridle on another horse, this bit's banging his teeth" and fix
it without asking permission. Hopefully they won't want to admit that
they had no idea it was banging the teeth.

Then there's the bottom dollar approach.  "Oh man!  A friend of my did
that with her horse and it cost her X,XXX dollars to get it healed up".
Sometimes that gets their attention.  The trick with stubborn people is
often to not look to see if they fix whatever it is, just keep going...
cause they don't want you to see them admitting they did something wrong.

I have a gag greeting card that I got out of a book of gag cards years
ago. If I had more than one of it I'd have mailed it a hundred times by
now.  It says:  "Just a note to let you know that you were wrong, I told
you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so!  :-)

Angie
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