Friend of mine in south London used to live next to a retirement block called Purley Gate. In fairness, it was located in Purley but still...
In the old days they were called Horse Whisperers because the could train horses without forcing them into submission
What are the replies? iIt's basic animal training the visual is more important than anything you say. I trained dogs in a similar way.
Well you go from this lengthy reply: The Psychological Phenomenon of Learned Helplessness Learned helplessness is a psychological concept that describes a condition in which an individual or animal has learned to believe that their actions have no effect on their environment, leading to a passive, hopeless response. In the case of the horse, it's possible that it has experienced this phenomenon. Here's how it might apply: Past Experiences: The horse might have been tied up to the rope for an extended period, leading it to associate the rope with being restrained. Reinforcement: Over time, the horse may have learned that struggling against the rope was futile and that it was unable to break free. This negative reinforcement could have solidified the belief that it was powerless to change its situation. Habitual Behavior: Even after the rope is removed, the horse may continue to follow its owner due to the ingrained habit of obedience associated with the rope. This behavior could be a result of classical conditioning, where the owner's presence has become a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response (following). To this short reply: FALSE. This animal is happy, not downtrodden. The harness ritual is merely a reminder that it is time to play. To another lengthy reply: I disagree. At the very least, there is not enough evidence to conclude this. To lend credence to the learned helplessness hypothesis, we would need to see the same scenario without her putting on an imaginary halter and observe that the horse does not move. How would you describe the behavior in the following video? Had you not seen me take off the halter, I could have begun the video at the point of pretending to put on an imaginary halter and it would have had the same appearance as the horse video. If I had to speculate, it is more likely that this horse has learned from positive reinforcement that there are rewards to following the owner. So, yes, it is a learned behavior, but not automatically one that has come as a result of aversive training and a broken spirit. It is important for people to see that animals can have a positive relationship with their owner which is not based on cruel treatment. I think you're a bit too quick to jump to a conclusion and that has the consequence of doing a disservice to this horse-handler relationship and animal training in general. To one more associated with guitarists: It's muscle memory.
Both opinions could be correct whether positive or negative conditions the result is the same the animal knows the hand movements mean that they are too do something that they have done many times, if I had to guess it's positive though the animal seems happy enough and would be more on edge if negative reinforcement and it seems relaxed. Muscle memory? Yes the hand movements mean there is a response that the animal is used to all part of the same thing.
Yeah I'm much a similar thought - it's merely routine and the animal knowing it's time to play. Routine becomes instinct because to the animal it's associated with fun. Like a dog going for a walk, wave the lead and the dog knows what it means, even before the lead's attached, it might not even need attaching dependent on circumstances of the dog and it's walk, but it still associates the lead with fun, regardless if it's attached or not and will follow hand and voice commands accordingly.
I think that's a little different, I trained under a famous dog trainer who had some strange affinity with dogs her name was Joyce Stranger, lovely lady and when it came to training dogs it was mind blowing working with her.
