Ridecamp: Re: [RC] "[Horses] don't understand reward and punishment"

I'm talking about how they think and behave in a herd.  If you think your horse thinks like your dog go right ahead and treat them that way.  Todays horses do all kinds of unnatural things, why should operant conditioning be so hard to learn.  I just don't see it happening naturally in a herd.  I'll keep looking though;-)  Jennifer.

 "A. Perez" <walkergirl@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Ok, it's a boring day at work, so I am probably responding to
too many RC posts, so ignore this if you like - I won't be
offended ;-)

I have to beg to differ. Operant conditioning has been used
successfully on animals as lowly as earthworms and jellyfish.
If an animal experiences a positive stimulus (aka "reward")
while doing something, it is more likely to repeat doing that
soimething. If the reward is repeated on a variable schedule,
it behavior is more likely to be repeated, and persist, even
when the rewards are stopped. Conversly, if an animal
experiences a negative stimulous ("punishment") when doing
something, it is less likely do do it again. Timing is
everything, however: the pos/neg stimulous must immediately
accompany the behavior being reinforced/dsicouraged. You can't
tell the horse "I'm beating you now because you ate your
blanket last night" - it will have no idea what the punishment
is for, and probably will associate the pushment with whatever
it was doing at the time the beating commenced.
Read Karen Pryor's "Don't Beat The Dog" for an excellent
introduction to operant conditioning (yes, I know I have
recommended this book 100 times before, but it really is good,
and is an easy read, and it is NOT a dog training book, despite
the title).



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