Just wanted to share – I’m reading a book I enjoy. The name of the book is “The cognitive horse” by Francesco De Giorgio, José Maria Schoorl
I have read the first 1/3 and I know that I might find that toward it’s later parts I’ll feel less “in love” with the content, so i am taking my time... (I mainly read it while Geronimo is grazing on our walks out)
I want to write more about it in relation to things we have experienced lately (me and the horses) and other thought I have regarding our walks out, my latest adventures in clicker training and other thoughts – (hopefully I will be able to put it into words in our diary) but wanted to put it first here if someone else is looking for a book to read.
This is text by the authors of the book: “The Cognitive Horse" takes the reader into a dimension where relationships are free of tensions - no leadership, dominance or other control assumptions.
It is a dimension based on the knowledge of the social, emotional and mental abilities and needs of the horse. An animal, curious and driven by his own inner motivation to explore and understand the world around him”… …. Every animal has his own perception of the world, evolved phylogenetically and ontogenetically, with their own mental, emotional and social skills. In short, they are already ‘written blackboards’, they are already ‘vessels full’ in abilities, they are living beings already rich in their own innate wisdom…. …“The important field of cognitive ethology is mainly related with paradigms regarding perception, learning, categorization, memory, spatial cognition, numerosity, communication, language, social cognition, theory of mind, causal reasoning, and metacognition. Cognitive ethology is also related to a philosofical discussion concerning the anthropocentric and not-anthropocentric vision of the world. It will have a huge cultural impact regarding our relationship with animals. With the question of Animal Awareness, Donald Griffin sought to revolutionize the science of animal behavior by insisting that questions about animal consciousness should be placed firmly in the foreground of a new research-program he labeled ‘‘cognitive ethology.’’ “The way of cognitive ethology will revolutionize with ever more power our relationship with animals, especially the horse-human relationship. In classical equestrian world, but also ‘natural horsemanship’ world, ‘clicker training’ world and even the ‘coaching with horses’ world, the animal and also horse-human relationship is still very much defined from a mechanical and behaviouristic point of view. Interaction between horse and human is continuously defined focussing on the behavior we desire from the horse.” “One of the caracteristics of cognitive learning is the latency. Often you cannot see the immediate result of the learning process. What was elaborated might be used in a future moment, if necessary, and when the circumstance call it.”
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