A study related to horse behavior at the University of Regensburg in Germany made use of horses adopting a "following behavior" towards people. It was determined that some horses reacted to a handler in a riding arena and eventually responded by following the person around. Meanwhile other horses merely stood watching the whole event involving the handler.
Leadership in horses determined by social status
Researchers discovered that whether a horse learns new behavior by copying another horse depends upon their social status, but they'll only readily pick up the new behavior if they have a certain relationship with the horse they're watching.
The researchers discovered that whether a horse learns new behavior by copying another horse depends upon their social status.
Horses can learn how to do something simply by observing another horse. But they'll only readily pick up the new behavior if they have a certain relationship with the horse they're watching.
Horses tend to copy others that they respect. When a bystander horse had a turn in the arena, he quickly copied the following behavior if the horse they'd been watching was dominant in social status.
Conversely, the bystander horse would not readily follow the handler if he had previously observed a subordinate horse. A horse also failed to mimic another horse's behavior if the horses were from two different social groups and didn't know each other.