"We are a product of our environment" ... I don't know who it was that originally coined this phrase, but I think it holds true even to the point of effecting the animals around us. I also think horses especially are effected by this because of the fact that so much of their communication is by body language.
The fact that my older sister and I have MANY of the same mannerisms and people can't tell us apart on the phone is not because of the fact that I learned these things from her. In reality, I spent very little time with her as a child. She was 14 years older than me. I therefore have to believe that the mannerisms were learned from my mother and father and the voice thing was mostly genetic, but the speech patterns were probably also a learned thing. What horses learn and how they behave around us is an ongoing learning experience... They never stop observing and adapting their behavior to what they percieve as being acceptable to us and neccessary to them (just like children). Pat G., in MN
