D answered, “I do not think I could.”
E answered, “Yes.”
Question 3: “How would you teach him?”
A answered, “I should tap his foot with a whip, so that he would raise it, and reward him each time.”
B answered, “I should teach him by the motion of the whip.”
C answered, “First teach him by pricking his leg the number of times you wanted his foot lifted.”
D answered, “You put figure 2 on blackboard and touch him on leg twice with cane, and so on.”
E answered ambiguously.
It is noteworthy that even those who think they could teach an animal by putting him through the trick do not use that method, except at first. And what they really do then is probably to stimulate the animal to the reflex act of raising his hoof. The hand simply replaces the cane or whip as the means of stimulus. The answers are especially instructive, because the numerous counting tricks done by trained horses seem, at first, to be incomprehensible, unless the trainer can teach the horse by putting it through the movement the proper number of times. The counting tricks performed by Mascot, Professor Maguire’s horse, were quoted to me by a friend as incomprehensible on my theory. The answers given above show how simple the thing really is. All the counting-tricks of all the intelligent horses depend on the fact that a horse raises his hoof when a certain stimulus is given. One simple reaction gives the basis for a multitude of tricks. In the same way other tricks, which at first sight seem to require that the animal should learn by being put through the movement, may depend on some simple reflex or natural impulse.