Equine Personality: Association With Breed, Use, and Husbandry Factors.

Area of Science:

• Equine behavior and personality research.
• Animal science and veterinary behavior.

Background:

• Temperament refers to innate nervous system properties, while personality encompasses acquired behavioral traits.
• Understanding horse personality is crucial for breeding, selection, and training.
• Previous equine personality studies focused on European and Japanese horses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the consistency of identified equine personality components in American horses.
• To investigate associations between equine personality and breed, age, sex, management, training, stereotypies, and misbehaviors.

Main Methods:

• An online, 25-question owner-directed personality survey was distributed.
• Principal component analysis and factor analysis were used to identify personality components.
• Data from 847 survey responses were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Three principal personality components were extracted.
• Breed was associated with personality, with Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Saddlebreds, and Walking horses being more nervous, and Quarter Horses, Paints, Appaloosas, and Drafts being less nervous.
• No significant associations were found between personality components and trained discipline, stereotypies, or misbehaviors.

Conclusions:

• Equine personality components identified in other regions are applicable to American horses.
• Breed is a significant factor in equine personality, but trained discipline is not.
• There is no evidence linking nervous or curious personality traits to stereotypies or misbehaviors in horses.