Validation of a Questionnaire for Equine Personality Assessement.

Area of Science:

• Animal Behavior
• Equine Psychology
• Animal Welfare

Background:

• Assessing equine personality is crucial for effective training and welfare.
• Existing methods may lack practicality or empirical validation.
• A standardized, reliable tool is needed for horse owners and trainers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a practical questionnaire for assessing horse personality.
• To evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire against behavioral observations.
• To enhance human-horse relationships through better personality understanding.

Main Methods:

• Developed a five-axis personality questionnaire for horses.
• Four evaluators assessed 19 horses using specific adjectives.
• Validated the questionnaire through four distinct behavioral tests (social interaction, novel object, bridge, arena).

Main Results:

• The questionnaire demonstrated high reliability, correlating well with behavioral test results.
• Attention reactions were more prevalent than fear reactions in the tested horses.
• Significant variations in behavioral frequencies were observed across different tests.

Conclusions:

• The proposed questionnaire is a practical and reliable tool for assessing horse personality.
• Its application can lead to more informed and empathetic human-equine interactions.
• This tool supports improved daily management and training strategies for horses.