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Horse’s Personality May Be Related to its JobBy Kentucky Equine Research Staff · September 27, 2011
A research project in France has looked at the behavior of 119 geldings of French Saddlebred or Anglo-Arab breeding to determine whether their personalities were correlated with the disciplines for which the horses were being trained. The horses were grouped by discipline: eventing, show jumping, advanced riding school, vaulting, dressage, and “high school” (highly technical dressage schooling and movements). Each horse was ridden for an hour a day, after which it was graded for reactivity by watching its actions and response to emotional tests.
Horses used for vaulting had the quietest reactivity profiles, while horses used for dressage and high school training showed the greatest responses. Jumpers were fairly quiet, and eventers and those used in the advanced riding school had medium responses.
Though no explanation was given for the differences in behavior seen in these groups of horses, the researchers posed several possible correlations between temperament and work. First, they suggested that dressage training emphasizes an immediate response from the horse for each rider cue, and this could lead over time to making horses very sensitive and quick to react to a stimulus. Second, they thought that jumping and vaulting horses had their locomotion needs met by their training and performance demands, and were therefore quieter and slower to respond during their nonworking periods.
It could also be argued that some horses naturally show more excitability, nervousness, and energetic reactivity to novel stimuli, while others have a more placid and quiet temperament and are not easily excited. If riders or trainers select prospects by breeding because they have found that a certain breed or sire line reliably shows skills and temperament suited to a specific discipline, then more horses of that particular type would be put into training for that discipline.
Translated into practical management advice, remember these points:
- In looking for a new horse, select one that has the breeding, conformation, and characteristics that will give it the best chance to be successful in the discipline of your choice.
- Have the horse evaluated by a veterinarian to find out if the horse seems physically capable of handling the type of riding you want to do.
- Get the assistance of a skilled trainer who can help you and the horse advance in your chosen discipline.
- Finally, if the horse appears to be unable or unwilling to do what you are asking after a reasonable amount of time and effort, consider another discipline for the horse and/or another horse for your discipline.
