The horse’s temperament

Temperament is defined as being a set of behavioural characteristics (called traits) which are stable in time and in similar situations, each trait being a dimension of the temperament, with the dimensions being independent from each other.

Temperament and personality

Scientists make a distinction between temperament and personality. Temperament is the innate character of each individual. This will be modified by the environment, particularly by the mother and living conditions (social life, different experiences with man, breaking-in conditions, and usage….) This gives rise to the personality of the animal. This term, although slightly “anthropomorphic”, is the term used in current international scientific litterature. In Equipedia’s fact sheets, the two terms are used indifferently*.

Whatever the use the horse is destined for, and particularly since the appearance of leisure riding, temperament is a determining element to be taken onto account when using the horse. This is especially true for leisure horses. It is the primary buying criteria according to studies in France and in other countries, and comes before conformation, breed and even price or aptitude to jump. Measuring temperament of equids, has become an important knowledge stake for all the facets of the horse sector: breeders, horse dealers, buyers, and users. It was therefore important to develop measuring tools, from the different studies, for the horse sector.

Within the framework of a collaboration between INRA and the French National Stud/IFCE, Léa Lansade conducted a longitudinal study over a period of three years with the aim of defining a temperament model in the horse. The dimensions were each defined by a scientific approach showing their stability in time and with regard to similar situations. This work followed other studies conducted by other French or foreign authors, more specifically those conducted by the Rennes University (Martine Hausberger).

The model is composed of five large dimensions:

•    Emotivity: the tendancy to react more or less strongly to sudden events (e.g: surprise) or new events ( e.g: walking over an alien surface)
•    Herd instinct: can the horse bear to be seperated from the other horses?;
•    Locomotive activity: Does the horse move spontaneously or not at all? ;
•    Reactivity to humans: Does the horse go easily towards an unfamiliar human being ? ;
•    Sensorial sensitivity: Does the horse react more or less strongly to stimuli, specifically touch?

These dimensions can be predicted as early as 8 months old, and appear stable up to the age of three. They are measurable and for each dimension one or several tests have been defined so as to place the horse’s reactions on a scale of marks: temperament tests have thus been developed.

There are different series of tests in France

Complete temperament tests IFCE

The complete temperament tests (TTC) are conducted in a standardised fashion following a strict protocol. These tests use different audio, visual and tactile stimuli. The horse is watched in a covered removable structure, always set up the same way with three different compartments and isolated from outside distractions. A horse called “public horse” is tied up in the third area, so that the animal being tested is not socially isolated.

After a five minute period for the horse to become accustomed to the environment, the tests are carried out as follows: the passive man test, the active man test, unknown object test, touch sensitivity test, social isolation test (conducted by removing the public horse for 90 seconds), the unknown surface test, and suddenness test, all these tests are carried out over a 30 minute period. The movements of the horse during these tests enable to establish a measure of the animal’s locomotive activity.

These tests are currently used for horses worth a lot, or for experimental purposes.

Simplified temperament tests IFCE

Simplified temperament tests (TTS) during young horse showing competitions for warmbloods have been proposed and set up for 2020. They consist in simple rapid behavioural tests set up in specific work groups, in addition to the usual work groups of a “Modèle et allures” (Conformation and paces) breeding show. The specific tests used in this case are adapted from the tests described above, but with the main difference being that the horse is led in hand by his owner. The measures recorded are those of tactile sensitivity and behaviour with the following emotivity tests: unknown object, unknown surface, and suddeness tests. The horse’s behaviour is also assessed during the usual work groups (measuring the horse, conformation, and loose jumping). In all these situations, muscular tension, quick or spooky movements, and neighing are recorded. These simplified tests have been approved compared to the complete tests, and principally measure emotivity (=fear) and tactile sensitivity. For draught horses and donkeys, a test where they are set loose in a small grassy place, replaces loose jumping. 

Tests used by Rennes university

Scientists from Rennes university use the following tests:
 
•    In the test “alone in the indoor school”: the horse is set loose for 10 minutes in a familiar indoor school, he is then observed, any reactions would be considered to reflect herd instinct;
•    In the unknown object test, an unknown object is placed in the centre of the school, the horse is set loose for 5 minutes, the reactions in this case reflect the level of nervousness
•    In the ramp test, the horse is led towards then onto a mattress covered with tarpaulin so as to walk across it, the reactions observed here reflect the degree of emotivity;
•    In addition, the scientists include a box opening test, which is considered a learning test

Most of the time, the individual results of a horse are given as scores in each of the dimensions measured, compared to a reference population. The reference population should be close to the tested horse’s original population, and that the individuals in the reference population have similar genes (see why in the following paragraph).

Several elements can influence a horse’s temperament. Individual differences observed are the result of various parameters, of which:

•    Experience of the individual and his environment (dam’s behaviour, type of living environment, type of contact with humans…..)
•    Age (emotivity decreases with age, after the first year)
•    Gender ( it appears that stallions are more subject to herd instinct, are more emotive and active than mares, even though not all authors agree on this point)
•    The moment of an event (there are sensitive periods in a horse’s life, such as birth, weaning, breaking-in, or other events which can have an effect on the subject’s temperament).

Thus it is quite difficult to determine which part of temperament is due to genetics, and to assess possible transmission to descendance.

There is no “good” or “bad temperament”, but a type of temperament adapted to a given usage can be defined. In deed, according to their temperament, certain horses will be more apt at learning certain tasks, better adapted to certain riders….. Emotivity is the dimension which has the highest impact on handling the horse in the field, in the stable, in hand, and when ridden.
Riders looking for a top quality performer will easily adapt to spooky horses, who are very quick to move, with a high tactile sensitivity. On the other hand, a good beginners’ horse will have a lower level of tactile sensitivity, will be less impressionable, and react less to new or sudden events, and will not get jumpy when separated from other horses. This type of horse will be easier to handle, ride or harness.

It has also been demonstrated that fearful horses learn differently from less fearful horses. They learn faster in a familiar environment when the task at hand is a little frightening (they learn through negative reinforcement), this is the most common technique. On the other hand, they learn more slowly in other cases, especially in an unfamiliar environment.

The use of simplified temperament tests in the field, has enabled the first assessments of  temperament heritability measures over a population of show-jumper horses and ponies. Heritability (h²) is the genetic fraction of the variability of a trait measured over a given population. It is calculated thanks to measures taken from kindred or similar individuals. Heritability is measured on a scale from 0 (inexistant) to 1 (very strong).
Heritability measures were found to be high ((h²≥0,50), for emotivity levels (suddeness, and unknown surface tests), average (0.35) for tactile sensitivity tests, and low for behaviour tests carried out in the usual work groups during a young horse showing competition (usually these were lower than 0.20). This appears to be coherent with the fact that emotivity is often a heritable factor in other species.