Does work affect personality? A study in horses.
Authors: Hausberger Martine, Muller Christine, Lunel Christophe
Journal: PloS one
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Does work affect personality? A study in horses **Hausberger et al., PLoS One, 2011** Whilst work-related personality changes are well documented in humans, isolating work as the causal factor proves methodologically challenging due to confounding variables—a problem the equine model circumvents elegantly. Researchers presented over 100 geldings of similar age, breed and housing to standardised behavioural tests, with horses differing solely in their occupational demands across dressage, show jumping, eventing, and voltige disciplines. Rather than exhibiting uniform emotional shifts, horses demonstrated work-specific behavioural profiles: dressage horses displayed notably elevated excitation components, whilst voltige horses showed the most subdued responses, suggesting that discipline-specific demands shape not absolute emotionality but its expression and regulation. Although selection bias cannot be entirely excluded—stall managers may have unconsciously assigned horses to disciplines matching pre-existing temperament—the controlled design strengthens the argument for work-induced personality modification. For practitioners, these findings underscore the importance of evaluating individual behavioural responses within the context of current work demands, and suggest that chronic behavioural problems may partly reflect maladaptive personality expression rather than inherent vice.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Different equine disciplines (dressage, jumping, voltige) select for or develop distinct emotional expression patterns—consider a horse's work history when assessing behavior or retraining.
- •Behavioral assessment should account for discipline-specific emotional expression patterns; what appears 'reactive' in dressage may be normal for that work type.
- •When changing a horse's discipline or work type, expect behavioral adaptation as personality expression shifts to match new demands and training methods.
Key Findings
- •Horses in different work types showed different behavioral profiles rather than different overall emotional levels, with dressage horses displaying highest excitation and voltige horses showing quietest behavior.
- •Work type appears to influence how horses express emotions and personality traits across standardized behavioral tests.
- •Horses were controlled for housing, diet, sex, breed, and genetic selection, isolating work type as the primary variable affecting behavioral expression.