Assessment of equine temperament questionnaire by comparing factor structure between two separate surveys

To establish a method for assessing equine temperament by use of a questionnaire, we carried out two surveys. The subject animals were all thoroughbreds maintained at the same farm. Respondents were the primary caretaker and two colleagues working with each horse. Factor analysis was performed on the responses to each survey. In both surveys, five factors were extracted and four of them were common between the two surveys. The common factors were ‘Anxiety’, ‘Trainability’, ‘Affability’, and ‘Gate entrance’. There were sufficient internal consistencies in responses about ‘Anxiety’, ‘Trainability’, and ‘Affability’ in the two surveys to indicate the validity of this questionnaire in evaluating these factors in equine temperament.