Development of the Highly Sensitive Horse questionnaire to assess horses' sensory processing sensitivity

A 12-item Highly Sensitive Horse questionnaire identifies a robust two-factor equine Sensory Processing Sensitivity structure (Overstimulation, Sensitivity to subtleties) in 121+561 horses.

• Why it matters: Sensory Processing Sensitivity is well studied in humans, but whether animals like horses show comparable individual differences in perception and response is unclear.
• What they did: The team built a 104-item questionnaire from an online survey of 121 horses, then tested the remaining 45 items in an independent survey of 561 horses using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.
• The result: The resulting scale showed high internal consistency and strong intra-rater with moderate inter-rater reliability, and eSPS was linked to fearfulness while explaining additional behavioral variation beyond established traits.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.