香蕉视频

By Holly Vickery and Ellie Cox

Ellie Cox, one of our final-year BSc (Hons) Clinical Animal Behaviour and Welfare students recently took part in a UFAW Animal Welfare Student Scholarship.

 Ellie’s project investigated a fascinating and under-researched topic – . Supported by the , Ellie spent her summer observing, testing, and analysing behaviour to better understand the individuals behind our much-loved equine teaching team here at Harper Adams.  

Q: So Ellie, what was your project all about?

Ellie: My project was called “Does personality matter? Determining the personality of teaching horses and its relationship with handling tolerance and animal welfare.”

In simple terms, I wanted to see whether the horses we use for teaching at Harper Adams have distinct personalities, and how those personalities may affect how they respond to being handled by different people. Teaching horses meet a lot of new faces every term, and while most of them take it in their stride, I was curious to see if some found it more stressful than others. Understanding that could help us tailor their care and use in teaching sessions.

Q: Why is this kind of research important for animal welfare?

Ellie: Knowing more about animal personality helps us care for animals as individuals, not just as a group. Understanding how a horse experiences repetitive handling or unfamiliar people, we can consider how we use them in teaching and potentially adapt our practices to their needs. It’s all about improving welfare by paying attention to the horse’s perspective.

Q: What did you actually do during the project?

Ellie: I used three main approaches to understand the horses’ personalities

1. Handling sessions: I observed how the horses behaved when familiar and unfamiliar handlers put on and removed a headcollar multiple times. It mimicked what happens during student training sessions.

                                        Kaya with an unfamiliar handler during the Handling Session.

2. Novel object tests: I introduced new objects like a jolly ball (a type of horse toy), traffic cone, and storage box to see how curious or cautious each horse was.

                                                      Jerry during the Novel Object test with a traffic cone.

3. Keeper questionnaires: Staff who know the horses well rated them on different personality traits like “friendly–standoffish” and “placid–active.”

Combining those results helped build a picture of each horse’s personality and their experiences during typical teaching scenarios.

Q: Did you find any interesting results?

Ellie: Yes, quite a few!

Overall, the horses showed more avoidance behaviours when handled by unfamiliar people, suggesting they may prefer handlers they know. That’s interesting because it tells us familiarity plays a big role in their experience and ultimately welfare.

There were big individual differences too. For example, Kaya was very curious and interactive, while Bert was calmer and less reactive. The questionnaire results were also really consistent, showing that our keepers’ observations are a reliable way to assess personality.

Q: How could your findings be used in the future?

Ellie: The goal is to develop a kind of “personality framework” to help us match horses to the most suitable roles in teaching. If we know a horse gets stressed by new people, we can limit those experiences. Or if another is particularly curious and confident, they might be great for first-year students who are still learning the ropes.

It’s a way of using science to make their lives better while still supporting student learning.

Q: What was the highlight of your summer scholarship?

Ellie: I loved seeing how what we learn in lectures applies in the real world. Conducting my own research was a huge learning curve, but it’s taught me lots of new skills and I will be using the data for my final year dissertation. It also reinforced to me just how individual animals really are. Recognising and respecting that individuality can make a difference to welfare, safety, and even teaching outcomes.

Q: Any advice for other students thinking about applying for a research scholarship?

Ellie: Absolutely go for it! It’s an amazing opportunity to work on something meaningful for animal welfare, get hands-on experience, and contribute to real scientific knowledge. UFAW’s support meant I could spend the summer doing work that I’m genuinely passionate about — and hopefully helping to make life better for the horses who help us learn every day.

Supervising Ellie’s project has been a real pleasure. Her curiosity and commitment to improving equine welfare made this a fantastic example of what our students can achieve through the UFAW Animal Welfare Student Scholarship programme.

Her findings will contribute to a larger piece of research we are doing here at Harper Adams around understanding, and ultimately improving the experiences of animals used for educational activities. 

It’s wonderful to see students like Ellie contributing to the wider field of animal welfare science, and I’m excited to see where her career takes her next!

-------------

Ellie’s project was supported by the United Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) through their Animal Welfare Student Scholarship Scheme. This year's scheme is now open to students with the deadline for applications being February 28 2026 – if you’re one of our current students and are interested in applying please get in touch hvickery@harper-adams.ac.uk