Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Stress exists everywhere, for survival, adaptation is necessary. These adaptations directly reflected the stresses the animal experienced and demonstrated the ability to cope. An animal that could not cope could not survive. Stressful experiences resulted in behavior patterns for each animal. Consistent behavior can be defined as personality [1]; therefore, stress could directly influence personality by changing behavior.

Stress research helped analyze and identify animal personality traits, especially horses. Human-horse pairings partially relied on personality traits and, when considered, often led to improvements in welfare [2]. There are various tools to assess personality, one being Equine Personality Assessment [3]. The Equine Personality Assessment (EPT) is a trait-based assessment that analyzes the broad categories of anxiety, trainability, and affability.

Cortisol concentration, a quantitative measure of stress, was deposited throughout an equine body and was detectable in almost all tissues. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) allowed a long-term assessment of average cortisol. HCC was a newer form of stress analysis, and its methodology had not yet been standardized.

The aims of this study were threefold: 1. evaluate storage methods of hair cortisol and its effect on HCC, 2. evaluate the effect of seasonality on HCC, and 3. evaluate potential relationships between EPT results and HCC. This study hypothesized that hair stored as frozen samples would have a higher HCC amount than hair stored at room temperature. It was hypothesized that the hair collection that included summer months (collected in August) would have higher HCC than hair collections that included winter months (collected in February). Finally, we hypothesized that when looking at the results of EPT, the personality factor of anxiety would directly correlate to HCC and that personality factors of trainability and affability would be inversely related.

Year manuscript completed

2025

Year degree awarded

2025

Author's Keywords

equine, cortisol, hair, personality, methodology, season

Degree Awarded

Master of Science

Department

Agriculture

College/School

Hutson School of Agriculture

Thesis Advisor

Shea Porr

Committee Chair

Shea Porr

Committee Member

Thomas Powell

Committee Member

Lydia O'Sullivan

Document Type

Thesis

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