In South Tyrol, character tests for Haflingers were first introduced in 2019, with tests designed and developed in cooperation with the Free University of Bolzano/Bozen. The aim: to collect reliable scientific data on the heritability of the Haflinger breed’s temperament.
 

For this purpose, the horses typically complete a five-obstacle course at the annual breeding register entry event. Ideally, the horses to be tested should not be prepared for the exam in advance, because only their spontaneous reaction offers objective indications regarding their temperament – and, in the long run, sufficient data as a basis upon which to determine the heritability of individual character traits.
 

On a more immediate level, however, there is considerable added value for breeders and buyers alike: crucial information with regard to the horses’ further training strategy or their future use in line with their dispositions – depending on whether they soldier on entirely unimpressed by diversions such as balls rolling around them or would prefer to rush through the course and get it over with quickly. After all, it is this very versatility that we value in our Haflingers – a large variety of traits that breeders can help preserve by participating in the character tests!