european college of sport science

Friday, June 26th, 2009
HORSE-RIDING, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND FIELD-DEPENDENCE
LABORDE, S., OLIVIER, A.
1. UFR STAPS, UNIVERSITY OF CAEN, FRANCE, 2. GERMAN SPORT UNIVERSITY, COLOGNE; GERMANY
Horse-riding, emotional intelligence and field-dependence
Introduction: Intelligence (EI), representing the way people manage their own emotions and others’ emotions, may be moderated by the
perceptive style, as measured by the degree of field-dependence. This relationship was investigated in horse-riding, an activity in which
emotions are predominant, especially concerning the affectivity between the rider and the horse; and where the perceptive style is a key
to understand rider’s behavior.
Objectives: This study is aimed to know if near-expert horse riders with high trait EI rely more on external or internal cues to process
information, which can be measured by field-dependence.
Methods: First EI of French near-expert horse riders (N=50) was assessed by the French version of the TEIQue (Trait Emotional Intelligence
Questionnaire, Mikolajczak, Luminet, Leroy, & Roy, 2007). Extreme scores were selected, and two groups were constituted, high trait EI
(n=18) and low trait EI (n=18). Field-dependence of these participants was then assessed by the Rod-and-Frame Task (Witkin & Asch,
1948).
Results: An ANOVA was performed with 2 independent variables, gender and EI, and one dependent variable, field-dependence score.
A gender effect was found: female horse riders are significantly more field-independent than male horse riders (F (1; 32) = 20.058;
p