The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram is a list of 24 behaviours, the majority of which are ten or more times likely to be seen in a horse with musculoskeletal pain. Studies have shown that a horse who shows 8 or more of the 24 behaviours listed in the ridden horse pain ethogram is likely to have musculoskeletal pain.
Dr Sue Dyson and I are in the process of writing a book about how to recognise pain in the ridden horse. Specifically, this book will describe and explain the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (which was developed by Sue Dyson and colleagues), how you can use it to help monitor your horse’s quality of life, and its application in relation to equestrianism’s social license to compete. There will be case studies, contributions from relevant professionals and organisations, and a description of the science that got us to this point.
Whilst chatting to clients, I’ve realised how few people are aware of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram. This blog is to help bridge that gap and share some of the basics.
To be the first to hear when the book is available, sign up for free to my newsletter at www.thehorsephysio.co.uk.
We all want to do our best for our horses, and to believe that they are happy and comfortable. In order to know that they are comfortable, we have to get better at recognising when they are uncomfortable. Several studies show that we’re not good at recognising lameness. We can all see when a horse is obviously limping. But how about when he’s just slightly unlevel, or when he’s lame on more than one leg, or when he’s just as lame on his right hind as he is on his left hind so he still moves symmetrically?
We know from the research that it can be difficult for even qualified veterinarians to agree which leg a horse is lame on, and the milder the lameness, the more difficult it is. We know it’s easier to see forelimb lameness than hindlimb lameness. It’s clear that the horse will use compensatory movements to avoid putting so much weight through the lame leg(s), and we’re starting to understand those compensations better, but they can make it hard to tell where the source of the problem is.
All of this, and more, means that using behavioural assessments such as the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram to recognise lameness in the early stages could improve horse welfare. This could be useful, for example, when there’s no lameness visible in hand, or when it’s so low level that it’s hard to see, or when the compensatory patterns of the horse’s movement mask the lameness.
I have listed the 24 behaviours in the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram below, and you can see them in picture format here, courtesy of the Saddle Research Trust.
You can use the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram with your own horse. Ask someone to video you riding him, after warming up, for 5 to 10 minutes. Include walk, trot and canter large on both reins, transitions within and between the paces, 10m circles in rising trot in a figure of eight, and any more advanced movements that you and your horse are able to perform as a partnership. Video the horse moving in a straight line towards and away from you from two different corners of the arena. Watch the video as many times as necessary to work your way through the list of 24 behaviours, marking them as ‘yes’ or ‘no’. A ‘yes’ scores 1, a ‘no’ scores 0. You may want to use a stopwatch for some of them, and / or a protractor to measure angles, to get a more accurate score.
If you’d like to learn more, there’s an excellent online course available through Equitopia, which I have completed and highly recommend.
How about doing this exercise once a month with a friend, as part of monitor-ing your horse’s well-being? You can video your friend, and they can video you, and you can go through the videos together. Like any skill, it will take practise, and it will get easier with time. Keep a record of your horse’s score, and contact your vet for further investigation if he scores 8 or more out of 24.
The earlier that a lameness is spotted, the easier it is to resolve it, in general. A study shows a link between higher scores of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram and higher dressage penalties, a higher likelihood of elimination or retirement the cross country course, and a lower finish place at 5 level. The most common score for horses competing at 9 different World Cup Grand Prix dressage competitions was a comparatively low 3/24. There was a negative correlation between the RHpE score and judges’ scores – so the higher the RHpE score, the lower the judges’ good marks. The same relationship was observed at the British Grand Prix Championships. Remember that 8/24 is the threshold that suggests underlying musculoskeletal pain. So if you’re looking to get better results at competitions, or to be more confident that your horse is comfortable, and you want to proactively monitor his ridden behaviour, try using the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram.
As a reminder, the ridden horse pain ethogram is a list of 24 behaviours, the major-ity of which are ten or more times likely to be seen in a horse with musculoskeletal pain. Studies have shown that a horse who shows 8 or more of the 24 behaviours listed in the ridden horse pain ethogram is likely to have musculoskeletal pain.
The 24 behaviours are divided into 3 categories: facial markers, body markers, and gait markers.
If you’d like to look into the science and the studies behind and around the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram, here are a few of them (in no particular order):
Dyson, Sue. (2021). The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram. Equine Veterinary Edu-cation. 10.1111/eve.13468
Dyson, S., Berger, J., Ellis, A., Mullard, J. (2018a) Development of an ethogram for a pain scoring system in ridden horses and its application to determine the presence of musculoskeletal pain. J. Vet. Behav.: Clin. Appl. Res. 23, 47-57
Greve L, Dyson SJ. The interrelationship of lameness, saddle slip and back shape in the general sports horse population. Equine Vet J. 2014 Nov;46(6):687-94. doi: 10.1111/evj.12222. Epub 2014 Feb 27. PMID: 24372949
Greve, Line & Dyson, Sue. (2018). What can we learn from visual and objective assessment of non‐lame and lame horses in straight lines, on the lunge and rid-den?. Equine Veterinary Education. 32. 10.1111/eve.13016
Mullard, Jessica & Berger, Jeannine & Ellis, Andrea & Dyson, Sue. (2016). De-velopment of an ethogram to describe facial expressions in ridden horses (FEReq). Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research. 18. 10.1016/j.jveb.2016.11.005
Dyson, S., Berger, J., Ellis, A., Mullard, J. (2017) Can the presence of musculo-skeletal pain be determined from the facial expressions of ridden horses (FEReq)? J. Vet. Behav.: Clin. Appl. Res. 19,78-89
Dyson, Sue. (2017). Equine performance and equitation science: Clinical is-sues. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 190. 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.03.001
Dyson, S., Berger, J., Ellis, A., Mullard, J. (2018b) Behavioural observations and comparisons of non-lame horses and lame horses before and after resolution of lameness by diagnostic analgesia. J. Vet. Behav.: Clin. Appl. Res. 26, 64-70
Dyson, Sue & Dijk, J.. (2018). Application of a ridden horse ethogram to video recordings of 21 horses before and after diagnostic analgesia: Reduction in behav-iour scores. Equine Veterinary Education. 32. 10.1111/eve.13029
Dyson, Sue. (2021). The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram. Equine Veterinary Edu-cation. 10.1111/eve.13468
Dyson, Sue & Thomson, K. & Quiney, Laura & Bondi, Anne & Ellis, Andrea. (2020b). Can veterinarians reliably apply a whole horse ridden ethogram to differ-entiate nonlame and lame horses based on live horse assessment of behaviour?. Equine Veterinary Education. 32. 112-120. 10.1111/eve.13104
Dyson S, Pollard D. Application of a Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram and Its Rela-tionship with Gait in a Convenience Sample of 60 Riding Horses. Animals (Basel). 2020 Jun 17;10(6):1044. doi: 10.3390/ani10061044. PMID: 32560486; PMCID: PMC7341225
Dyson, S., Bondi, A., Routh, J., Pollard, D. (2020c) Gait abnormalities and rid-den horse behaviour in a convenience sample of the United Kingdom ridden sports horse and leisure horse population. Equine Vet. Educ. doi: 10.1111/eve.13395
Dyson, S. (2019) Application of a ridden horse pain ethogram to horses com-peting at a 4-star three-day-event; comparison with cross country performance. Equine Vet. Educ. 32, Suppl. 10, 92-103
Dyson, S., Ellis, A. (2020) Application of a Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram to hors-es competing at 5-star three-day-events: comparison with performance. Equine Vet. Educ. doi: 10.1111/eve.13415
Dyson, S., Martin, C., Bondi, A., Ellis, A. (2020d) The influence of rider skill on ridden horse behaviour, assessed using the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram, and gait quality. Equine Vet. Educ. 10.1111/eve.13434
Dyson, S., Bondi, A., Routh, J., Pollard, D., Preston, T., McConnell, C., Kydd, J. (2021) An investigation of behaviour during tacking-up and mounting in ridden sports and leisure horses. Equine Vet. Educ. doi: 10.1111/eve.13432
1Dyson, S., Pollard, D. (2021) Application of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram to elite dressage horses competing in World Cup Grand Prix Competitions. Ani-mals 11, 1187. doi.org/0.3390/ani11051187
Dyson, S., Pollard, D. (2021) Application of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram to horses competing at the Hickstead-Rotterdam Grand Prix Challenge and the Brit-ish Dressage Grand Prix National Championship 2020 and comparison with World Cup Grand Prix competitions. Animals 11, 1820 doi.org/10.3390/ani11061820
© Sue Palmer, The Horse Physio, 2021
Treating your horse with care, connection, curiosity and compassion
