Can you see it?
I conducted a pilot study that involved investigating owner recognition of behaviour during tacking up. My team showed that a horse with an incorrectly fitting saddle had a higher likelihood of displaying abnormal behaviour than one with a correctly fitting saddle, but that owners were often poor at recognising the abnormal behavioural signs. Subsequently, a larger study investigated other factors that might be influencing behaviour during tacking up. Data analysis is ongoing.
I was convinced that many behaviours previously labelled ‘normal’ in ridden horses were, in fact, ways in which horses were trying to communicate, and I set out to prove this. After reviewing many videos of lame and non-lame horses, we created an ethogram — a catalogue of behaviours, each with strict definitions. We started with 117 behaviours and by comparing lame and non-lame horses we finally reached a list of 24 behaviours (the Ridden Horse Ethogram) which were at least 10 times more likely to be seen in lame horses. These behaviours included ears back for at least five seconds, opening the mouth with exposure of the teeth for at least 10 seconds, an intense stare for at least five seconds, repeated tail swishing, repeated head movements, spooking, spontaneous changes of gait, bucking, rearing and others. Most non-lame horses show two or three behaviours, but the display of eight or more of these behaviours is highly likely to ref lect underlying musculoskeletal pain. We know that there is a causal relationship between pain and these behaviours because as soon as pain is removed using nerve blocks the number of behaviours reduces substantially. There are also other behaviours not included in the ethogram that are likely to reflect underlying pain, including grinding the teeth, sweating disproportionally, or an elevated breathing rate during exercise relative to the horse’s fitness, the amount of work and the environmental conditions. The importance of training
It is important to recognise that the presence of a single abnormal behaviour may not be the result of underlying pain, but may reflect previous training errors. I bought a five-yearold Thoroughbred who repeatedly reared. He never exhibited any other behavioural abnormalities and was a talented, sound horse. His rearing behaviour diminished with careful training, but never disappeared entirely. His performance record speaks for itself: he was an advanced event horse by seven and went to the Olympics aged eight.