Application of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram to Horses Competing at the Hickstead-Rotterdam Grand Prix Challenge and the British Dressage Grand Prix National Championship 2020 and Comparison with World Cup Grand Prix Competitions.
Authors: Dyson Sue, Pollard Danica
Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
Summary
# Editorial Summary Researchers applied the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE)—a 24-behaviour assessment tool designed to identify musculoskeletal discomfort in ridden horses—to 64 competitors across two British Grand Prix dressage competitions in 2020, comparing findings with historical data from 147 World Cup Grand Prix horses assessed between 2018 and 2020. Horses at the British national championship and Hickstead-Rotterdam challenge demonstrated substantially higher median RHpE scores (6 and 4 respectively, versus 3 at World Cup level), with statistically significant increases in pain-related behaviours including sustained ear retraction, intense staring, repeated tail swishing, hindlimb toe dragging, repeated tongue protrusion, and crooked tail carriage. These pain indicators showed strong associations with lameness, canter irregularities, and deterioration in highly demanding movements such as piaffe, passage, flying changes and pirouettes; notably, a moderate negative correlation existed between judges' marks and RHpE scores at the national championship (−0.66), suggesting pain expression directly compromised performance. For equine professionals, these findings underscore that recognition and treatment of underlying musculoskeletal issues—rather than attributing poor performance to training deficits alone—may simultaneously improve both welfare outcomes and competitive results at elite levels of dressage.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Horses competing at national championship and Grand Prix challenge level show significantly more pain behaviours than World Cup competitors; systematic pain assessment using RHpE should inform veterinary evaluation before and after competition
- •Specific pain indicators (ears back, intense stare, repeated tail swishing, toe drag, tongue-out, crooked tail) correlate with lameness and movement errors; addressing underlying musculoskeletal problems may improve both performance and welfare
- •Higher RHpE scores inversely correlate with dressage judging scores, suggesting that pain recognition by trained observers could guide treatment decisions to enhance both competitive results and horse welfare
Key Findings
- •British Dressage Grand Prix National Championship horses had median RHpE score of 6 (IQR 4-7) compared to World Cup competitors' score of 3 (IQR 1-4), indicating higher pain indicators at national championship level (p = 0.0000)
- •Hickstead-Rotterdam Grand Prix Challenge horses had median RHpE score of 4 (IQR 3-6), significantly higher than World Cup competitors (p = 0.0011)
- •Pain-related behaviours including ears back ≥5s, intense stare ≥5s, repeated tail swishing, hindlimb toe drag, repeated tongue-out, and crooked tail-carriage were significantly more frequent in non-World Cup competitors (p = 0.000-0.005)
- •Moderate negative correlation (Spearman's rho -0.66, p = 0.0002) between dressage judges' scores and RHpE pain scores at British Championship demonstrates inverse relationship between performance scores and pain indicators