Sarah Hall - Equine Performance

' "Horse owners are poor at recognising lameness which may compromise equine welfare” is the blunt message from the authors of a newly published research paper.' This is a headline in the recent newsletter from the Saddle Research Trust
Dr. Dyson presented preliminary findings from this study at the SRT 2018 conference which WOW sponsored. The paper on this research has now been published in the journal Animals, in a Special Issue entitled "Towards a better assessment of acute pain in equines". You can read the full paper via a pdf download at https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/6/1044
In summary, of the 60 horses in the study, 73% were lame and had significantly higher ethogram scores than non-lame horses. An interesting feature was that 47% of the horses had gait abnormalities in canter, highlighting the importance of evaluating the quality of canter, which may be compromised by hindlimb lameness or sacroiliac joint region pain.

It was clear that riders, irrespective of their skill level and experience, had a lack of recognition of the behavioural signs which may reflect musculoskeletal pain. Many riders learn to ride on horses which exhibit these signs, so there is a generalised acceptance that these behaviours are normal for horses.

The take-home message is that education about what constitutes abnormal behaviours is needed, so that lame horses are recognised and undergo appropriate investigation and treatment, in order to both enhance equine welfare and improve performance.

This summary is based on the SRT newsletter and adapted from:
Dyson, S.; Pollard, D. Application of a Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram and Its Relationship with Gait in a Convenience Sample of 60 Riding Horses. Animals 2020, 10, 1044.

Thanks to Dr. Sue Dyson for the image.

How to check your headplates

We've had several queries recently about our headplate numbering system. If the headplate only has a number written on it, it will be a U profile. Vs (narrower profile) and UUs (wider profile) are always written on. (There are a few Us out there where we got keen and lettered them too, but any headplate without a letter will be a U). The photo shows two size 1 headplate. No prizes (sorry!) for guessing which is the U.

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