Dyson S, Pollard D. 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.
Animals (Basel) 2021;
11:1820. [PMID:
34207251 PMCID:
PMC8235099 DOI:
10.3390/ani11061820]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2021] [Revised: 05/12/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE) comprising 24 behaviours was developed to facilitate the identification of musculoskeletal discomfort, with scores of ≥8/24 indicating the presence of pain. The median RHpE score for 147 competitors at World Cup Grand Prix events from 2018 to 2020 was three (interquartile range [IQR] 1-4; range 0-7). The aim of the current study was to apply the RHpE to 38 competitors at the Hickstead-Rotterdam Grand Prix Challenge and 26 competitors at the British Dressage Grand Prix National Championship in 2020. The median RHpE scores were four (IQR 3-6; range 0-8) and six (IQR 4-7; range 1-9), respectively, which were both higher (p = 0.0011 and p = 0.0000) than the World Cup competitors' scores. Ears back ≥ 5 s (p = 0.005), intense stare ≥ 5 s (p = 0.000), repeated tail swishing (p = 0.000), hindlimb toe drag (p = 0.000), repeated tongue-out (p = 0.003) and crooked tail-carriage (p = 0.000) occurred more frequently. These were associated with a higher frequency of lameness, abnormalities of canter, and errors in rein-back, passage and piaffe, canter flying-changes and canter pirouettes compared with World Cup competitors. There was a moderate negative correlation between the dressage judges' scores and the RHpE scores (Spearman's rho -0.66, p = 0.0002) at the British Championship. Performance and welfare may be improved by recognition and appropriate treatment of underlying problems.
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