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

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.

Application of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram to Horses Competing in British Eventing 90, 100 and Novice One-Day Events and Comparison with Performance

“…Persistent positioning of the head >10° for ≥10 s behind a vertical position was seen with similar frequency in this study (59%) and in 5* three-day event horses (64%) [ 9 ], and was also observed in elite (67%) [ 9 ] and sub-elite (77%) [ 10 ] Grand Prix dressage horses. This is contrary to judging guidelines [ 28 , 29 ] but appears to be inadequately penalised.…”

“…The explanation may be multifactorial, reflecting the higher frequency of pain-related gait abnormalities at the lower levels, an overall lower skill level of riding and inferior training. However, repeated tail swishing was seen more often in the 5* level event horses [ 8 ]) compared with horses in the current study, and was also a frequent observation in Grand Prix dressage horses [ 9 , 10 ]. This may be a reaction to stronger application of leg and spur cues by the riders, or the horses experiencing more difficulty with movements requiring a greater level of collection.…”

“…Some of the movements were biomechanically more challenging at Novice level compared with BE 90 and 100, for example counter canter, which may have predisposed to more errors. Spontaneous changes of gait were observed in a similar proportion (17.5%) of sub-elite Grand Prix dressage horses [ 10 ] compared with only 8.8% of elite Grand Prix dressage horses [ 9 ]. The sub-elite group had higher RHpE scores and a higher proportion of gait abnormalities than the elite Grand Prix horses.…”

“…The RHpE has also been applied to video recordings of horses competing in Grand Prix dressage competitions at elite World Cup level [ 9 ] and sub-elite level [ 10 ]. There was a negative correlation between the RHpE score and the judges’ total percentage scores.…”

“…The median RHpE score for non-lame three-day event horses was 3/24 (range 0, 9), whereas horses which showed transient lameness or gait abnormalities in canter had a significantly higher median RHpE score of 5/24 (range 1, 9) [ 8 ]. Elite World Cup Grand Prix dressage horses had a median RHpE score of 3/24 (range 0, 7) [ 9 ], whereas sub-elite Grand Prix horses had significantly higher scores (Hickstead Rotterdam Challenge median 4/24 (range 0, 8); British Dressage National Championships median 6/24 (range 1, 9), in association with a higher frequency of occurrence of lameness or abnormalities of canter [ 10 ].…”