One of the lessons that the study made clear (to me) was that people tend to anthropomorphize when it comes to their horses discomfort and it was clear that comparing humans and horses response to pain is a mistake that many owners make, a comparison from which the horse suffers.
None of my (admittedly old fashioned) instructors or employers ever considered that riding a lame horse was OK. It wasn’t done. The issue was identified and treated and if treatment was not successful, the horse was not ridden.
Saddle fit, and where the riders weight is distributed in the saddle, has always been an issue in back soreness and hind leg lameness, that’s nothing new.
There seems to be a huge disconnect now, as far as owners understanding horse behavior. Thankfully Dr. Dyson saw the issue and put a huge effort into studying and explaining it. Hopefully the study will help riders understand horsemanship.
I get it, times have changed in the horse world. However, people need to be responsible caretakers. Horses shouldn’t have to suffer because of their owners ignorance.
I would expect (and hope) that the behavioral issues that were evident in the horse that video would have most people not riding the horse until the cause was found. That seems not to be the case for many horse owners and trainers, if this case is an indication.
I was surprised that the horse in the video was kept in work when it showed what, to most people, were obvious signs of discomfort.
It’s great to see a study that spells out for people that their horses are hurting, not misbehaving, but it’s unfortunate that it is necessary.
I thought the beginning was a little melodramatic but it had a LOT of good takeaways.
(1) That footing looked horrible. You might as well ride on concrete. I hope she wasn’t jumping on ground that hard. Maybe it didn’t contribute to the issues that her horse was having but it sure didn’t help.
(2) I really liked the systematic approach that the vet took in diagnosing the problems, starting at looking for asymmetries in the horse’s body. That is something that I think we all should do. No - we might not be as observant as she has trained herself to be but when you see things that look different we need to ask ourselves why that is.
(3) I also like that she didn’t just jump on injecting a joint and hoping that would fix the problem. She was very methodical in blocking the horse and could really see small differences after she blocked a portion of the foot/ leg. She had a much better eye than I do. And it goes to show that there are other causes of lameness besides arthritic joints.
(4) This makes me much more likely to go to a clinic or really good sports medicine vet and get a work up if I suspect lameness or behavioral problems than just piddling around in the dark and spending time and money on injections or supplements. Better to get a really good diagnosis up front and probably cheaper too in the long run.
(5) And sadly for the poor horse owner - they can’t all be fixed. Even if you get a really good diagnosis of the problem sometimes they are just too broken for the job we want them to do. It sucks but we need to do right by them.
( 6) It made me look that more closely at my horse. She seems pretty happy to work but her right shoulder is just a smigeon larger than he left shoulder. Hmmm. Why is that?
I’m very picky about footing in the arena. Outside, if it’s too hard or soft we just walk. I think it’s important to ride on a variety of footing, but not necessarily at the trot or canter.
Yes, I think most people (at least ethical ones) would agree that riding a lame horse isn’t okay. (Although, maybe riding lightly a mildly arthritic horse actually is a good thing because it keeps the horse more comfortable).
But, I think one of the points that the video makes pretty powerfully is that there is a lot of lameness or discomfort happening that most people don’t see. And it’s not necessarily because they’re selfish idiots.
Sometimes behaviors that stem from underlying pain get normalized or dismissed (the horse is being “fresh,” or being a “jerk,” or “has always been girthy”).
I think anthropomorphizing is more of a problem when we are trying to ignore or justify behaviors that are actually caused by pain.
No one wants to feel like they are causing their horse pain. No one wants to retire or lay up a horse who seems sound and capable apart from a handful of undesirable behaviors. So we find a way to justify it, whether it be blaming it on our own riding abilities, or attributing it to human characteristics like being a “jerk” or “lazy,” or normalizing it with terms like “cold-backed” or “girthy.”
Yep. I do feel it’s important to remember that the profiled horse has been and is under vet care. She had been examined multiple times and at least twice had a number of joints injected. The owner wasn’t resting on her laurels and ignoring her horse.
As I work a physical job, I often muse over all the bodywork, massage, chiropractic adjustments, injections, etc. when the horse is actually asked to do very little. I don’t get any of those therapies yet it’s a constant daily grind. So why is so much needed to apparently maintain a perceived level of comfort? Is it because these horses aren’t in slow, steady, frequent work? Are we asking the wrong thing? Do we need to be breeding for more “right things”? Do we need to cull and ethically, how would that look?
I was waiting for the conclusion of the video to be, " I’m going to retire Galina and let her be a mom". It wouldn’t surprise me one bit as that what’s done with lame mares. But, with all 4 limbs and suspensories involved, how do we know there isn’t a genetic component.
I’m heading down a rabbit hole now but it was a very worthwhile video to bring greater awareness of our horses trying to communicate. I’m going to share it with others at my barn.
Perhaps I wasn’t very clear. The behaviors that the mare in the video was presenting, would, for any of the horsemen or women that I have known, make it clear that something was wrong and that the horse shouldn’t be ridden.
It was interesting to learn from the video that people have become immune to the signs of discomfort in their horses, so much so that Dr. Dyson felt that a study was required to prove that many behaviors are the result of discomfort. I’m glad she did.
Gaining access to top quality veterinary care to find the cause of the behavior is another issue as are owners that will try anything to keep the horse in work, when they should probably throw in the towel for the horse’s sake. The lady in the video seemed ready to do the right thing for her mare.
Remember the horse on one of the U.S. showjumping teams that reared repeatedly, would not let the rider mount and was disqualified? I have always wondered what happened to that horse.
Access to top vet care is a problem period. Whether it’s physical/geographic access or financial access, a lot of people don’t have extensive diagnostics available to them. If the problem isn’t apparent through flexion, limb imaging, use of pharmaceuticals, or bloodwork, a lot of people are SOL. Because that’s pretty much all they have available.
Even when you have unlimited access, there are no guarantees when playing the diagnostic guessing game. It’s easy to rack up thousands of dollars of expenses with no answers.
It all depends on the situation. It happens a lot though.
People all the time say, “call the vet,” but vets aren’t psychics. Just because you think there is a problem doesn’t mean you can solve it or even find it.
And, if you have a horse you can’t find anything physically wrong with after diagnostics despite pain behaviors under saddle, are you wrong for riding them? I think that’s a philosophical question with varying answers.
I do wonder where riding the arthritic horse is on the spectrum. I’ve always heard that keeping them in light work is good when they get older (permitted that they can handle it).
I’m always surprised when people ignore obvious pain behavior.
I was also surprised how much the horse improved with just saddle fit though he was very girthy. I would think someone who sank so much money into the horse already who also had ambitions for Grand Prix jumping would have addressed the saddle.
I honestly feel it’s mind blowing for people to ignore multiple behaviors. I understand one or two and thinking it is a “quirk” in an otherwise healthy horse. But 8 or more?!
I have always been a big advocate for any horses that are either own or have cared for over the years. I have often been called paranoid at first but usually with diagnostics are done it shows my gut was correct. I don’t always know what is wrong exactly but I pay attention to any behaviors while ridden or otherwise.
Years ago I was riding a mare that was a bit “grumpy.” Typically it was just some ear pinning in transitions or being behind the leg. But one day she got really grouchy while being groomed. I mean you can’t even touch her headquarters without her getting pretty angry. I told the owner and they insisted that maybe she was in heat but she needed to be worked. Later on the mare started peeing all the time. The owner suggested this was to get out of work because she only did it with her students supposedly. I rode her in a clinic and she full on peed like six times. Not a little bit of squirting but peeing. Poor thing just seem miserable all around and I stopped riding her after that. They claimed they had ultrasounds done and never found anything so kept riding her. To me it was classic case have just because you didn’t find anything yet does not mean the horse was comfortable!!
Even this year I’ve dealt with it. My own horse started to develop a few small behaviors. At one point he got really spooky. We put them on magnesium and that seemed to help tremendously. But then he started tossing his head in transitions. My riding was blamed or his age has blamed. I could totally see my riding being the culprit and I know that 5-year-olds aren’t easy sometimes. Then he started standing funky as well as getting a little grouchy when getting tacked up. Massage, chiropractic, saddle fit and a new bridle didn’t solve this. Finally I got his stifle ultrasounded and now we are on a path to rehab although I’m still watching carefully. But everybody thought I was completely nuts and that there is nothing wrong with him at all! Wrong, he had discomfort no doubt!
I think this is one place where the number of indicators can be helpful. I can think of one elderly horse who had some arthritis and who was prone to mild colics, and who also had sinus tumors brewing. The vet’s advice was to work him lightly because it helped to prevent sinus infections and keep the guts moving, and he was not so lame from the arthritis with Equioxx and proper hoof care that on balance it seemed good for him to continue light work. I recall one of his riders being very concerned about his ear pinning and asked me to watch her ride some. When she’d ask for a transition or a little more oomph or aid for a turn or whatever, he’d flick an ear or two back at her for a few seconds. Looked like normal responsiveness to me and not the ear behavior described here as a pain signal. Overall, he acted like a happy horse. He wasn’t girthy, didn’t wring his tail, didn’t have a tight expression, he was happy to be groomed, was easy to catch in pasture. So even though he was OLD and had several problems, if we use this study as a guide, the decision to work him at that time in the manner in which he was worked seemed to be a humane one.
You are right. Some horses ( like people) just go along and never give any evidence of pain or just put up with it.
The difference with us doing things despite pain ( i am there too) is you can tell someone where it hurts and you have the choice to do the activity despite the pain.
Our horses can do neither.
I am now going to watch the video
ETA-- I just finished the video. In watching it you can see without a doubt how unhappy her horse was and my heart breaks for this lady and her beautiful, beautiful horse.
I have never been gifted with seeing very, very subtle lameness but know her story could be anyone’s and definitely mine too.
I think it’s just important for the riders to listen to their horses because with the video showed is that the horse does tell us. The study showed that horses with eight or more of these behaviors are very likely to have pain. But that’s a heck of a lot of behaviors for some people to be missing. They are clearly trying to communicate. It is just up to us to listen and I think it’s about paying attention to some very small details.
It would be interesting to know if any differences were found between mares and geldings. Just wondering if these behaviors coming from a mare tend to be dismissed as hormonal/between her ears.
Considering how often human females’ physical issues get dismissed as being all in our sweet lil’ heads and/or due to our cycles, I’m guessing the answer is, “All the damn time.”
Pretty fascinating. There was also a correlation between rider skill level and lameness: " The final multivariable Poisson regression model identified associations between RHpE score and both rider skill score and lameness. The change in the incident rate of RHpE scores decreased by 0.88 for every unit increase in rider skill score ( p < 0.001). The incident rate of RHpE scores for lame horses was 1.26 times higher than for non-lame horses ( p = 0.008)."
Its interesting and I wonder if perhaps one of the weaknesses of the points they evaluate is that some seem like they could be easily affected by the level of the rider (for example: head in front of the vertical, head behind the vertical, head position changes regularly, bit pulled through the mouth on one side, gait too slow, a rushed gait, spontaneous changes of gait, etc). A weak rider could probably check off some of these boxes on a horse that otherwise would not, and a strong rider maybe would let some go by unnoticed on a horse that normally would exhibit some of these.
ETA: " There are several studies which demonstrate that unskilled novice riders have a less stable position and lack of phase synchrony with the horse compared with riders of superior skill and experience. These features have the potential to alter the horse’s head and neck position, lameness, and quality of gaits. However, we have previously observed during clinical investigation of lame horses that, when ridden by a skilled professional, the rider may appear to ride relatively poorly. However, when gait abnormalities are abolished by local anaesthesia, the rider then appears to be both more in harmony with the horse and considerably more proficient."
