24 pain behaviors video

[Libby2563]

The 24 behaviors:

1. Repeated changes of head position (up/down), not in rhythm with the trot

2. Head tilted or tilting repeatedly

3. Head in front of vertical (>30°) for ≥10 s

4. Head behind vertical (>10°) for ≥10 s

5. Head position changes regularly, tossed or twisted from side to side, corrected constantly

6. Ears rotated back behind vertical or flat (both or one only) ≥5 s; repeatedly lay flat

7. Eye lids closed or half closed for 2–5 s; frequent blinking

8. Sclera exposed repeatedly

9. Intense stare (glazed expression, ‘zoned out’) for ≥5 s

10. Mouth opening ± shutting repeatedly with separation of teeth, for ≥10 s

11. Tongue exposed, protruding or hanging out, and/or moving in and out repeatedly

12. Bit pulled through the mouth on one side (left or right), repeatedly

13. Tail clamped tightly to middle or held to one side

14. Tail swishing large movements: repeatedly up and down/side to side/circular; repeatedly during transitions

15. A rushed gait (frequency of trot steps > 40/15 s); irregular rhythm in trot or canter; repeated changes of speed in trot or canter

16. Gait too slow (frequency of trot steps < 35/15 s); passage-like trot

17. Hindlimbs do not follow tracks of forelimbs but repeatedly deviated to left or right; on three tracks in trot or canter

18. Canter repeated leg changes in front and/or behind; repeated strike off on wrong leg; disunited

19. Spontaneous changes of gait (e.g., breaks from canter to trot, or trot to canter)

20. Stumbles or trips more than once; repeated bilateral hindlimb toe drag

21. Sudden change of direction, against rider’s direction; spooking

22. Reluctance to move forwards (has to be kicked ± verbal encouragement), stops spontaneously

23. Rearing (both forelimbs off the ground)

24. Bucking or kicking backwards (one or both hindlimbs)

“A total behaviour score of ≥8 (out of 24) is likely to indicate the presence of musculoskeletal pain.”

[beowulf]

Just take a look at the numerous threads on COTH about mares and hormones, mares and regumate, etc. Posters will say their mare is girthy, drags their toes, pins their ears, misbehaves under saddle but take the ostrich-in-the-sand route and treat with regumate instead of taking the mare to a clinic for a soundness exam.

People will write “not mareish at all” or “just being mareish”, the former signifying the horse does not demonstrate witchy behavior while the latter does. Both sell a horse short and show a misunderstanding of many basic pain behaviors.

[SusanO]

This video has really made me more aware of possible lameness issues in horses in sale videos. I am entertaining the idea of buying a more amateur friendly mount to get my sea legs back after years of lame or pro ride horses. I am still primarily window shopping but I feel my eyes have opened up quite a bit looking at sales videos.

Case in point - lovely middle aged horse. Amateur friendly breeding, good size, needs to step down after current job has stressed the horse out. Horse looks great going on the right rein. On the left rein - tail swishing, head slinging and general grumpiness but no signs of being off. This makes me think - NOPE. Something going on here that is probably physical. Normally I wouldn’t be looking that hard for these signs. No point going to see or vet a horse that has issues that I can see from a video.

[Lunabear1988]

Exactly.

I’m using this as a reference as I bring my horse back into work while rehabbing. I’m happy to say that’s so far things seem good. I was studying video of me riding him the other day

[Rel6]

In the same vein, and I’m not trying to rehash a disagreement we’ve already had, but I do believe that reproductive issues are easily overlooked as a cause for soundness and behavioral issues. The bottom line is that a lot of things can cause physical discomfort, from ulcers to soft tissue injuries to KS to EPM, and mares have a whole additional system that can also work incorrectly and should not be ignored.

Some use of regumate to treat girthy behavior or gait asymmetry may be an attempt to ascribe an easy excuse to a bigger underlying problem. But from the most basic view point of looking at mares as females athletes, it seems absurd to expect that none of them are affected by ovulation. From a physiological point of view, I had no idea how many nerves and muscles can be impacted near where the saddle sits if a mare has a large follicle.

So yes, I’m sure there are people who are ascribing “witchy” PMS-ing personality traits to a mare who is desperately trying to tell them something. But lets not discount the fact that mares have an entire organ geldings do not, which in horses is of course just another potential for something to go wrong.

[beowulf]

That’s definitely true. There are mares that legitimately have hormonal imbalances, reproductive issues, ovarian discomfort, and ovarian tumors. Those mares exist. If you deal with horses long enough you realize any physical complaint is possible.

That says nothing about the very common practice in show-barns of treating these symptoms with Regumate instead of taking the horse to the clinic for a full soundness exam.

Same goes for geldings and depo.

[endlessclimb]

Keeping in mind though - my Old Man horse.

Lame lame lame on left hind. We know what it is. We tried to fix it. No go. He’s 24, so no more messing around. He’s been on daily Equioxx since he was 13.

Other than being crooked, and the obvious short stride on the LH, he does not exhibit any of the other signs. His face is relaxed. His ears mobile. His tail swings. He will gladly go on contact, though obviously not very through. He has his leads, and his lead changes. He still willingly offers leg yield, shoulder in/out, haunches in/out, half pass. He is lazier off the leg than he used to be, but outside of thinking that walking with purpose is stupid, you rarely have to kick or goad him on.

But he is in pain, and I know that. So, while this is REALLY cool for evaluating stuff, it’s not the end all be all.

The way I gauge his quality of life at the moment is I watch him stand up from rolling or napping. The day he struggles, I know he’s done.

[Texarkana]

To @endlessclimb’s point, pain responses are not equivalent in animals (all animals from horses to humans).

Something can cause one animal extreme discomfort, yet another animal can work right through it no problem. I don’t know if it’s a “mental toughness” or physiological differences in how individuals experience pain… probably a mix of both.

It seems logical that would play a role in how many and how obviously a horse displays pain behaviors.