EVENTERS that show the least signs of musculoskeletal discomfort are most likely to be highly placed, a study has found.
Sue Dyson, former head of clinical orthopaedics at the Animal Health Trust, applied the previously validated ridden horse pain ethogram (RHpE) to 1,010 starters in British Eventing (BE) 90, 100 and novice classes in 2021. She had already found an association between ethogram score and performance in five-star eventing and grand prix dressage (news, 23 December).
The ethogram comprises 24 behaviours such as repeated tail-swishing and an open mouth, the presence of eight or more of which may indicate that the horse has musculoskeletal pain.
Of the 1,010 starters, Dr Dyson found the most frequent, median, RHpE score was four, and that horses placed first to third had a lower…