Q&A: Does it still hurt, or is my horse just worried it will?

Question #1

Rider:

My horse started to nap [balk or resist]. We found out he had arthritis in his hock.  Vet says he is now sound. I started ridden work but he is still reluctant in transitions. Does he just think it is going to hurt or does it still hurt?

Dr. Sue Dyson:

It is most likely that the horse is still uncomfortable. We know that when we perform nerve blocks to determine the source of pain causing performance-related problems the behaviours, such as napping, disappear rapidly indicating that there is not pain memory.

It is important to identify and treat the underlying problem causing pain, not to treat the findings of x-rays, which may or may not be the underlying problem. It is quite possible that a horse can have low-grade arthritis that is identified on x-rays but which is not the source of current pain. Equally, treatment may fail.

In my experience it is vitally important that a horse with a performance problem when ridden is evaluated by a veterinarian during ridden exercise and nerve blocks are performed to identify the source of pain causing those problems. Horses can appear non-lame in hand but still be lame when ridden, so ridden assessment is crucial.  Having identified the source of pain the area can be imaged using radiographs and ultrasonography and then a treatment and management plan can be devised.

Question #2

Rider

Does the number of occurrences of a behavior lend any additional weight to the likelihood of a horse experiencing pain? For instance, if a horse were to toss her head up and down 20 times during the 10 minutes, or if the horse's ears were back for almost the entire 10 minutes?

Dr. Dyson

We have not actually measured this in a scientific way but my impression from having observed thousands of horses is that the higher the  frequency of occurrence of any of the behaviours during a work period adds weight to the likely clinical significance of the observations.

© Sue Dyson 2023