A NEW online educational course, produced by Dr Sue Dyson and Equitopia, is giving everyone the opportunity to learn how to listen to their horse and spot the early signs of pain in ridden horses. By aiding prompt detection and quick treatment the course will help improve horse welfare and performance.

The 12-part course, on how to recognise the 24 behaviours indicating pain in the ridden horse, is presented by international equine lameness specialist Dr Sue Dyson. It has been produced by the online educational resource Equitopia.
Ethogram
It illustrates why pain is so poorly understood, the signs to look for, how to use an “ethogram” to score pain, and what to do once you find pain. An ethogram is a catalogue of behaviours with very clear definitions. Most of the previous pain-related behavioural work related to horses has only looked at the facial expressions of non-ridden horses whereas Dr Dyson’s ethogram looks at the whole horse.