How to Identify Pain in Your Horse Each horse has different ways to express pain, but here are some of the more common signs.
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BY SUSAN SMITH e may think as horse owners that we can easily identify pain behaviors, particularly those that accompany colic and lameness.
But horses can have odd ways of demonstrating their discomfort, and each horse is different. Some colicky horses will lie down and then jump up and race around for awhile before getting down and rolling again. Others are very quiet about it, perhaps just biting at their sides or looking genuinely uncomfortable. Lameness can be difficult to figure out: It took me a number of years to determine where lameness was on the horse, which limb, and what was contributing to it. In short, not all pain is obvious to us. There are subtle and not-so-subtle signs of pain that horses exhibit that may go unnoticed or misattributed because we are not accustomed to looking for them. Here are some things to watch out for:
Posture
Posture can tell you a lot about pain. A horse who has his hind legs camped under him (sickle-hocked) or very close together may be experiencing pain in the pelvis and lumbar, and possibly other places. If his forelegs are kept close together, then he may have pain in his shoulders, wither or neck.
Wrinkles around the nostrils or eyes
Sometimes a horse adopts an expression of pain that almost seems to define them after awhile. If you have known your horse for a long time or you have a senior horse, you might not notice that the area around his eyes or nose seems wrinkled or strained, so be sure to look for and note subtle changes in expression.
Sometimes pain signs go unnoticed, especially if they have existed for a long time. Take a good look at your horse. Wrinkles around the mouth and eyes may indicate pain.
Twitching or recoiling in the back muscles
Sometimes the back is in pain from a saddle, but often it isn’t from the saddle itself. It’s always a good idea to feel along each side of the spine before you saddle up and after you unsaddle, just to be sure your horse isn’t shrinking from your touch. It’s not always necessary to change saddles with this issue. It may be that the horse simply needs a bodywork session or two to deal with a specific area of pain, or a change in exercise.
Squirming around or wanting to bite when the girth is being tightened
With this behavior, it’s important to check your tack, and for potential soreness or discomfort in the girth area. There are physiological reasons a horse may not want the girth tightened or have the handler near the girth area. Sometimes horses hold a lot of tension in that region. Possible causes include an ulcer, breathing issues, muscle soreness or pain in the pectoral muscles or rib cage.
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Sometimes the anticipation of girthing up can get a horse anxious, so take time and do a small bit of bodywork - gently hold the girth area for a moment or two. Then cinch up loosely, and gradually tighten.
Dullness in the eyes
This is an indicator of pain, or of not being listened to. It can accompany wrinkles around the eyes and nose or reluctance to move. Dullness can indicate serious colic, other illness or pain. On the other hand, a horse who isn’t listened to by his humans will “check out” and go inward. A horse with this human-caused issue may have eyes that look flat, dull, as though nobody is home.
Not wanting to be touched
Some horses don’t like to be touched. This could be as a result of training, or of being used for certain disciplines where the horse is not touched affectionately. Formerly wild horses are unaccustomed to touch from humans. But a resistance to touch can be a result of pain somewhere in the body, and fear that the person is going to touch in a way that hurts.