Comparison of Asymmetry During Trot In-Hand With Evaluations of Discomfort and Pain in Horses While Exercised

Abstract

Traditional visual lameness assessment is subjective. Ethograms have been developed for evaluating pain and objective sensors to detect lameness. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) have been used to evaluate stress and pain. The aim of our study was to compare subjective and behavioral lameness scores, a sensor system measuring movement asymmetry, HR, and HRV. We hypothesized that these measures would show related trends. In 30 horses, an inertial sensor system was used to measure movement asymmetries during trot in-hand. A horse was categorized as sound if each asymmetry was less than 10 mm. We recorded riding to observe lameness and evaluate behavior. Heart rate and RR intervals were measured. Root mean squares of successive RR intervals (RMSSD) were calculated. Five horses were categorized as sound and 25 horses as lame by the inertial sensor system. No significant differences were detected between sound and lame horses in the ethogram, subjective lameness score, HR, and RMSSD. Overall asymmetry, ethogram, and lameness score had no significant correlation with each other, whereas overall asymmetry and ethogram correlated significantly with HR and RMSSD during certain phases of the ridden exercise. The main limitation of our study was the small number of sound horses detected by the inertial sensor system. The association between gait asymmetry and HRV suggests that the more gait asymmetry a horse shows during trot in-hand, the more pain or discomfort it probably experiences when ridden with a higher intensity. The threshold for lameness used by the inertial sensor system may require further evaluation.

Keywords: Ethogram; Heart rate variability; Inertial sensor system; Lameness; Ridden horse; Welfare.