EQUINE VETERINARY EDUCATION / AE / FEBRUARY 2022


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riders, by personal invitation or by response to a social media request. Age, breed (Warmblood or Warmblood cross, Thoroughbred or Thoroughbred cross, Cob, Irish Sports Horse, Pony, Other), sex (mare or gelding/stallion), and work discipline (Dressage, Show Jumping, Eventing, General Purpose [including unaffiliated competition, pleasure riding, hunting and showing], Riding School and Other [including Racing, Western performance and Endurance]) were recorded. The horses were in regular work and presumed by their owners, of variable skill and experience (pleasure riders to 5* 3-day event riders), to be working comfortably.


Tack assessment Static fit of the saddle was assessed by S.D. (Diplomate of the European College of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation) after tacking up to determine, both without and with a rider, if there was appropriate clearance of the summits of the spinous processes by the pommel and gullet, if the tree points were too tight, if the saddle was positioned too close to the scapulae, if the saddle bridged, and if the seat of the saddle was horizontal, tipped backwards or tipped forwards (Harman 2004; Society of Master Saddlers 2007; Dyson et al. 2015; Bondi et al. 2020). The type of noseband (cavesson, crank cavesson, flash, crank flash, grackle, drop, Micklem, Supplementary Item 1) and the correctness of fit (ISES 2012), or the absence of a noseband, was recorded.


Gait evaluation The presence or absence of lameness when trotted in hand on a hard surface was determined after tacking up by S.D. (Dyson 2011). After preliminary warm-up, horses were observed ridden in walk, rising trot (including 15 diameter circles) and canter (including 20 m diameter circles) on the left and right reins for approximately 10 min in an indoor or outdoor arena of approximately 20 m 9 60 m. Lameness (Dyson 2011) or gait abnormalities in canter (close spatial and temporal separation of the hindlimbs during stance; short stepping, stiff and stilted; lack of a suspension phase; rushed and unbalanced; lifting of the forehand and wide spatial separation of the hindlimbs during stance, Greve and Dyson 2019) while being ridden were determined by a veterinarian, a graduate of 4 years, undergoing specialist training (J.R.).


Saddle movement and rider assessment Dynamic fit of the saddle to the horse and rider during ridden exercise was determined by a British Horse Society (BHS) Instructor, with specialist knowledge of saddle fit (A.B.). Dorsoventral movement (‘bouncing’) of the saddle, side-to- side oscillation of the saddle, or the saddle persistently slipping to one side were documented (Greve and Dyson 2013, 2014; Bondi et al. 2020). Suitability of the size of the saddle for the rider (correct, or too small), rider position in the saddle (in the middle, or on the back of the saddle [caudal half; the rider’s pelvis was caudal to the middle of the saddle]) (Dyson et al. 2019) and balance of the rider relative to the horse’s movement (in balance, or not in balance) (Walker et al. 2020) were also assessed. Both assessors (the veterinarian and the BHS Instructor) stood in standardised locations, in the corner of an arena, so that horses and riders were observed from behind, in front and the side.


Video recording and application of the RHpE Video footage was acquired from the same positions with a high-definition video camera (Panasonic HDC-SD6001) for retrospective assessment and application of the RHpE (Dyson et al. 2018a). The RHpE was applied by S.D., without knowledge of either horse identification or the results of ridden gait assessments, at least 3 months after live horse data acquisition, to minimise bias from observations made at the time of data acquisition. Feedback was provided to all riders about saddle fit and movement, gait abnormalities and rider position.


Data analysis Data were collected and stored in a Microsoft Excel2 (Office 365) spreadsheet and imported into Stata3 (IC v.13.0) for descriptive and statistical analyses. Normality was assessed visually via histograms overlaid with kernel density plots and the Shapiro–Wilk test for normality. Two new variables were created. Rider score (0–3) was based on the rider’s seat position, size in relation to the saddle and balance (no abnormalities [0], one abnormality [1], two abnormalities [2] or three abnormalities [3]). Overall lameness status was based on a combination of in hand and ridden assessments (not lame, mild [grade ≤ 2/8, Dyson 2011], moderate [≥3/8 < 5/8] or severe [≥5/8] lameness) and represents the most severe observation. Age, rider score and total RHpE score were summarised as medians (interquartile range [IQR]; range). The remainder of the variables were categorical and were described as proportions (%) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI).


Comparison of lameness and gait abnormalities in hand and when ridden Paired data on in hand and ridden lameness assessment for each horse were compared using McNemar’s exact conditional test without continuity correction. The null hypothesis is that lameness will be present or absent at the same frequencies during ridden and in hand assessment. The relationship between the presence of canter abnormalities and lameness in hand or ridden was assessed using the chi- squared (v2) test.


Noseband type and fit The relationship between mouth opening (defined in the RHpE as mouth opening and/or shutting repeatedly with separation of teeth, for ≥10 s) and noseband type was assessed using the chi-squared test or Fisher’s exact test when the frequency of observations was <5.


Factors associated with higher Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram scores The outcome for each horse was their total RHpE score and was calculated as the sum of the total number of observed predefined behaviours, out of a possible 24, during the 10 min ridden observation period. The relationship between the RHpE score and categorical variables was initially assessed using the Mann–Whitney U test for variables with two categories and the Kruskal–Wallis test for variables with more than two categories. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to assess correlations between RHpE score and either age or rider score. Significance was set at


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