Recognition and quantification of pain in horses: a tutorial review

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

  • Karina Charlotte Bech Gleerup
  • Casper Lindegaard
Pain management is dependent on the quality of the pain evaluation. Ideally, pain evaluation is objective, pain-specific and easily incorporated into a busy equine clinic. This paper reviews the existing knowledge base regarding the identification and quantification of pain in horses. Behavioural indicators of pain in horses in the context of normal equine behaviour, as well as various physiological parameters potentially useful for pain evaluation, are discussed. Areas where knowledge is sparse are identified and a new equine pain scale based on results from all reviewed papers is proposed. Finally, the most important considerations in relation to the implementation of a pain scale in a hospital setting are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEquine Veterinary Education
Volume28
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)47-57
Number of pages11
ISSN0957-7734
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

ID: 147095982