Can you recognize Pain?

Can you recognize pain in horses? Most people can't recognize pain until it's extreme and acute. We might notice a horse limping if one leg is seriously sore, but what if all 4 are sore from a systemic problem? We might notice if there is a large wound or misshapen injury, but what about internal problems we can't see? Muscle disorders, nutrition imbalances, arthritic changes, joint disease, soft tissue injury, hoof soreness...

Horses are designed by nature to hide pain, to work through pain, to avoid being the one to get picked off by the predators. Until the pain is extreme horses do an excellent job hiding it. Which puts the responsibility on US to see it early.

Learning to recognize symptoms of pain should be in every curriculum for all horse people, regardless of what your goals are with horses. Being able to spot the fact your horse has pain is the most important thing we can do. Horses will hide it, so we need to be looking for it all the time. Don't dismiss it as bad behavior. Don't punish it as stubbornness. Don't pretend you don't see it to get what you want out of the day. Look for it, acknowledge it, and address it.

This is just the facial expression for pain, but studying ethology as a whole is important for recognizing stress, fear and calming signals that can indicate pain as well.