Impact
A paradigm shift in how we understand & treat horses
Kairon turns subtle behavioural signals into objective evidence, creating a shared language between veterinarians, practitioners, researchers, owners, and the entire equine industry.
Shining light on a major clinical blind spot
In hand lameness examinations, flexion tests, lungeing, diagnostic anaesthesia and imaging are central to equine diagnosis. Ridden exercise provides an extra dimension to the examination with identification of gait modifications and behavioural signs of pain.
The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE) addresses this gap by scoring 24 behavioural markers from ridden video, revealing a broader spectrum of pain-related conditions that routine protocols may miss. It provides an objective behavioural layer of evidence that can be shared across veterinarians, practitioners, researchers, and owners.
For decades equine medicine has focused on identifying and correcting gait asymmetries based on diagnostic anaesthesia and imaging findings.
While these remain essential, they do not always align with the horse's functional experience under saddle.
The RHpE shifts the focus from the presence or absence of abnormalities to the horse's lived function in work. It enables clinicians to track whether interventions meaningfully improve ridden comfort, and whether pain-related behaviours resolve over time.
This creates a clearer therapeutic objective: not only correcting findings, but restoring comfortable, functional performance under saddle.
Ridden assessment reveals functional pain, including axial, multi-site, or compensatory pain patterns that may not appear in in-hand examinations, or that are only expressed under load.
The RHpE structures behavioural markers of pain into an objective score that can trigger further investigation.
When used alongside nerve blocks, RHpE scores typically decrease when the relevant pain site is desensitised, providing functional confirmation of the affected region.
If RHpE scores remain elevated after a positive block, this may indicate additional pain sources, helping avoid premature localisation and supporting more complete diagnostic work-ups.
The RHpE enables objective before-and-after comparison of ridden behaviour, providing a functional measure of improvement across treatment and rehabilitation.
A horse may appear non-lame when evaluated in hand or on the lunge, yet still show discomfort under saddle. Adding ridden gait assessment and application of the RHpE introduces an extra dimension, giving the buyer and the veterinarian considerably more information on which to base decisions.
A study of 25 sports horses demonstrated a classification accuracy of 92% when ridden exercise and RHpE were included in the PPE protocol. Horses with RHpE scores ≤4/24 and no ridden lameness were 96 times more likely to remain in active competition 3.5–4 years after purchase than horses identified as higher risk. (Dyson — Animals (MDPI), 2026)
Assessments performed by Dr Sue Dyson
The missing proof point for any innovation designed to improve horses' comfort under saddle
Across equine innovation, proving that an intervention truly improves comfort and performance remains challenging. Existing evaluation methods — including imaging, gait analysis, and subjective rider or owner feedback — each capture valuable information, but only represent part of the picture. What ultimately matters is whether an intervention improves the horse's comfort in the context where many problems appear: ridden work.
The RHpE introduces a standardized behavioural endpoint that allows objective before-and-after assessment of the ridden horse. By quantifying changes in ridden pain-related behaviours before and after an intervention, Kairon provides an objective measure of functional improvement across a wide range of innovations:
Kairon can help:
By adding a whole-horse functional assessment to research and validation protocols, Kairon helps bridge the gap between scientific evidence and the experience of horses, riders, and professionals.
The RHpE is currently being integrated into collaborative studies across nutrition, therapeutics, saddle manufacturers, and regenerative medicine to evaluate changes in ridden behaviour following intervention.
A before-and-after RHpE score turns a subjective impression into a documented assessment. It shows whether a tack change made a real difference to the horse under saddle.
