It is one of the most unsettling findings to emerge from equine welfare science in recent years: most people, including experienced equestrians, are significantly worse at recognising pain in horses than they are at spotting discomfort in other humans, and in an animal whose evolutionary survival has depended on concealing vulnerability, that gap has serious…
Recent advancements in research and the development of ethograms cataloguing signs of pain are casting light on what has long been an area of silent suffering for horses. Over the past decade, numerous studies have confirmed specific facial expressions and behaviours that typically indicate pain in horses. However, cultural influences steeped in centuries of art…

