Chronic pain in horses is underdiagnosed and often manifests as behaviour problems rather than obvious lameness, and welfare science is developing better tools for pain recognition and management.
Chronic pain in horses represents a substantial welfare burden that is frequently invisible to owners and sometimes to veterinarians. Because horses are prey animals that mask signs of vulnerability, chronic pain often presents as training problems, resistance, or behavioural changes rather than obvious lameness. The equine sports industry has developed a culture in which resistant or difficult horses are subject to more training pressure rather than welfare investigation — a pattern that can perpetuate significant suffering. Welfare-aware horsemanship starts from the assumption that behaviour changes may have physical causes and systematically investigates pain before attributing problems to attitude or training failure. Objective tools including gait analysis technology, validated pain scales, and thermography are improving the ability to detect subclinical pain.