Back pain is a common and frequently missed cause of poor performance and behavioral change in ridden horses, requiring thorough diagnostic evaluation and multidisciplinary management.
Back pain in horses is a welfare problem of significant scale that is consistently underdiagnosed. Behavioral signs that owners and trainers attribute to disobedience, laziness, or character flaws are often expressions of musculoskeletal pain. A horse that bucks when asked for canter, refuses jumps, or resists mounting is frequently communicating pain, not exhibiting behavioral problems. Welfare-centered equine practice takes behavioral signals seriously and investigates potential pain causes before attempting behavioral correction. Saddle fit assessment by a qualified saddle fitter is one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost welfare interventions available to horse owners. When back pain is identified, treatment combining pain management, physiotherapy, and careful return to ridden work under physiotherapy guidance achieves better outcomes than medication alone.