KAIRON
Digitalising the scientifically validated
Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE) by Dr. Sue Dyson
Don't let them be misunderstood
Ride with a clear conscience
Kairon cannot comment on the psychological state of your equine partner. It can however give you a science-backed peace of mind regarding its physical state.
Optimise your performance
Kairon can make sure your horse is at its optimal shape when you get on it or when entering the show ring. Do not let pain or discomfort limit its performance.
Boost your finance
Detect discomfort before it escalates into actual lameness with the associated vet bills, impact on performance or selling price.
Founding Scientific Advisor
Dr. Sue Dyson
Veterinary Surgeon
Inventor of the Ridden Horse pain Ethogram
World-reknown lameness expert
Former President of the British Equine Veterinary Association
Kairon allows you to detect pain or discomfort that usually goes undetected
The Tech
Get your horse checked in 3 simple steps
Video
Film your horse being ridden at home by following our instructions and upload it on our platform
Analysis
Your video gets analysed by our AI algorithm and reviewed by a certified professional
Report
Receive a full report about how your horse is doing, including its RHpE score, with supporting material
The Tool
The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram
Your horse performance checklist
The only science‒based tool to objectivise your horse's level of discomfort.
3 Temporal Rules
Any horse can display a movement or action in isolation — this alone does not indicate pain.
But when such action persists or repeats over time, it becomes a 'behaviour'.
Extensive research by Dr. Sue Dyson and her team has demonstrated that the presence of multiple such behaviours—statistically, 8 or more out of 24—makes the presence of underlying pain or discomfort near certain.
Timed events
The action must last a certain number of seconds
Repeated events
The action must be seen more than once
Trot pace
You should count a certain number of strides over a temporal segment
5 Focus Areas
RHpE Facts
The RhPE has been tested in scientific studies and on the field on thousands of horses.
A final score of
8 markers
or more indicates the presence of underlying pain.
Most behavioural markers are
10 times
more likely to be seen in a lame horse.
Studies have proven a significant correlation
between RHpE scores and final placing in competitions.
Eventing horses showing
>7 RHpE markers at warm-up were twice as likely to not finish the cross-country.
Testimonials & case studies
Show Jumper, 5-year-old French Warmblood
"Isaure felt tense in the contact, tripped a lot, and just wasn’t progressing like a normal 5-year-old. Four vets told me she was sound after a classical lameness work-up. But the RHpE scored her 13/24, which justified to do X-rays —which revealed cervical arthritis and mild ataxia. This wouls have 100% gone unnoticed without using the RHpE!"
Margot
Rider
Retired Thoroughbred, Leisure Horse
"He looked great and felt fine most of the time, but under saddle I just had a weird feeling. The RHpE scored him 10/24. A gastroscopy found severe ulcers. After treatment, his score dropped to 3/24 and he rides like a new horse. It confirmed I should always listen to my instincts, and the RHpE confirmed my feeling."
Sophie
Leisure rider
Hanoverian Eventer, 12 years old
"He was competing in eventing, passing vet checks, and moving symmetrically, but I could feel something was off. The RHpE gave him a 9/24. X-rays revealed navicular disease in both front feet—no limp, but still very painful. Without the RHpE, I would still be asking him to do cross-country, putting us both at risk..."
Camille
International eventing rider
Pre-Purchase Exam Case
"The vet passed him on a pre-purchase exam, but RHpE scored 9/24. I bought him anyway. Less than a year later he went lame from a hind suspensory injury, caused by a long-standing back problem the standard exam had missed. The RHpE could have saved me a lot of heartache."
Julien
International show jumping rider
Leisure Mare, 6 years old
"She was sweet but could explode violently in certain exercises. RHpE scored her 12/24, so we investigated further. X-rays revealed a fractured occiput—she needed surgery. Now she’s back under saddle, calm, and happy. I wish I’d known about the RHpE earlier!"
Marta
Leisure Rider
Dressage Horse, Grand Prix level
"He started feeling crooked in the contact and bend, though he seemed sound! RHpE scored him 8/24. Diagnostic imaging revealed an early hind suspensory injury—treatable before it caused limping. Now he feels straight again and has moved up to 3* Grand Prix level, breaking his personal record!"
Elise
International dressage rider
Key Scientific Studies
The Ridden Horse pain Ethogram is currently the only scientifically backed tool to detect pain in ridden horses. It has been developped and used in multiple rigorous scientific peer-reviewed studies.
Development of an ethogram for pain scoring in ridden horses
The Ridden Horse pain Ethogram
RHpE and Equine Gastric Ulcers Syndrome correlation
The RHpE applied to 5* eventing
AI for horse welfare based on the RHpE
RHpE on 21 horses before and after diagnostic analgesia
The influence of rider' skills on RHpE scores
Application of the RHpE to 150 horses befaore and after DA
The RHpE applied to Elite Dressage horses
The RHpE applied to dressage Grand Prix level
The RHpE applied to British Eventing horses
FAQ
My horse shows no sign of lameness in hand.
There is clear evidence that many horses are apparently sound in hand, even after flexion tests, and also trotting in a small circle on a soft or firm surface, and yet they show pain when they are ridden, manifest as performance problems for the riders. (Dyson & Palmer, Harmonious horsemanship, 2023)
A 2021 study of 148 horses, revealed that while “28% were lame in hand, (...) 62% were lame ridden”. Being assessed in hand or tacked up, with the weight of a rider and performing demanding movements, are two very different efforts.
Moreover, lameness is often so low level that it is hard to see for the human eye. Compensatory patterns of your horse’s mouvement can also mask the lameness. A horse may be lame on more than one limb. Limping on the two same-sided legs or in diagonal makes the horse still move symmetrically, making classical lameness assessment nearly irrelevant. This is why behavioural assessment is critical to detect pain in ridden horses.
My horse is just grumpy and has always been.
We have traditionally labelled horses displaying behavioural signs of pain as “moody” or “naughty”. But research conducted on hundreds of horses clearly shows a significant correlation and causation link between the 24 markers and the presence of underlying pain. Your horse is probably trying to communicate its discomfort to you, do not let them be misunderstood.
The rider is inexperienced, a professional rider would have the horse behave better.
Studies have shown that, “no significant difference in the number of behaviours shown between the normal rider and the professional rider were observed, but some of the behaviours changed. For example, a horse may change from the front of the head being in front of the vertical, to behind the vertical once a professional rider gets on.
It was concluded that rider skill could not overcome the behavioural signs of discomfort, although a more skilled rider could improve gait quality and, in some horses, conceal lameness” (Sye Dyson & Sue Palmer, Harmonious horsemanship, 2023).
I will just “ride him/her through it” and the markers will disappear.
We recommend you to thoroughly apply the “2-weeks rule” : “It is not alarming for some markers to appear with new exercises or for horse not fit enough/in shape for what is asked. However, if the markers persist after 14 days of learning the new exercice, it is then a clear sign of underlying pain.” (Sue Palmer & Sue Dyson, Harmonious horsemanship, 2023).
My horse is young and untrained.
“Assuming a horse is not in pain, we would not expect it to show >8 of the 24 markers. A young horse may misunderstand a cue and react against it, have a unsteady head carriage, not easily go in a straight line, open the mouth when asked for a downwards transition, but we we would not expect it to have its mouth open with separation of the teeth for >10s. The front of the head may be in front of the vertical, but not >30°. It may be worried by the rider’s weight and accelerate or buck, it may lay its ears back, but not persistently.” (Dyson & Palmer, Harmonious horsemanship, 2023).
What if my score remains >8 after resolution of pain? Are there any of the RhPE behaviours which are less likely to change after resolution of pain?
“Failure to substantially reduce the RhPE score after resolution of lameness means that there must be another source of pain. Consider oral pain, thoracolumbar pain (either primary, or secondary to an ill-fitting saddle or inappropriate distribution of the rider’s weight), or lumbosacroiliac joint region pain, or neck pain.”(Dyson & Palmer, Harmonious horsemanship, 2023)
This is one of the key strengths of the RHpE and what makes it so revolutionary: it is the complete eradication of pain that now guides veterinary investigation, and we are now able to keep on investigating and treating until the horse stops communicating its pain or discomfort.
I am still unsure whether my horse's bad behaviour is due to pain or not.
In such case, treating the horse with a pain-relieving drug, such as phenylbutazone can help determine if there is underlying pain - although it may not relieve all possible forms/sources of pain.
However, a positive response (improvement in performance - a lower RHpE score /24) indicates the presence of musculoskeletal pain, but a negative response does not preclude the presence of such pain because phenylbutazone does not alleviate all sorts of pain.
We generally advise keeping a diary of the horse's daily RHpE score for a week before treatment, during the week of treatment and for at least a week after stopping treatment. An RHpE score going down during treatment or going up after stopping treatment indicates the likely presence of pain.
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