Glossary
Pain ethogram.
Direct answer
A pain ethogram is an ordered catalogue of behaviours that may be linked to pain, each with an unambiguous written definition. Those definitions ensure that different observers count the same thing. The method is applied in the stable, in the field or on the ridden horse.
The decisive point is the sharpness of the definitions. Without a precise description, behaviour is interpreted rather than observed, and observers diverge. An ethogram therefore first delivers observational data, and only afterwards, placed in clinical context, an indication of possible pain in the individual horse.
It matters just as much to state what an ethogram cannot do. The listed behaviours are not specific to pain: level of training, rider influence, fit of the equipment, environment and temperament all produce similar pictures. Human medicine meets the same difficulty with grids designed for young children or for people living with dementia.
The evidence letter
Once a month: new syntheses, checked studies, and what has changed in the state of the evidence.