Pain thresholds...

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Erehwemos

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What kind of pain threshold does your horse have?

I had the farrier out this morning, and the first thing he asked me was 'Has she been lame?' She hasnt at all, neither under saddle nor in the field, and when I asked him why, he showed me that she had sliced the frog on her near fore. It had closed over and become infected, so when he went to cut it away, it was all black and smelly and you could see the deep cut. He thinks it would have been done about a week/ ten days ago. Ellie didnt even flinch when he was fiddling with it, and even he said that most horses would have been on three legs with such an injury, which made me really wonder about what a high pain threshold she must have. Early last year, she threw both front splints in the field, but never had a day's lameness. In September, she was kicked several times in the hock - at first we thought she had broken it - but although she had to have a shedload of time off and was bandaged up to the eyeballs, she was only sore on it for the first week. Likewise with another injury sustained in the field - the wound she had would have made most horses hopping lame, but not Ellie! So I'm guessing that (unlike her owner
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) she must have a pretty high pain threshold!
 
Can you please get Ellie to have a chat with my Ron and tell him to stop being such a wimp!?

He squeals like a piglet when the rest of them play fight and at the moment only has one move to defend himself - pawing the air really high! :P

The boy needs to get some nuts!
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If she is turned out with other horses if she at the top of the pecking order? I only ask as our 'top' pony years ago when he was shod had an old abscess that the farrier dug out, and he'd never even been lame!
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I just wonder whether the dominant member of the herd shows pains less as by showing signs of distress they become more vulnerable to predators. The bottom of our herd is also a complete wuss
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If she is turned out with other horses if she at the top of the pecking order? I only ask as our 'top' pony years ago when he was shod had an old abscess that the farrier dug out, and he'd never even been lame!
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I just wonder whether the dominant member of the herd shows pains less as by showing signs of distress they become more vulnerable to predators. The bottom of our herd is also a complete wuss
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Ooooh, interesting idea!
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She isnt out with others anymore, but her behaviour in the past has definitely shown that she has 'leadership' tendencies. When she was a youngster, we had her out with our three ponies and another horse (mix of mares and geldings) and she tended to battle for leadership with our 32 year old 12hh mare
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(the pony nearly always won!). Then she had a long spell out entirely on her own, and in Sept 08 we moved to another livery yard where she was out with 5 other mares, and she definitely wanted to be top of the tree. That was part of the problem leading to our move to the current yard - Ellie clashed big time with the already established 'Alpha' - a huge cob mare - and when Elz refused to back down over leadership, the cob kicked the sh*t out of her and nearly killed her
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But lots of people on the yard had commented about how Ellie 'acted like a stallion' with the others...interesting. I reckon you may be right with your theory! I would never have thought of it that way
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My older horse is "ard as nails", in his younger, more argumentative days he has run me through hawthorn bushes, barbed wire, post and rails, I've never even seen him flinch! And yes, he is herd leader!
My youngster, same breeding, is total wuss... if he cuts himself and I just look at it, not touch, he practically collapses with shock!
 
Gypsy has a very high pain threshold. He did a tendon a few years ago and couldn't walk for the first day. He was sound as a pound the following day, no painkillers.
He is the bottom of the pecking order.
Hattie has never done anything (touchs wood) where she would be in pain. Or she has such a high pain theshold that we have never noticed.
I don't no about Inka as have only owned her for 6 months but she tends to get aggressive if in pain rather than wimpish.
 
B. our mare who is the alfa mare is a real toughie, she had an abcess behind her chestnut on a hind leg, didnt show any signs of lameness for the whole 16 weekks she took to recover. Vet was amazed, she should have been hobbling, and intrestingly they were treating another horse at the same time with the same problem, it took nearly double the time to recover, which was apparently the norm, for this sort of problem.

Sir on the other hand who is definatly herd leader, is totally different, the biggest wimp going, the smallest of nicks and he is a total drama queen, hobbeling around.

I surpose its the same as with humans, different pain thresholds.
 
Mines a bit of a wuss - he develops a proper 'wounded face' if anything is bothering him. Isn't too difficult to treat (though thankfully he's never done anything that bad, just sore back and minor nicks etc) but just looks like the world is about to end
 
Scooby hasn't injured himself yet since I've had him (touch wood!) but he's a right delicate little flower with his tack. If his saddle isn't exactly right, the numnah sitting perfectly etc he will refuse to move (bucking to make his point) until I get off and sort it out, then be fine again.
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He is definitely bottom of the pecking order in his herd... he just runs away from the other horses before they have a chance to bite him.
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He's the biggest wimp ever in that way, refuses to stick up for himself - I have never once seen him lay his ears back at another horse (or person), even when he's being kicked and bitten! (By horses, not people...
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)
 
Richie got a massive pain threshold i think it due to all the pain he must have been in when he fractured his leg and it took the vets nearly a month to refer him because he wasnt limping or nothing,Only thing that set alarm bells off is all the weight he lost and he got lobsided on his backend.Hurt himself loads since and never shows he is in pain
 
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