| Summary: | The Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram (RHpE) comprising 24 behaviours was developed to facilitate the identification of musculoskeletal discomfort, with scores of ≥8/24 indicating the presence of pain. The median RHpE score for 147 competitors at World Cup Grand Prix events from 2018 to 2020 was three (interquartile range [IQR] 1–4; range 0–7). The aim of the current study was to apply the RHpE to 38 competitors at the Hickstead-Rotterdam Grand Prix Challenge and 26 competitors at the British Dressage Grand Prix National Championship in 2020. The median RHpE scores were four (IQR 3–6; range 0–8) and six (IQR 4–7; range 1–9), respectively, which were both higher (<i>p</i> = 0.0011 and <i>p</i> = 0.0000) than the World Cup competitors’ scores. Ears back ≥ 5 s (<i>p</i> = 0.005), intense stare ≥ 5 s (<i>p</i> = 0.000), repeated tail swishing (<i>p</i> = 0.000), hindlimb toe drag (<i>p</i> = 0.000), repeated tongue-out (<i>p</i> = 0.003) and crooked tail-carriage (<i>p</i> = 0.000) occurred more frequently. These were associated with a higher frequency of lameness, abnormalities of canter, and errors in rein-back, passage and piaffe, canter flying-changes and canter pirouettes compared with World Cup competitors. There was a moderate negative correlation between the dressage judges’ scores and the RHpE scores (Spearman’s rho −0.66, <i>p</i> = 0.0002) at the British Championship. Performance and welfare may be improved by recognition and appropriate treatment of underlying problems.
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