Observing equine lameness through the eyes of a veterinary professional

Abstract

Background Veterinary professionals often disagree on and misdiagnose lameness in horses. Finding a gazing behaviour pattern of a veterinary professional that can be linked with a correct lameness evaluation will hopefully provide guidelines for future tutoring on the subject.

Methods A diplomate¹ in Equine Surgery and Orthopaedics equipped with Tobii Pro Glasses 3 performed lameness assessments on nine warmblood horses. The horses were equipped with a gait analysis system while trotting in a straight line on hard and soft surfaces. A survey, questioning the diplomate on lameness score, perceived affected limb, and estimated watched Area of Interest (AOI) was conducted at the end of every assessment.

Results When performing intraclass correlation (ICC) over all data received .......