The Equine Quality of Movement Score: How reliable is it?

Visually assessing equine quality of movement in the field is a routine part of performance management and rehabilitation procedures. To improve this subjective process, an outcome measure to grade quality of movement has been developed. The Equine Quality of Movement Score (EQoMS) is a battery of 30 standardised in-hand movement tests with a paired word and number grading system and directives to guide scoring based on key features. Six assessors (3 equine physiotherapists and 3 specialist equine veterinarians) scored video footage of 20 horses performing these movement tests. Videos were presented for scoring in a randomised order over two rounds with a 2-week gap in between. Intra-rater reliability was excellent (Spearman’s rho = 0.95, P =