Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Subjective and objective evaluations of horses for fit-to-compete or unfit-to-compete judgement.
- Journal:
- Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)
- Year:
- 2020
- Authors:
- Bragança, F M Serra et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Equine Sciences · Netherlands
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
In a study involving horses at competitions, veterinarians assessed whether the horses were fit to compete. Twelve horses were evaluated by three experienced veterinarians and one veterinary specialist, and their movements were recorded for later review. The agreement between different veterinarians on whether a horse was fit to compete was only fair, while the same veterinarian showed good consistency in their own assessments over time. The study suggests that using more veterinarians for these evaluations could help make better decisions, and that measuring the horses' movements with technology could also be helpful in deciding if they are fit to compete. Overall, the findings indicate that there is room for improvement in how fit-to-compete judgments are made.
Abstract
At Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) competitions, horses undergo veterinary inspection for judgement of 'fit-to-compete'. However, FEI Veterinary Delegates (VDs) often differ in opinion. The aim of the present study was to evaluate intra- and inter-observer agreements of fit-to-compete judgement and compare these with objective gait analysis measurements. Twelve horses were evaluated by three experienced VDs and one veterinary specialist and video-recorded for re-evaluation later. Simultaneously, quantitative gait analysis measurements were acquired. Inter-observer agreement during live evaluations was fair (κ = 0.395, 58% agreement). Intra-observer agreement between live observations and videos at one and 12 months was 71% and 73% respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of motion symmetry measured with quantitative gait analysis system were 83.3% and 66.7% respectively, against the consensus of all observers as a reference. These findings might suggest that more VDs should be used to adequately judge fit-to-compete. Quantitative-gait-analysis may be useful to support decision making during fit-to-compete judgement.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32546354/