16/10/2025
Moving Beyond Lameness Scoring: A Structured Way to Track Subtle Movement Changes
As a veterinarian, you’re expected to evaluate a horse’s movement in varied conditions—often in less-than-ideal field settings. Traditional lameness grading scales serve their purpose but lack the sensitivity to detect subtle movement dysfunction that isn’t obvious in a straight-line trot-up.
You know the challenges:
• Horses that are “not quite right” but show no overt lameness.
• Clients seeking clear evidence of progress after treatment.
• The difficulty of tracking changes over time without expensive gait analysis technology.
And of course, the human factor:
• Expectation bias—subconsciously believing a treatment worked because you expect it to.
• Confirmation bias—interpreting movement in a way that supports your initial diagnosis.
The Equine Quality of Movement Score (EQoMS) was developed to bridge this gap. It provides 30 standardised in-hand movement tests, from straight-line work to circles, transitions, and canter. Each movement test has clear directives for what “good” quality movement looks like, making it easier to grade.
This standardised approach supports you to:
✅ Clearly document movement dysfunction that only appears under certain conditions
✅ Monitor the effectiveness of interventions—whether it’s nerve blocks, joint injections, or shoeing changes
✅ Communicate more clearly with physiotherapists, rehabilitation providers, and owners
✅ Reduce subjective bias and improve repeatability in your assessments
The online EQoMS training program guides you through the terminology, scoring process, and provides video examples of three horses with expert assessors’ scores and comments so you can sharpen your clinical eye.
Go beyond traditional lameness scoring. Start using a structured, research-backed framework to support your clinical decisions.
👉 Sign up for the EQoMS online training course today.
https://www.abphysio4horseandrider.com/eqoms
