Veterinary student competence in equine lameness recognition and assessment: a mixed methods study.
Authors: Starke Sandra D, May Stephen A
Journal: The Veterinary record
Summary
Veterinary students' ability to recognise and evaluate equine lameness is foundational to clinical practice, yet little is known about how this perceptual skill develops during undergraduate training. Starke and May assessed third-year students (before clinical rotation) and fourth/fifth-year students (during clinical work) using video-recorded trot assessments on straight lines and circles, whilst simultaneously tracking eye movements during straight-line evaluation and capturing self-reported confidence ratings. Fourth/fifth-year students significantly outperformed their junior counterparts, though concerning gaps remained: experienced students still misclassified approximately 25 per cent of cases, predominantly through incorrect limb identification, whilst detection of sound horses performed no better than chance. A striking divergence in visual strategy emerged between cohorts—experienced students prioritised upper body landmarks (head and sacrum movement), whereas inexperienced students fixated on distal limb motion, yet paradoxically the less-experienced group named substantially more visual lameness features. These findings suggest that clinical experience refines rather than broadens the visual assessment strategy, and targeted instruction on gaze patterns and selective feature prioritisation could substantially improve diagnostic reliability across the student cohort.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Even trained veterinarians may misidentify lame limbs in approximately 25% of cases, highlighting the need for careful, systematic assessment protocols in clinical practice
- •Teaching students to prioritize observation of upper body compensatory movement (head bob, sacral shift) rather than direct limb examination may improve lameness detection accuracy
- •Overreliance on naming multiple visual features does not correlate with better lameness assessment—focused observation of key indicators is more effective
Key Findings
- •Experienced students (fourth/fifth year) outperformed inexperienced students (third year) in lameness evaluation, though experienced students misclassified approximately 1 in 4 horses
- •The primary error in both groups was incorrect identification of which limb was lame, with detection of sound horses occurring at chance level
- •Experienced students focused gaze on upper body movement (head and sacrum) while inexperienced students focused on limb movement during assessment
- •Inexperienced students named significantly more visual lameness features than experienced students, despite poorer performance