Advise on Kissing Spine and side bone!!!

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Julieq

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After many issues with my mare and second opinion from another vet my mare has been diagonsed with Kissing Spine i was right. I was at the vets monday just gone she has 2 maybe three that can be seen fron the xray and also had her front legs xrayed due to intermitent lameness, which has shown she has side bone forming at present.

Please can i have any advise regarding my problems my mare is an Irish sports horse 8years old.

Some people have said it will be best to have her pts!!

But until i have looked at the options and researched i am not sure in herself she looks fantastic at the mo she has been living out with her friends for the summer.

Sorry to ramble on
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my horse, the one you see in the picture has had an operation for kissing spines and i have never looked back. Well worth it if you have the time to really stick to the rahab program. What info would you like to know? I cant really quote you on price as my horse was operated on about 4 years ago and all seems quite vague but all i can say is the time passes quickly and before you know it you could be back on board, good luck!
 
I don't think you'll ever be satisfied until you've tried all you can. The sidebone is probably more limiting than the kissing spines as they can be successfully operated on.

If I were you I'd definitely start the horse on some herbs, homeopathy,glucosamine, MSM, whatever's needed to minimise the effects of arthritis and protect his other joints.

If you can afford the op and stick with the rehab program I'd go for it.
 
Whereabouts are you, some of your pictures look familiar?

I would not worry about any of the lameness problems until the kissing spine is sorted out. KS often makes them lame. I would get the operation done!
 
Its amazing how many peeps will write off a horse by saying it should be PTS..absolute rubbish !! pls do not even consider that until all avenues have been explored...one of mine has KS and has had bute or danilon since age 6 for it, he still has a good life and I wouldnt dream of putting him to sleep...!he is now almost 20 and very happy. I think sometimes its the owners who are selfish if they PTS a horse because of these type of things as its seen as being convienient to the owner.
Not meaning you are by the way! good luck x
 
No help with KS but my old mare had side bone from 7 years old, I was still riding her in her mid 20s, hard ground was a bit of an issue but other than that she was fine, I eventually had pads under her front shoes in the summer months. she is now 33 retired and sound. apart from her arthritic knees!
 
My Advanced Dressage horse has kissing spines T15-T17 immediately under the saddle, I didn't go for surgery as he managed to injure his hip not long after the KS diagnosis so I decided the hip would end his career anyway (he still trains to advanced level and is now 14yrs!!).

When I bought him as a 4yr old he had large side bone on both fronts along with navicular changes but as my OH is a Vet we decided to buy him anyway and see if we could improve the situation, after 2 months of owning him he went intermitently lame on and off for about 9 months but with superb farriery alone we managed to re-absorb the side bone and the navicular changes slow'd right down.

To this day the side bone has caused no further problems and he hasn't had a days lameness through this. He is regularly used for teaching novices to ride and more experienced riders to learn the higher levels of dressage on a well schooled well mannered horse. His hip causes him the biggest problem as it has left him with an impingement which in turn spasms when lifting the foot to pick out but apart from that you wouldn't really know. The Kissing Spines are maintained with sympathetic warming up and making sure he really bascules over his back when I ride him, the pessoa is superb for opening up the vertibrae if used correctly and plays a big part in the rehab from surgery. Good luck in whatever you choose.
 
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Whereabouts are you, some of your pictures look familiar?

I would not worry about any of the lameness problems until the kissing spine is sorted out. KS often makes them lame. I would get the operation done!

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I am stabled dartford way in kent,thanks for your advice.

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Thank you all for ur advice i have called the vet today and waiting for him to call me back to discuss the next stage as i would really like to give my mare every chance possible.

I will keep u updated
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Hi Julie, a positive story for you as well - lots of people told me to put Ryan to sleep, glad I didn't listen as he had an op for Kissing Spines, is being ridden 5 days a week and has been out to do some prelim dressage and is scoring in the 60's from judges that also do affiliated shows, we are considering taking him up to novice at the end of the Summer is he continues to be consistent.

You know in your heart the best thing for your horse and I don't think you are ready to think about the PTS option. I am only 10mins from you and am going to Arrow next wk, if you want to pm me you are welcome to come and see Ryan and have a chat. Not sure how sidebone affects your horse but plenty on people on here seem to be coping pretty well and I have an old mare liveried at my yard who has ringbone in her front feet and spavins in both hocks and she has still been ridden at age 28. I guess I am trying to say that you should investigate all of your options and only that will allow you to go fwd, just don't do anything rash and regret it and definitely don't allow your decision to be influenced by well intentioned but uninformed people about your horses future, if you are with Bell Equine ask to talk to David Sinclair as he is practical and honest but very kind, if you consider any op's I can give you details of Ryan's surgeon as his care was quite simply superb.

Best of luck to you.
 
Hi Julie my girl had her KS op June last year and like Beth the only other option I had for her was PTS as it was so severe. I haven't looked back. She's doing extremely well now and we are both having loads of fun together; we're both even feeling confident that we'll get back to XC. Infact she's improving so much that we are now going to sell my daughters pony who has a limited jump and my 13 year old is going to use Honey as she wants to compete in ODE and it looks like she'll have no problem getting there (a real difference considering last year the only thing she could do was bunny hop up a field!) I've heard so many success stories on here it's really positive - and I'm gald to say I'm one of them. Good luck in whatever you decide.
 
My horse has bone spavin (with collapse of his joints), a split DDF, high and low ring bone, side bone and pedal osteitis in all 4s. I would never dream of pts unless it became too painful for him.

I knew a horse with kissing spines, he had some injections and was as good as new. Apparently the injections provided a cushion for his spinous processes. I cant tell you any more as he was not my horse and its what his owner told me. Its worth considering.

Side bone is where the once spongey cartilage above the coronary band calcify. Some horses it is uncomfortable, in others it is not. It mostly happens in heavier types of horses. My horse is comfortable on Danilon and Synequin and once my slipped disc is better, I am going to start riding him hacking out in walk on soft ground.

Unless a horse is in uncontrollable pain and cannot enjoy turnout, only then should the alternative be considered.

Its not the best of news for your horse, but its not the worst either.

I hope he/she is ok and the problem can be managed.
 
I am back to the vets with Lass on the 14th to have an anaestetic injection put into to her back to exclude the area and then i am going to ride her to see if there is any difference after that i think my vet is sending her off for a bone scan!!

I also have the farrier coming down into weeks to do her feet with a set a remeidal shoes.

I will keep u all updated
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Bell did that to Ryan and within about a minute of the anaesthetic going in he was cantering around their paddock like a bat out of hell looking simply stunning, have never seen him move that well before or since, that kind of told us what the problem was!

Best of luck with everything, may see you Sunday if Ryan starts to behave himself soon, at the moment think will be doing our test at about 100 miles an hour so blink and you'll miss it - think he is suffering a bit from Spring grass!!!!!
 
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