Best hospital for possible kissing spines surgery

Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
Joined
2 December 2010
Messages
14,815
Location
Lincs
Visit site
Hi, my horse has to go for a bone scan. I know he has kissing spine (pretty badly) and various hock problems though not lame. He may have sacroilliac problems I am suspecting and possibly a miriad of others! I was thinking of Rossdales as I have been there too often already with various horses, but was also considering the Royal Veterinary college at Hatfield. Can anyone recommend either of these or any alternatives? Thanks.

This is also in Veterinary.
 
I live in the same area, and no lots of horses treated there. They are good but remember that they allow students to work on the patients too!

I found rossdales very professional. Kissing spines seems to be so common now a days. I know of 4 horses now that have the condition

I know some people very disappointed with them x
 
Chestnut-mare-lover said:
I live in the same area, and no lots of horses treated there. They are good but remember that they allow students to work on the patients too!

I found rossdales very professional. Kissing spines seems to be so common now a days. I know of 4 horses now that have the condition

I know some people very disappointed with them x
Click to expand...

Thank you. That is very useful information. This is my last chance with my horse as he is probably a complete write off and so I need the best of the best to diagnose and treat him. He was supposed to be the replacement riding horse for my lovely mare that I had to retire through injury. He was the most perfect horse to ride, so willing, off the leg and light in front. Just perfect. But he had issues from the start which I put down to stiffness and lack of schooling. If I can't mend him he will be retired along with my mare but I cannot afford the time or the space for another horse to ride. So I am hoping against hope he will be fixable. Obviously if I am told he is in constant pain, even in the field, then he will be PTS, but otherwise he will retire.
 
Well we have been clients of Rossdales for over 20+ years now and had a horse diagnosed with Kissing Spine earlier this year. We took all the treatments and advice available but at the end of the day, each horse is different, and although our vets thought that our boy should be okay for at least a couple of years, he sadly went downhill very very quickly and within a couple of months of actually being diagnosed and treated, we had no choice but to put him down.

As I said, we are Rossdales all the way and you do have all the expertise available as indeed you should have at any equine veterinary practice, but please remember it is down to the actual horse as to how it responds to treatment and work. Maybe we were just unlucky with our boy.
 
willesleys equine and the vet sven kold, he is one of the best orthapaedic vets in the country! could do it with his eyes closed!
 
Really sorry to hear about your boy. Was he getting worse even when in the field? My horse has been getting steadily worse and I now will not dare ride him. He will not even tolerate the pessoa. I just don't know whether he is suffering in the field. Some days he looks really stiff, but others he leaps around like a hooligan. It is so difficult to judge when a horse is like that.
 
china said:
willesleys equine and the vet sven kold, he is one of the best orthapaedic vets in the country! could do it with his eyes closed!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will look him up. May be too far for me. It's a bad time of year as I cannot be away too long due to caring for all the other horses. I will have to get one of my clients to step in but it means I will be alone travelling him.
 
Wagtail said:
Really sorry to hear about your boy. Was he getting worse even when in the field? My horse has been getting steadily worse and I now will not dare ride him. He will not even tolerate the pessoa. I just don't know whether he is suffering in the field. Some days he looks really stiff, but others he leaps around like a hooligan. It is so difficult to judge when a horse is like that.
Click to expand...

Yes, considering he was our County show horse, he lost his action totally even out in the field, and at one point, vet had to be called because he couldn't walk across the paddock. We were then told he was never to be ridden again. He was then given more steroids, cortisone and acupuncture, and that lasted approximately a week before we had to have him put down.

Hope you have better success with yours.
 
china said:
willesleys equine and the vet sven kold, he is one of the best orthapaedic vets in the country! could do it with his eyes closed!
Click to expand...

Sadly I think Sven Kold did my horse's operation with just that - his eye's closed. Appauling after care and when things went downhill he did not want to know and did not answer any calls or letters from either myself, mum or our own vet who referred us!

I know two horses, mine and one of my boss' at the time who both had the op and both never recovered. They were both put down :( Sadly I would never recommend anyone to Willesley.
 
kissing spines ops are never garunteed to work, i went to a KS seminar with sven and it was fascinating! He said himself, it doesnt always work but its purley down to what the owner wants to do and the referal vet, all sven can do is give his honest opinion and give them the option of having the surgery. It is a massive opertation which he took us through with images and he does upto a handfull a week and then gives them an aftercare plan. He travels all over the world so i am not at all surprised that maybe he was not in constant contact with the owners afterwards considering how much in demand he is.
 
I agree China, but if this lady's horse is not a regular client to Svend/Willesley then she is likely to experience the same as me... no communication whatsoever and no care in the world that the horses were not pulling through as they should; even after the hours and hours of rehabilitation and lunging. One had a mssive op to remove 6 processes; he did not survive the lunging: mine however had just one process removed, worked through the full rehab process and after 3 months lunging and 2 months ridden work (in the same plan) that was that. Two very different cases ending with the same result and neither of which were followed up by Svend.
I'm not saying he's crap; he was the only vet willing to do the Ops so I'm just saying my experience and sadly neither were good :(
 
Empy&Treacle said:
Sadly I think Sven Kold did my horse's operation with just that - his eye's closed. Appauling after care and when things went downhill he did not want to know and did not answer any calls or letters from either myself, mum or our own vet who referred us!

I know two horses, mine and one of my boss' at the time who both had the op and both never recovered. They were both put down :( Sadly I would never recommend anyone to Willesley.
Click to expand...

I am so sorry to hear of your experience! It is a sad fact that not all ops will be successful but not having the courtesy to communicate with you about it afterwards is absolutely terrible. I think that the Willesley clinic is too far for me to travel with a trailer by myself and having to get back to do all the horses at the yard in any case. At the moment it is looking like Rossdales. At least I have been there several times before with three of my own and others' horses. My vet is doing some research too. I have a nasty feeling that my boy may be inoperable. I won't have the op done if other major problems are found.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top