"Crowded vetebrae" and ISLD or injections?

B

BritishEquestrian

Active Member
Joined
25 September 2015
Messages
33
Visit site
Hi

I have a horse who was recently diagnosed to have some vertebrae which are fairly close together, although not touching in x-rays so not quite kissing spines from what we can see. Said horse is going to go off for a bone scan & further investigation.

Having done some research I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with ISLD (Ligament snip) and could tell me more about the rehab process etc?

But equally I would like to consider alternative treatments such as injections, shockwave therapy etc instead of surgery, because we hope to have caught it relatively early on, whether this would be as effective?

Many thanks
 
My horse had the reshaping surgery in December .
So the vets have taken me through all the current thinking on this recently .
I was told that long term results from the snip was were not as good as they had hoped when they started performing the procedure .
If the crowding is mild If the horse were mine I would have them injected and give the horse a three month unridden rehab programme over poles working closely with a ACPAT Physio with an interest in that sort of thing .
I would put the horse on myoplast to help with muscle building .
You would need to have a really good saddler on board to ,my horse changed shape radically after and obviously you have to have the saddles of these horse 100% correct.
At the end of the three months I would X-ray and see where we where .
If your insured it's harder because you lack the time to take a gradual approach .
If you have access to an another horse leading the horse from another horse is a good way to maintain muscle tone once everything is healed ( if you need the snip ) and the horse can't yet be ridden .
Ongoing it's important to keep the horse out as much as you can and feed them from the floor .
My horse was doing really well until he broke a rib in the field three weeks ago.
So now he's on box rest with the muscles dropping off him .
That's horses for you .
 
I know of several horses which have not turned out well with the snip. I think long term it may prove to be a procedure that is no longer recommended. If I had a horse with kissing spines I would go for bone removal.

Echo what Goldenstar says, but you may find spirulina cheaper than Myoplast and it's the same active ingredient.
 
Goldenstar said:
If the crowding is mild If the horse were mine I would have them injected and give the horse a three month unridden rehab programme over poles working closely with a ACPAT Physio with an interest in that sort of thing .
I would put the horse on myoplast to help with muscle building .
Click to expand...

exactly this

one of mine had the isld op for very close processes, one touching. it made absolutely no difference to behavior or abnormal gait under saddle. having been told my only other option would be full surgery i declined and in a last attempt before retiring i got them to medicate the back and got an amazing acpat physio out. the physio and rehab have been key. as stated above i did loads of long lining over poles, hacking and also changed my approach in how i schooled. now 7 months after the physio and new work regime started we are back out competing dressage getting our best scores ever and have started jumping again. so glad i didnt go for the full surgery as i would only just be getting back on now. its been hard work and i will continue to keep the regime up to keep the core toned.
 
Last edited:
whiteflower said:
i fed mine myoplast, still do at a lower dose. i tried spirulina but mine wouldnt touch it sadly !
Click to expand...

Honestly I don't think any self respecting horse would eat it .
And that's before you think about the mess it's dyes everything blue and gets everywhere and the huge amount you need to get down them to get a dose that's going to help.
I buried mine in the muck heap unfortunately the Labradors sniffed it out dug it up and I had blue labs for several weeks .
 
Goldenstar said:
Honestly I don't think any self respecting horse would eat it .
And that's before you think about the mess it's dyes everything blue and gets everywhere and the huge amount you need to get down them to get a dose that's going to help.
I buried mine in the muck heap unfortunately the Labradors sniffed it out dug it up and I had blue labs for several weeks .
Click to expand...

:D


Pictures?

Worth the extra to have it made palatable then. Good to know, thanks.
 
Goldenstar said:
Honestly I don't think any self respecting horse would eat it .
And that's before you think about the mess it's dyes everything blue and gets everywhere and the huge amount you need to get down them to get a dose that's going to help.
I buried mine in the muck heap unfortunately the Labradors sniffed it out dug it up and I had blue labs for several weeks .
Click to expand...

:D:D

My mare eats it and she can be a fussy so and so :)
 
My very fussy gelding eats spirulina no problem. I need to introduce anything slowly, he turned his nose up at oats as first but spirulina is one that has been comparatively easy. I then won a pot of myoplast which is spirulina with a sugar coating (it's 60% sugar) and he wouldn't eat it.
 
I have never really been a fan of the ligament snip. My horse was operated on in 2005 by Svend Kold of Willersley Equine Clinic in Gloucestershire. I still think he did a fantastic job and have never regretted the operation as my horse is still going strong after recommendations of PTS when he was 6yrs old. He has just turned 17! Because Svend just takes just 1 side of the crossing bone out, it means less surgery time/anaesthetic etc and it turned out, as an aside, to be roughly half the cost of anywhere else because of this. I appreciate it was 10/11years ago and I am sure the op has been fine tuned more since then.

I think palliative route i.e., injections can tick them over but doesn't resolve it long term. If you are convinced that for the rest of your horses life you can keep him in work and ridden absolutely classically and correctly then maybe you can tick them over, but when I had my 1st child because I was only gently hacking, my horse lost muscle which had been built up to support the weakness and he then re-started his explosive behaviour when asked to get fit again. The surgery was his only option left and I only operated because he had nothing else wrong, the scan only showed hotspots on the back.

The rehab is key slowly but surely building muscle, long reining is the best thing ever to rehab and although my horse has had some problems over the last year or so, it has not been related to his KS but the knowledge I gained from re-started him and rehabbing him has saved us many a time! After 18mths of not being quite right he has come sound again and I am fittening him to start riding again - he is like the comeback kid!

They do need to be treated thoughtfully but they can have a useful and happy long life and I believed surgery was the only way to make certain he was pain free, when we tried the palliative route I think he was still unhappy but 1/2 hour after he came out of surgery, I could see the difference in his eyes.

A difficult decision and not one to be rushed, but if you have the determination and are open minded enough to do the rehab properly it is a worthwhile option.
 
BethH said:
I have never really been a fan of the ligament snip. My horse was operated on in 2005 by Svend Kold of Willersley Equine Clinic in Gloucestershire. I still think he did a fantastic job and have never regretted the operation as my horse is still going strong after recommendations of PTS when he was 6yrs old. He has just turned 17! Because Svend just takes just 1 side of the crossing bone out, it means less surgery time/anaesthetic etc and it turned out, as an aside, to be roughly half the cost of anywhere else because of this. I appreciate it was 10/11years ago and I am sure the op has been fine tuned more since then.

I think palliative route i.e., injections can tick them over but doesn't resolve it long term. If you are convinced that for the rest of your horses life you can keep him in work and ridden absolutely classically and correctly then maybe you can tick them over, but when I had my 1st child because I was only gently hacking, my horse lost muscle which had been built up to support the weakness and he then re-started his explosive behaviour when asked to get fit again. The surgery was his only option left and I only operated because he had nothing else wrong, the scan only showed hotspots on the back.

The rehab is key slowly but surely building muscle, long reining is the best thing ever to rehab and although my horse has had some problems over the last year or so, it has not been related to his KS but the knowledge I gained from re-started him and rehabbing him has saved us many a time! After 18mths of not being quite right he has come sound again and I am fittening him to start riding again - he is like the comeback kid!

They do need to be treated thoughtfully but they can have a useful and happy long life and I believed surgery was the only way to make certain he was pain free, when we tried the palliative route I think he was still unhappy but 1/2 hour after he came out of surgery, I could see the difference in his eyes.

A difficult decision and not one to be rushed, but if you have the determination and are open minded enough to do the rehab properly it is a worthwhile option.
Click to expand...

Yes its difficult because he is 14 and the vetebrae arent actually touching/kissing in x rays, which in a way I hoped was minor enough to be treated by injections but the keyhole surgery if it worked would hopefully permanently help the issue. Currently he is not in pain on the ground but I don't want to go through the stress of box rest etc for the horse for it not to work - although saying that my vet mentioned that after 4 weeks I would be back on riding lightly so on reflection I'm not sure if she was referring to the ligament snip or something different?
 
Just for your info, mine was supposed to have 6wks box rest then 6wks in a pen in the field for short days/box at night and he was meant to be walking in hand from the day after the op - the surgeon is a great believer in getting them moving asap & I think he's right. My horse had bone removed in 3 places under saddle and a 12inch cut along his spine, he healed unbelievably well (I used calendular (marigold) oil on the scar and a handful of marigold heads in his feed as they are excellent for soft tissue healing) but he was not happy on box rest and I couldn't walk him in hand as he was so spooky he stood up at every little thing.

So 4 weeks in, I made a pen in the field the size of a couple of stables and put an old mare in the field to graze with him to keep him calm and for company (easy at that point as I had my own yard!) and turned him out 24/7 and it worked a treat, I wish i'd done it after 2 weeks when the wound had started to knit. At 6 weeks, I then started him in the school every day for a few minutes increasing gently and he was really good. He just needed to realise it didn't hurt any more. I timed the op for this time of year so the weather was kind with him living out and he went from strength to strength, I got back on at week 14 as I wanted to be absolutely sure he was happy and he was!.

The change in his way of going and muscling was incredible, he turned into an absolute power house with a huge back end engine. I'd just check that at his age the vet feels he is well enough to cope and I know other horse with sacroiliac issues/navicular that weren't so successful. Have you had scintigraphy, if so just check there are no other hot spots.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top