Deciding on Kissing Spine Surgery and coping with rehab... HELP!!

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Ivebeentangoed

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After trying numerous things with my boy he is still completely unrideable.

If the insurance say they are going to pay it will come down to the decision of whether I want to put him through surgery or not. He is a 9 year old 16.3 ISH.

The vet advised he would be on 3-4 months box rest, with walking out in hand and progressing to lunging etc.

I work full time in London and leave my house at 7am and dont get home till 6.30pm. I worry that I would only be able to get up there once in the evening to get him out for a stretch. Also I dont know how he will cope with all that time in his stable, he is a big boy!!

The vet also said that she cant guaruntee that he will be brand new once I am back on, she said that a lot of horses suffer mentally still where they are so used to being in pain.

Has anyone been through all this?? If so how did you know that it was the right decision to make??!!

I dont even want to think about whats going to happen if the insurance company dont pay out....
 
I hate to put you off it but im going to give you my experience with the operation. I had lovely horse never had any behavioural issue just had 3 fences down in the sj. That was the worst that happened. One day he wasnt 100% sound on a hard circle (VERY minor) Vets xrays had kissing spines only option was to operate. After operation all looked good cracked on as told to do so. All rehab work was fine. But my horse had a screw loose! He started napping/rearing! Couldnt get him off the yard (Never ever put a foot wrong in his life, u could put ur granny on him b4 op) Hed turned really sharp and spooky. To the point has crashing fall on the road when he slipped spooking at something. Before op I LOVED hacking the horse completely bombproof went round on buckle end. I had to sedate him to clip his head and do his teeth after the op. I know they did have problems with catherter (Cant spell) after op in his face so maybe thts what caused tht. In the end too much for me to hand and Im not an idiot rider Im an experienced 3* event rider. I sent him to a top top rider who got some amazing results out of him. He was performing amazingly jumping clear rounds in the sj but was never ever the horse I had before the op and I sold him. Very hard decision but it was an accident waiting to happen. Through my experience Id never have the op again as he lost all personality and became a nightmare. He also lost some of his movement. He was a lovely big tb with big floated paces and he still moved nicely after op just paces werent as big and floaty. Sorry for essay!
 
I put a horse through the op and would think very very hard about doing it again - it wasn't successful and i now have a retired 9 yr old in my field.
 
I've had two horses with KS. The first was operated on in 2005. The op went well but then he got a really nasty infection and we nearly lost him. He came back into work but was never quite right and I made the reluctant decision to retire him (at 11 years old) a couple of years ago. He's now a very happy field ornament.

When my mare was diasgnosed with KS last year my vets tried everything possible to avoid surgery, but physio, steroids etc etc made no difference. After a lot of soul searching, I decided to take the risk and put her through the op - she had surgery 4 weeks ago and is (so far) recovering well - although she is a 16.1hh 'spirited' KWPN and we've had a few hairy box-rest and walking in-hand moments. She will be turned out in a small round (high sided!) pen for a couple of hours a day, and will be lunged in a pessoa, in a couple of weeks time. So the actual 'in the box only' rest period for her is only 6 weeks.

It's a hard decision to make, but with my girl we knew it was her only hope - and I felt that I needed to at least give her a chance to have a pain free life..

Good luck x
 
Hi, my horse had KS surgery last Thurs. The box rest is 6 weeks with in-hand grazing. Like you I work long hours and not back till its dark but have worked out a circuit around the yard that I plan to walk him round and round when I get home, then on to 6 weeks lunging. He has accepted the box rest, most horses seem to switch off, I know he will be strong when I start walking him.
I have never doubted that it was the right thing to do, I have to give him the chance and although it will be hard work hopefully it will be relatively short term in the scheme of things, if it doesnt work then so be it, at least I gave him the chance.
 
duggan said:
Can anyone link me to info and research on KS? Particularly looking for works on the physical signs.
Click to expand...

To be honest ive not been able to find out that much on the net. The best place I can find is on here, ive been searching on google and all the HHO forum results come up.

I seem to be having a worse time of it with my boy as lots of people just say their horse was slow and not accepting contact etc.. I cant even sit in the saddle without him turning himself inside out, he's even put me into a&e, im desperate to get this sorted because he has such a lovely nature and I think he deserves a chance.

xx
 
Do you have a rehabilitation yard near by.
We have one in Yorkshire, and a neighbour sent her horse there when he had to be on Box Rest for 6 months.
It was far easier as he was on box rest with a load of other patients, and they managed his routine and walking out in hand activity etc.
Hope all goes well if you have the surgery.
 
If you are that busy it would be worth sending him to a rehab yard to take care of him- I have such a yard in the south east and have rehabbed a horse after a KS op, with very successfull results- the horse went on to win at elementary dressage.
Successfull KS surgury is all about a) using the right surgeon at the right vet practise and b) doing the right aftercare and the right exercise program.
 
I have known a friends race horse go through the op and bless his heart was angel throughout his box rest and rehab he cam back fine and was ridden again and also did a little bit of eventing ..
 
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