Depressed is not even the word for it.....

annunziata said:
How was your mare did she make a recovery??
My problem is my horse hates hacking he is a show horse. So any result in him being a hack is a no no he would have to retire at the grand old age of 8. I think my vets side swiped me and I was a little unprepared. i have called back and asked for all the facts figures an upto date spend and lots of other stuff. Totally gutted. Out of 10 he is a 3/4 lame The most important thing is him and his quality of life

xx
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In fact I never went down the surgery route and rather retired the mare - this because she was very upset by medical treatments in general and was upset for days after just the scans. She was not valuable anyway so I really didn't think it fair to put her through 6-8 months of rehab just so I could ride her plus if the kissing spines were operated on she would still have had the OCD and not been sound enough for hard work. She is still alive and happy though ;-) But the vets did tell me that though they couldn't be certain, that many surgical cases did make recoveries good enough to compete and some even to event. So if you did choose that option you could probably expect a good enough recovery - good luck.
 
Just reading the whole thread and its interesting what people are saying. I thought I would share my mare's KS history a bit more. I purchased her as a 5yr old the sellers were honest about her having been a slightly difficult horse (aparently she ran away with people) but I myself had no trouble riding her when I tried her or later on and never needed more than a snaffle and caverson. She simply seemed green to me. I brought her on for 6-8 months, a bit of dressage work - easilly got her working on the bit in all three paces and hacking out - she was never 100% in traffic but had a great heart and would go for miles in rural areas and open spaces. She never presented any problems and got steadily better over the time I had her - I thought she was the nicest horse I ever had. During this period the people who had owned her before the people I got her from contacted me to say they belived the horse was unridebale due to some undignosed back problems and i had been missold her. I took no real notice (just assumed they didnt ride very well as she was a very sensitive mare) as I was still riding this horse with no problems and by then on 3 hour hacks sometimes so she was pretty fit. Anyway one day I am riding along and horse is relaxed and so am I. I give her a long rein and she put her neck down then suddenly out of nowhere she snapped her head up and to one side with one ear pinned back and just exploded bucking, rearing bronking etc etc.. then just as suddenly stopped and shook herself and walked on as if nothing had happened. As a one off I just put it down to odd horse behaviour - who knows what. But she did it the next day just the same also off a relaxed long rein after working well and with no added stimulas in the school. Day after that I got the vet! After diagnosis I asked the vet why the horse showed no apparent symptoms until then and she said she thought it probable that as the mare matured she simply grew into it so one microscopic bit more of bone growth made the spines touch and BANG suddenly she was no longer comfortable. Since then I have heard many people explain KS as something poor tack / bad riding etc might cause (I must admit to having felt very guilty about it all at that point)

They may not always have had KS but they have always had horses who buck/don't like tack/misbehave the dignosis might be modern but the problem is surely age old. At least that's how I see it ;-) :)
 
Annunziata regarding the £5000 limit, I think that might be per incident and you have two completely separate incidents going on, hocks and spine, so I hope that you will be able to get the treatment done in budget if you check your small print.
 
CPT is right, the insurance limit will be per incident and Kissing spines is different to hock problems.
I would definitely recommend contacting BeckyC on here, who's horse has recently had the op and as she says is recovering well. It's also worth noting that the rehab etc after the operation isn't generally a horrifically expensive process, so there may well be light at the end of that tunnel.

I hope you manage to come to a decision you're happy with, I know its hard. I've had the experience of managing a kissing spines horse myself, and it isn't a fun process. X
 
My horse is the best horse I have ever owned then suddenly out of the blue the perfect hack anywhere do anything horse changed. Had various small issues then hacked out with a friend and every time we stopped for a car to pass he reared ballistically vertical and punching the air. It was awful and very very out of character. I had EDT and saddler out nothing really wrong took him to his favourite field for a canter and ended up in A & E

Took him to vets and he had 2 touching processes was operated on (keyhole surgery) and comes off Boxrest tomorrow.

We now have 6 weeks of working in a Pessoa and turnout.

I understand some people saying its the fashionable solution but veterinary medicine has moved on and diagnosis has improved. Our op was under sedation no GA and my horse has coped well.
 
Two things regarding insurance - two things hock and back - but mine had front leg and back and insurance put as one claim and would not separate as back caused leg in their opinion.

Operation at cotts equine will be covered as my insurance are paying for it and mine is booked in for nov 27th - she has 8 impinging processes

It is a hard diagnosis to deal with at first, but I try to focus on the rehab and hopefully all will work out!
Speak to Richard at cotts to ask him what he thinks of your X-rays
 
Thank you very much for all your replys. The vets have finally filled all the forms out so I will have to speak to the insurance company re the two problems.

Moose has never been an 'easy' horse and unpredicable like your horse, but reasently I have upped the work load and he suddenly turned unridable and dangerous rearing vertically and broking which is NOT my grey donkey..... :( thank you all for sharing your stories. I have been in touch with beckyc and her horse was opperated on by the vet doing mine (hopefully!) so positive feedback. I have decided not to have the scan done as I feel we have found the problem and lets get on and treat that!! I just want to be able to ride my grey donkey in the school and have some lessons again, jump and have fun with him. he has his whole life ahead of him
 
Personally, I would get the bone scan done. I did research on this earlier on this year for my horse (and had surgery gone ahead) she would have had the bone scan.
 
wench said:
Personally, I would get the bone scan done. I did research on this earlier on this year for my horse (and had surgery gone ahead) she would have had the bone scan.
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can I ask why??? My vets are sure but just want to check their diagnosis is right?!?! How come you did not go ahead?? did you ahve the injections instead? Apologies for prying
x
 
I'm another who would have the scan.

My mare underwent investigations for 'poor performance' (no real naughtiness but not right) back in March. Found to have KS and had them injected along with a tildren infusion as vet felt her symptoms were mild enough not to warrant surgery (and she isn't keen on it anyway).

Started rehabbing her and kept taking one step forward and 5 back. Kept going back and forth to various professionals. Then found to have the bilateral hock arthritis. Injected those and back on with the rehab.

Continued to get better, then worse - better at start of session, then deteriorated throughout it. Better after time off and then worse the more she was worked.

Vets/instructors/physios weren't seeing what I was describing was happening and were telling me to push on.
Eventually, after a couple of particularly unhappy rides (again not naughtiness but very definately not right to me), I took her back yet again. Chatted with vet and we decided that we'd done as much as we could, perhaps we needed to think about surgery but first she would refer her to Langford for scintigraphy (I'm sure to prove that really there was no real problem as still not seeing what I was feeling) - thank goodness we did.
She had severe arthritis through a good chunk of her thorasic spine, spondylosis and a number of other significant conditions which meant surgery would be fruitless and not in her best interests. The athritis was also too advanced to treat effectively.
(unbelieveable that we never had any serious symptoms and through all of this, the professionals thought she was ok!)

I really wish I'd pushed for the bone scan much earlier on in this saga.

Sorry, bit long! Just wanted to share a different experience.

All the best with whatever you decide, I hope you have a happier outcome.
 
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