Diagnosed with kissing spine, anyone know how successful surgery is?

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harrie27

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HELP!
I got my 9yr old gelding about 9 months ago, and in January he was diagnosed with Kissing spine, 2 vertebrae were almost fused and 2 nearly the same. He has had 1 injection which worked very well but 5/6 months later now needs another one. We have limited insurance money left and just wondered if many of you have had the op to remove the spines and whether it was successful? and also how much it costed?
how long was recovery? He is quite a difficult horse but we can't keep going with the injections as apparently they will start needing to be done more frequently!

Many questions and rather confused!
Thanks in advance for any help
 
Mine had the op, he went from unrideable, to nearly one year after the op getting 5th in his first BE event! As with an surgery there can be complications but I am so pleased I did it.
The insurance paid for most of the op, the total cost was around £3000 2 years ago.

p.s Have you looked Kissing spines on here, or trawled through the posts? There is loads of advice etc :)
 
My mare had the op last september to remove the tops of 4 vertabrae as 7 were fused/ impinging. I am riding her again now.

If you trawl through veterinary you will see a lot about peoples experience with this condition, including mine. For most horses the outcome is good providing that they don't have any other issues as well.
 
My mare had the operation.
8 weeks box rest then limited turnout and gradual fitness, she made a full recovery.

Bill was about £3500 but this was about 7 years ago.
 
thank you for all your comments, still undecided as not the best manners/ attitude so not sure e can both cope with 8 weeks box rest, but then what else can i do with him!!
thanks again
 
You may find his attitude is caused by suffering constant low level pain. My horse bless his heart is rather awkward but he is a very nice person underneath it all, the change in his personality after the op was amazing, he was so much more settled, easier to handle and much more relaxed. The behaviour you are describing, to me typifies a horse suffering from KS, it is suprising how many of them cope very well with box rest. My horse was such a numpty he was impossible to walk in hand post op, but 5yrs on he is ridden 5 days a week and goes out to shows and clinics mostly behaving in a much more grown up fashion than I ever imagined he could.

No one can make this difficult decision but you, but I just wanted to post so that you could factor the above in to your decision too.

Good luck
 
I was going to start a new post relating to this!

I would like some advice/opinions please

i think my horse is a possiblew candidate for KS. His behaviour under saddle has recently become very unpredictable. He is worst when mounting,, bum in saddle = bronking fit- really bad.

He has also developed a nappy type behaviour in that when i ask for ANY collection in either trot or canter he stops dead and throws his head up in the air, he also does this with any lateral work too.

He has sometimes been a bit quirky but i feel that there is something else going on, do these symptoms sound at all like KS ones???
 
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