how to deal with Before/during/after kissing spine surgery

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katy1986

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advise needed please

My horse has been diagnosed with kissing spine a few weeks ago after initially suffering from proximal ligament damage we have finally got to the route of the problem.

When i took him back to the vets to rescan his hocks after 6 weeks of box rest i asked them to xray his back as i said i wanted it checked for ks just to rule it out. turns out thats what it is! the vet gave 3 cortazone injections into his spine. he said that the real cure for it is to have the op which involves removing 1 fin. He seems very stiff through his back and has got muscle development between where the back of the saddle would sit and the rump. I think this is because of the way he moves he tenses the muscles as he doesnt use his back at all and with not being in work for the last ten weeks now hes got very little top line on him now. he takes small steps and doesnt seem to know how to bring his hocks underneath him. After having the cortazone injections he seems alot more happy and relaxed. hes just out in the field at the moment but the vet said i could start to ride him next week walking.

What i want to know is

i am planning on him having the op in october is their any point in having phisio now or would it be a waste of money? would this be better to be done after the op just he does seem quite tight in his back. Is their anything you think i could do between now and oct to help him along excercises etc obviously if he becomes uncomfortable and the cortazone has worn off i wont do anything to cause him pain just bring the op forward but the vet said it should last up to 3 months but im to get back intouch about planning the op in mid september.

What happens after the op? what do i need to do with him recovery wise?

how long will it take my horse to recover?

has anyone had little improvement with the cortazone injection but noticed a big difference after the operation?


And people who have had the op was the op worth it did your horse go alot better after the op?
was their a improvement in paces? freer? can you get him engage better now?
did you have to learn him how to move correctly?

sorry for all the questions i just feel i need to gather as much info and plan how im going to deal with this

thanks
 
My horse had the op and had 3 spinal processes removed. It was the worst decision I have ever made - he was damaged through his lumbars permanently sometime during knockdown/recovery and also developed severe allergies as a response to the surgery. He is now retired at 9 yrs old. I went through the strict 12 week pessoa reigme and followed veterinary advice to the letter.

If I had the same again I would try other avenues first such as mesotherapy and shock wave therapy alongside physio etc. things have moved on so far in the last couple of years.

If surgery was the only last option I would only have the standing surgery that they can now perform in some places - I would never go for the dropped surgery again.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad new, just think very carefully - it is not guaranteed.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

Also did your vet nerve block the back to 'prove' that it was the KS causing the problems - a lot of horses have KS and show no symptoms at all.
 
My horse had the op last year and is currently having a blast at PC camp having made a full recovery...........

There are a few things that I think you need to bear in mind and ensure happen.

We had cortisone injections to start with too. They worked and there was a noticeable improvement in her way of going immediately. We could tell about 6 weeks later that the effect was wearing off - she became stiffer to the left gradually and ended up almost unrideable on the left rein even by our instructor. When lunged she would either run off bucking on the left rein or turn in and rear.

Remember that this op costs around £5K once everything has been taken into consideration (including the work you've already had done and the physio afterwards) and that you normally only have 1 year on insurance to claim stuff from the 1st notification. That certainly helped me make up my mind that we needed to crack on withe the op rather than have repeated injections. There was also the question of whether you could compete a horse who had been injected anyway. She is an eventer and her reason for being with us would have been taken away if she could never compete again to be brutally honest.

So, we had a bone scan done - very important because there's no point in doing the op only to find that there is another problem somewhere else. This came back showing the only hotspots on her back so we went ahead with standing op at Newmarket.

She was an excellent patient - box rest, small paddock rest, turnout and then slowly brought back into work. I have to admit that I cried when my daughter finally got back on her for the 1st time......!

Lots of physio from an ACPAT physio afterwards (insurance paid for ACPAT registered - wouldn't have done for anybody else, so worth remembering), and I still lunge her in a Pessoa long and low twice a week and do stretching exercises with her before and after riding. We also have a horsewalker and she has an hour on that everyday as warm up/warm down. We have a magnetic pad that she wears in her stable. Don't know if it does any good, but I won it in a prize draw and I don't think it does any harm!

I would say that it has been a complete success. Typically we've not competed her yet this season because she got a virus and had Azoturia just before our 1st event and she's only now back into full fitness (roll on Aston le Walls), but that was completely unrelated to her back.

So - it seems daunting, but I would take the advice of your vet all the way. The vets at Newmarket said she was a very good candidate for successful surgery after doing a bone scan. If they had said anything else I probably wouldn't have done it - so do insist on a bone scan first. I would get on and bring your horse back into work with the cortisone injections to see if they make a big enough difference. If they don't then maybe the problem is not totally in the back? If they do make a difference you'll be able to tell when the effects wear off. Remember the time limit on the insurance because it's expensive!

Good luck!
 
My TB was diagnosed with sever kissing spines two weeks ago, he had the op last Wednesday. He is still in the vet school as he developed an infection.

All being well, he is due home tommorrow, I am a bit apprehensive about the rehab process and the length of time before I can see definitive results. Watch this space...
 
Hi Katy think you tried to pm me - if you want to contact me my postbox is now empty and I will happily chat with you, I have a fair bit of experience with this subject.

Good luck

Beth
 
Okay -- Two years after this post! NOW HOW ARE YOUR RESULTS! My mare is about to undergo surgery here in Texas by Dr. Honnas....PLEASE REPLY! :eek::eek:
 
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