kissing spine and fitness

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sarahmc

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Hi

Tex has been diagnoised with kissing spine. Before being diagnoised we have had 9 months or so of all sorts of issues from tail swishing, bucking, rearing, refusing to go forward, not wanting to go into canter etc. I had all the usual back checks with physio and chiro, saddle checked and a vet out but nothing changed.

We had a seconded vet out and he x-rayed the whole back and both legs. He has 2 vertabre touching. He has had 3 steriod injections which meant 2 weeks off, 2 weeks lunging and then we started riding. I have started walk and trotting and my instructor just wanted to see what he was like in canter and he was so different. Today he was not good when he was ridden. I dont know if i over did it or if he he was in pain. The vet is coming out in a few weeks.

Does anyone have a good fitness programme that i could use to get his fitness up. He has lost a lot of fitness and having read up on the condition people say that fitness has a part to paly.

Any help will be great.

Thanks everyone

sarah
 
Never heard this before. I would be going to another vet tbh....the bones are rubbing together, no amount of chemicals will alter that.
 
My very experienced vet described the treatment options for kissing spines as being cortisone injections as initial treatment and if that doesn't work then they can go down the surgery route.





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The injections create a nerve block, they will only mask the problem. The interval between repeated injections can vary between horses, and the injections may not be successful for every horse. I think in your case it may not be an issue of fitness but maybe the steroids have not had a huge affect on your horse and so the interval between repeated injections is quite short.

See what your vet says, they may suggest more injections or to go down the surgery route?
 
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agree with heather bambi, i dont think fitness is the problem here just the injections arnt doing the trick so i would imagine surgery would be your only option. horses return to normal after surgery and as he has only 2 spinal proceses touching it will be very straight forward. they are back into ridden work at around 3-5 months after surgery.
 
there is no way steroids could CURE the problem - only mask it. At its very simplest, there are two chunks of bone rubbing together and that wont go away without cutting the bones out!
 
My mare has 7 impinging vertebrae. I tried the cortisol and tildren injections with her and there was no improvement. At the moment she is enjoying the summer just mouching around the paddock untill she goes for the op in september once my holiday is over and the weather's a bit cooler. No amount of excercise or drugs will cure you horse's problem and if you have the option to have the op then maybe you should think about that.

I was not happy initially to put my horse through such a procedure but at only 10 years of age, retiring her was not an option either. I have ' written' my mare off for the best part of a year but if I want another 10 years with her, I owe it to her to give her a chance.

You don't say how old you horse is?
 
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