Kissing Spine - treatment options success

What treatment for KS have you tried? Please tick all that apply

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Evergreen

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Sadly my boy has been diagnosed with kissing spine after various issues with saddling and schooling. I have been reading up on the various treatments available and it looks as though the most positive outcome is after surgery. My vet however, disagrees. Please can anyone who has experience KS complete this poll, and if you have time give a bit more information as to the severity of the KS. My horse has it very severely. Many thanks
 
Hi, mine was diagnosed aged 20 with mild kissing spine - basically 3 mths off completely, h-wave therapy given over a 2 week period, brought back into work slowly with lots of longlining, walking in hand, being led off other horse, gradually buliding up length of time with each session, after 6 mths of this and fitting her with a treeless saddle I was able to start riding her, started off with very short walks with a very lightweight rider and built her up slowly from there. She came back into work in May 2011 - well.... now she can give my other horse a run for his money, she charges around out in the field and if she is feeling very playful has been seen rearing and bucking like a 2yr old!
 
hi

just been through op with my mare

long story but you can look back on some of my threads

following detailed vets instructions
after diagnosis she had injection and did the in in hand walking and boxrest with physio
then weeks after pessoa introduced she seemed to be doing so well then the time come to ride her --she was having none of it back to displaying signs of discomfort

so back to leahurst for op

we are now just introducing work and she is a lot happier in herself and showing no sign of pain up to press
we should be back to riding by october but we are taking things slowly after discussions with the vets so rather than pessoa at the moment we are long reining for the time being
but hopefully she will get back to being ridden by november time
 
My mare had the kissing spine operation last september to remove 4 dorsal spineous processes and she was considered severe.

She had the op standing up under heavy sedation. A few weeks box rest with short periods of turnout in a small strip just to keep her sane while I mucked out. The into a bigger small paddock for what should have been a month but she only lasted 2 weeks before jumping back into her own field!!!! She then had the whole of the winter off due to the horrid weather, In at night and out during the day. I then re-backed her in february after a lunging period of about 5 or 6 weeks. I did NOT use the pessoa initially as she would have fought it. I let her gain strength and balance without using anything and she was happy to work low on her own.

I have hacked her out all summer, not asking too much and now I have just started to school her again. Some vets will advocate a vigourous lunging program fairly shortly after the operation but I found the best method for my mare was to turn her away and let her heal on her own. I have taken her very slowly and I am happy and so is my horse.


Will gladly help if you need more info. Horses that do not have any other issues besides the kissing spine are the ones the operation is more likely to be a success for.
 
Last edited:
Jaycee said:
Hi, mine was diagnosed aged 20 with mild kissing spine - basically 3 mths off completely, h-wave therapy given over a 2 week period, brought back into work slowly with lots of longlining, walking in hand, being led off other horse, gradually buliding up length of time with each session, after 6 mths of this and fitting her with a treeless saddle I was able to start riding her, started off with very short walks with a very lightweight rider and built her up slowly from there. She came back into work in May 2011 - well.... now she can give my other horse a run for his money, she charges around out in the field and if she is feeling very playful has been seen rearing and bucking like a 2yr old!
Click to expand...

That's lovely to hear, especially as she is an older horse. Thanks.
 
horsedreams said:
hi

just been through op with my mare

long story but you can look back on some of my threads

following detailed vets instructions
after diagnosis she had injection and did the in in hand walking and boxrest with physio
then weeks after pessoa introduced she seemed to be doing so well then the time come to ride her --she was having none of it back to displaying signs of discomfort

so back to leahurst for op

we are now just introducing work and she is a lot happier in herself and showing no sign of pain up to press
we should be back to riding by october but we are taking things slowly after discussions with the vets so rather than pessoa at the moment we are long reining for the time being
but hopefully she will get back to being ridden by november time
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will keep my fingers crossed for you. It is such a long haul to go through!
 
TicTac said:
My mare had the kissing spine operation last september to remove 4 dorsal spineous processes and she was considered severe.

She had the op standing up under heavy sedation. A few weeks box rest with short periods of turnout in a small strip just to keep her sane while I mucked out. The into a bigger small paddock for what should have been a month but she only lasted 2 weeks before jumping back into her own field!!!! She then had the whole of the winter off due to the horrid weather, In at night and out during the day. I then re-backed her in february after a lunging period of about 5 or 6 weeks. I did NOT use the pessoa initially as she would have fought it. I let her gain strength and balance without using anything and she was happy to work low on her own.

I have hacked her out all summer, not asking too much and now I have just started to school her again. Some vets will advocate a vigourous lunging program fairly shortly after the operation but I found the best method for my mare was to turn her away and let her heal on her own. I have taken her very slowly and I am happy and so is my horse.


Will gladly help if you need more info. Horses that do not have any other issues besides the kissing spine are the ones the operation is more likely to be a success for.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I hope your mare continues to improve. Sadly my horse also has hock problems and I am suspecting a possible third problem as the nerve blocks in his back did not work dramatically. There was only a very slight improvement. :(
 
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