Kissing spine update....

[TicTac]

A year ago tomorrow my mare had her kissing spine operation to remove 4 dorsal spineous process. This is just a pictorial update to show you how well she is now.

I rebacked her in march after doing a couple of months lunging with her and she was absolutely fab. No problems what so ever and I started hacking her out and doing walk lateral work in the manege. Then in May we had a bit of a setback in that she went lame in her off fore. She had a full lameness workup including xrays which didn't reveal any bony problems. I didn't want to box rest her so she spent a month in the paddock on 1 butea day. After a month is was clear to see that my mare was getting upto mischief so with the permission of my vet it was agreed that I could start to hack her out again. Since then she has gone from strenght to strenght and loves her hacking. She is a superstar and nothing seems to bother her. We meet lorries, flapping bag, cows and sheep, and Ive ridden her out in a gale force winds. She just gets better. She is now sound and back to working really well on the lunge once more. My next move is to start the schooling again and take it from there.

She is a changed horse and seems so much more happier in her work. She can still be a moo at times but I just adore her and feel that she is now able to be the horse I always hoped she would.

So for all of you with doubts about kissing spine. Mine is a success story which I am happy to share.


Pre op xray

Post op xray

First time back on after op.

Loose in manege

Cuddles

Coming back from a hack.

 

[classicalfan]

That's great news! Congratulations!

 

[BethH]

She looks fantastic, brilliant news, I am so delighted that after all the worry pre-op, you now have such a success story on your hands. She looks beautifully muscled and very relaxed and happy. A huge well done, it's no mean feat to get this far, here's hoping you have many more happy and fun years of riding together! I am 5yrs on now unbelievably and Ryan is still going from strength to strength, albeit with his usual awkward and difficult moments in between bless him! He has just started some jumping and is absolutely loving it, so there can be long term success, we are thinking of taking him to try a very novice cross country course in the next few weeks!

 

[stencilface]

Such a good story. My friend is riding a horse who had a kissing spines op last year, he is now back out eventing again, and she did her first 1* on him last week - I think things like this might soon no longer be seen as a problem.

 

[TicTac]

She looks fantastic, brilliant news, I am so delighted that after all the worry pre-op, you now have such a success story on your hands. She looks beautifully muscled and very relaxed and happy. A huge well done, it's no mean feat to get this far, here's hoping you have many more happy and fun years of riding together! I am 5yrs on now unbelievably and Ryan is still going from strength to strength, albeit with his usual awkward and difficult moments in between bless him! He has just started some jumping and is absolutely loving it, so there can be long term success, we are thinking of taking him to try a very novice cross country course in the next few weeks!

Thank you so much for you lovely comments. I believe that the key to long term success is to take things slowly. My mare did not have an intensive rehab program. She had a few weeks box rest due more to the fact that she suffered a nasty infection that took time to clear up and then we had that god awfull winter to contend with. So she had complete paddock rest for about 4 months before I could start a lungeing program.

I think that because my mare did not exhibit any dangerous behaviour pre op and just suffered problems in her way of going is also a contributing factor to her success.

I am still happy to plod her around the country side for the time being, especially as the ground is still hard in this area. Slow and steady is my motto as she's got to look after me in my old age too!!

 

[BethH]

Well I am a true believer in take your time but don't waste it and you clearly haven't!

My vet and the various physio's that have checked Ryan for me can't believe he is so strong and we all agree it's because we spent time getting the basic muscles right and kept him in steady correct slower work rather than pushing him too much. My vet says that they are analyzing results on the success rate of this op and the ones that have gone slow but surely are the ones doing the best.

She is a beautiful mare, I couldn't be more delighted for you! It makes me feel thrilled to hear a good success story from such a caring owner, it gives those that are worrying about how to cope with their neds a positive way forward - congratulations.