Kissing Spine

[charlie76]

A horse I ride was being naughty to ride- rearing and refusing to accept a contact and crabbing in to canter.
He was seen by the vet this week and was diagnoised after x rays and nerve blocks with SLIGHT kissing spine.
He is being scanned on Monday to check for any muscle damage.
Has anyone else had their horse treated for this? What was the symptoms, treatment and outcome?
How long did it take to get the horse back into full work and was the horse improved in its work?

Thanks!

 

[spaniel]

Kissing spine is a BIG subject! I am sure you will get a lot of first hand information from people here and many good and bad outcomes. Ive personally come across two horses who have had surgery for KS, one who eventually had to be put to sleep as although the surgery was a sucess, the KS had a knock on effect to his legs and he was forever going lame. The other had surgery this spring and is not yet back in ridden work although is being worked in a pessoa. The hope is that this horse will be ok to go back under saddle in the new year but there is no guarantee.

 

[samp]

I am afraid the prognosis for treatment of kissing spines is a bit guarded. Some horses come through surgery fine, others although cope with surgery they can feel paralyzed and therefore are unable to get up again

 

[Caritas]

My horse had a kissing spine op in December last year and 3 weeks later another horse at my yard had the same op. They both are absolutley fine and the outcome has been fantastic after a lot of heartache, tears, worry and dedication. I am glad my horse had the op. I sat back on him 3 months after the op and he has just gone from strength to strength. We had a few hiccups along the way but you seriously would never know he had ever had spinal surgery unless you really look for it. He is now back at work doing medium level dressage, starting flying changes and a bit of piaffe. Really pleased, any questions please dont hesitate to ask. If you want the best surgeon for the job, pm me. Good luck!!

 

[wizzi901]

We tried a horse out recently with KS issues, it didnt appear to affect him unless he was pushed for more stretching work, he had already had an op, so unfortunately it was a no go.

However, I know of a couple of people who havent had to have ops, merely back treatment and they have come good again?

Its a very big subject with what seems many varying levels of problems....

 

[Bert&Maud]

My horse was diagnosed with KS three weeks ago, after problems with straightness with right canter, curling up and bucking if pressed. My previous horse also had KS, he had surgery for it 15 years ago. The vet has put my current horse on a drug called Tildren, which is usually used for Navicular and Spavin. There has been some success with treating KS with it, but it is still in it's early stages. At the point where the spines touch, new bone is formed, making the problem worse. The drug works on the new bone, by interfering with the resorbtion process . The vet decided on this treatment for my horse because a) he has several spines touching making surgery quite major, and b) his symptoms are not chronic or dangerous, and he has worked quite happily for many years before the symptoms started this summer. I thought long and hard before deciding on this course of treatment, but the vet is optimistic that we should see an improvement so I thought it better than committing him to surgery. He's on long reining and lunging for another 4 weeks, and then I'll let you all know the outcome - he may need one or two more doses.

 

[BethH]

I completely agree with Caritas my boy had the op in March with the same surgeon who is just fab. It is a long slow process with some hiccups but he is now doing really well and is being ridden 5 times a week and staying sound, although we are taking things very slowly as he was diagnosed very young and has had to relearn how to move. I am very glad I had the op, his behaviour caused by the pain meant that being PTS was a serious option as he couldn't even walk to the field without flaring up and was in constant pain regarless of ridden work. It was the solution for Ryan although this is obviously not the case for everyone but if you want to ask any questions please PM me.

 

[squirtlysmum]

Hi Caritas,
You have just made me a happy bunny as my homebred four year old has been diagnosed with KS, he's had steriod injections but no change and will more than likely have surgery. I bred him with the sole purpose of dressage so it's really great to hear your doing well as I've not spoken to anyone who could give positive feed back to this extent, so there is hope, I shall stay positive!!!