Kissing Spine

[Stephnorman]

My 20 year old mare has been nappy for a few weeks. She usually wears a 16.5 inch saddle but I decided that I would get her a 17inch one to disperse pressure better. However even though it is the same make and width of (synthetic)saddle, she was impossible to ride and became explosive and nappy, and even when I got off and walked alongside her she would jog and buck. I put her old saddle back on after a couple of weeks off, and she is no longer displaying these behaviours, but is still napping.

She has always had a bump on one of the vertebrae of her spine, just behind the cantle of her saddle, has always 'fallen' in to canter and when she was younger, would refuse to jump - when she was older she would jump but rushed. I'm thinking the longer saddle has been pressing on the 'bump' and causing her pain.


Ihave had the vet out to her to xray and scan her fetlocks as she has been stiff and clicky in one but it was all inconclusive.

Is it possible that she has kissing spine? If so, should I consider retiring her (we do endurance and hacking) and what kind of treatment is appropriate? I would really appreciate some advice from people who have dealt with this. Thanks.

 

[Hiijax]

My 17 yr old boy was diagnosed with kissing spine last summer. The symptoms can be many and varied, but my dressage horse just became slightly unlevel behind which only showed up under saddle.
He too had a bump just behind the cantle when I got him ~ caused by a badly fitting saddle but this dissappeared over time.
Equine vet came out and couldn`t find anything but suspected ks because of his confirmation (he has very high withers and short back). Xrays confirmed ks so he then had steroid injections between the processes. This certainly worked for a while, he also has a massage pad and physio which has helped. He has been off work recently due to another unrelated problem but was hoping to compete again in the spring so its not necessarily all bad news.
You could also try nobute if you wanted to keep competing? Would definitely try the injections & bute just to keep her active. Kissing spines can be operated on, they remove some of the processes but I wouldn`t put her through it at her age. The recuperation after is very lengthy and there are no guarantees.
Just reread your post and realised ks haven`t been diagnosed yet so would recommend you get an equine vet to look at her and rule out anything else first.
Also a good physio would be able to tell you if there was any significant pain through her back and would be less expensive
Hope this helps & good luck

 

[louise1967]

My mare had kissing spine and it was in 2 places on her spine after having x-rays, we decided to go down the physio path rather than the op and she went away for 6 weeks to a back centre where they done very intence physio with her to push her spine back up and out to push the vertibraes apart, she came back a new horse and as long as I kept up the excersises she gave me she could carry on as normal, the back speciallist was called Liz Launder in Tewksbury.