Kissing Spine

Darcydoo

Darcydoo

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Darcy had back scans and X-ray's yesterday which showed that she has kissing spine 4 processes overlapping with bony/fibrous changes leaving no gaps between them ( quite horrific to see ).
she has had steroid injections ,prescribed muscle relaxants for a month and has a excersise plan with regular physio to be reviewed in 4 weeks time. More than likely is going to need the op which I know will be a long slow rehab after. Would love to hear other peoples experiences and what level of work their horses came back to or not . Thankyou x
 
Which operation?

Dorsal process removal, Dorsal process shave, or ligament resection?

Mine had the ligament resection. It has completely altered his way of moving, including straightening a front leg deviation. Unfortunately, he's fractured an eye socket and is off work now, but at around three/four months he was back to working as well as he ever had, with simple changes, medium trot and shoulder in.

You should be aware that if your horse has bucked/reared/napped because of the kissing spines, that the fear of pain can last a long time and cause the same behaviour even though the pain itself is gone.

There are several of us on here who have had to work hard to regain our horses trust over period of up to a year. And Wagtail' s horse continued to be unrideable although no physical cause could be found and her vets believed it was all in the horse's mind.

The ligament resection rehab is only six weeks to being back in the saddle.
 
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Sorry I was very clear ,it would be removal of the Dorsal processes. I've been very lucky really and it's shown me what a trooper she really is as dispite the pain and just physically couldn't really do it she would try.
How bad was your horse Cptrayes as the ligament resection wasn't mentioned ( probably not an option for us but won't help giving it a mention).
Youve done well with yours :) , if she's a light hack or a field ornament so be it , a little more would be brill . Thankyou xxxxx
 
Mine had 7 processes impinging & had 4 removed. It has been a long slow rehab (op was in June of last year) now riding him pretty much normally and 2 weeks ago did an endurance training ride. We have our first jumping lesson booked for beginning of April & are also off x country schooling at end of April. My horse is feeling much better & more flexible (he was pretty inflexible all along the area where his saddle went). He also has navicular syndrome which complicated matters so was doing barefoot rehab at the same time as rehab for his back.
There's a Facebook page called 'horses with kissing spine' where you will find lots of people with similar experiences & everyone's very friendly.
 
Darcydoo said:
Sorry I was very clear ,it would be removal of the Dorsal processes. I've been very lucky really and it's shown me what a trooper she really is as dispite the pain and just physically couldn't really do it she would try.
How bad was your horse Cptrayes as the ligament resection wasn't mentioned ( probably not an option for us but won't help giving it a mention).
Youve done well with yours :) , if she's a light hack or a field ornament so be it , a little more would be brill . Thankyou xxxxx
Click to expand...


This is his x ray, below. You can send your x rays to Cotts, who pioneered the operation in the country, and they will tell you if she is suitable for it.

SPINE-Thoracic-09_07_2013-14_36_56-625.JPEG
 
Busybusybusy said:
Mine had 7 processes impinging & had 4 removed. It has been a long slow rehab (op was in June of last year) now riding him pretty much normally and 2 weeks ago did an endurance training ride. We have our first jumping lesson booked for beginning of April & are also off x country schooling at end of April. My horse is feeling much better & more flexible (he was pretty inflexible all along the area where his saddle went). He also has navicular syndrome which complicated matters so was doing barefoot rehab at the same time as rehab for his back.
There's a Facebook page called 'horses with kissing spine' where you will find lots of people with similar experiences & everyone's very friendly.
Click to expand...

Ouch I though 4 was bad and to deal with the navicular to that's something to be proud of :)
 
Thankyou Cptrayes I found the Cotts website earlier was very good reading. I never thought of getting a copy of her X-rays I think it's worth a shot ,and Facebook page is my next job :) . Thankyou all feeling much more positive from your replies :) xx
Will post the X-rays once I get them. ( May need some help as I'm a computer numpty )
 
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