Kissing Spines - it's not the end of the world

Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
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For those of you who haven't read my other postings, my nine year old TB had surgery to remove five of his spinal processes back in November, as he was diagnosed with a staggering ten spinal impingements. He had 4 weeks box rest (the latter two with walking in hand twice a day). And then 2 months rest with daily turnout.

I started work with him this week. I managed to get him to work in the pessoa for the first time ever today. When I had tried pre op, he completely panicked, rearing, falling over and collapsing trembling! Today, he was tense at first but with encouragement worked through his tension and did some lovely work in it. Delighted does not even start to describe how I am feeling. Of course, the biggest test will be when I come to ride him.

I wanted to post to give hope to others whose horses have been diagnosed with the condition, and to say what a changed horse he is and how happy he seems. So full of the joys of life and moving as freely as I have seen any horse move. So often I read on here and elsewhere about people giving up and putting the horse to sleep when they have KS. It may seem a big thing for a horse to go through, and whether they would cope or not very much depends on the temperament of the horse. I can honestly say though that my horse never once seemed uncomfortable after his op, even in the first few days. He had the operation with only local anaesthetic and sedation. It is not so invasive as people think. And not too costly either compared with many treatments. :)
 
I'm so glad to hear your boy is making good progress and the operation went well. It's amazing what vets can do these days.

I hope he continues to improve and all goes well when you get back on.

It seems to me that there are more and more cases of KS these days, or are we just more aware of it now?

Just out of interest, would the operation be covered by vets fees on insurance?
 
Hi..when I got back on my horse after his KS operation he didn't bat an eyelid, it was as if it had never happened. His back is fine now..he didn't seem in much discomfort after the op and even rolled the following day.
 
Emma13 said:
I'm so glad to hear your boy is making good progress and the operation went well. It's amazing what vets can do these days.

I hope he continues to improve and all goes well when you get back on.

It seems to me that there are more and more cases of KS these days, or are we just more aware of it now?

Just out of interest, would the operation be covered by vets fees on insurance?
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Yes it is covered on the insurnce although I have to pay 15% excess so not cheap. The op was around £2500. Worth every penny though. Although I knew my boy had it really bad, I did not realise just how bad he must have felt until I saw the difference in him post op. One of my considerations was to just retire him and not put him through the op. However, I now realise the level of pain he must have been in constantly, even when he was not being worked. He didn't show it really. But now he is ten times as lively!
 
xxMozlarxx said:
Hi..when I got back on my horse after his KS operation he didn't bat an eyelid, it was as if it had never happened. His back is fine now..he didn't seem in much discomfort after the op and even rolled the following day.
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Wow! I hope my boy is the same. I haven't ridden him now for around 8 months so plan to take it really slowly and just lean over him to start with. I want to get his back nice and strong, so I am so relieved he will now tolerate the pessoa.

So pleased to hear about your boy. :)
 
I think we've had a little chat before but my mare had her op about 16 months ago now and she's doing really well. When I sat on her again after almost 9 months it was as if she said to me, " yay mum, we're doing stuff again"

My physio told me that the horses that do well after the op are those that didn't display any other problems other than the KS. Keep up the good work x
 
Thank you for posting this.

We're in the early stages (back medicated but no surgery yet) and my poor girlie is only 4.

Has any one got any before and after x-rays they would be willing to share?
 
TicTac said:
I think we've had a little chat before but my mare had her op about 16 months ago now and she's doing really well. When I sat on her again after almost 9 months it was as if she said to me, " yay mum, we're doing stuff again"

My physio told me that the horses that do well after the op are those that didn't display any other problems other than the KS. Keep up the good work x
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Thanks. Yes, I've been following your posts. It's so encouraging to hear success stories. My horse does unfortunately also have hock arthritis, but the vets don't think it bothers him too much. It certainly paled into insignificance along side his KS. Yesterday the vet pressed his back really hard all along the incision line and my horse didn't bat an eye lid. He was a little 'grunty' at times today when I was lunging him. Possibly he's feeling a little stiff having been brought back into work only this week and yesterday being his first day in the pessoa. I think it will be a couple of weeks before he really settles. But I am so pleased thus far.
 
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neighneigh said:
Thank you for posting this.

We're in the early stages (back medicated but no surgery yet) and my poor girlie is only 4.

Has any one got any before and after x-rays they would be willing to share?
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I think there is a post in veterinary on page eight or nine of the pictures of veterinary conditions thread.

Good luck with your girl. She has age on her side. :)
 
We brought a mare who's now 11yrs old, two years ago as a companion, she has kissing spine in two places right under her saddle area.
The lady who we brought her from said that for some reason the insurance wouldn't pay out, and the vet said she's have to be stabled for up to 6 months and the op only had a 50% success rate.
I wonder how right that vet was, as it sounds like your boy has made a great recovery, and I do feel sorry for our mare who now has a bit of a boring life compared to what she use to do, she was a Show jumper.
My problem would be that id now have to pay for it myself.
 
SNORKEY said:
We brought a mare who's now 11yrs old, two years ago as a companion, she has kissing spine in two places right under her saddle area.
The lady who we brought her from said that for some reason the insurance wouldn't pay out, and the vet said she's have to be stabled for up to 6 months and the op only had a 50% success rate.
I wonder how right that vet was, as it sounds like your boy has made a great recovery, and I do feel sorry for our mare who now has a bit of a boring life compared to what she use to do, she was a Show jumper.
My problem would be that id now have to pay for it myself.
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My vet also was very pessimistic about the operation, saying that it was a long drawn out slog for a horse to go through and had a very poor success rate. I did my own research, including on here, and the evidence seemed to be pointing towards getting them moving as soon as possible afterwards and around 75% success rate. So I asked to be referred.

There is a procedure being done at a place called Cotts Equine in South Wales (if you google it they have a website). It is less invasive than what my boy had done and a lot cheaper. Apparently they use keyhole surgery to snip the ligaments inbetween the offending spines and this allows them to separate. The horse can go home the same day and is only on box rest until the stitches are removed. They can be ridden six weeks later! The success rate is apparently very high and the procedure is under £1k.
 
I don't know why vets are like this, when I bought a new horse recently I mentioned the KS that we'd been through to the vet who vetted him and he was quite scathing, saying it was fashionable....I feel where it doesn't work it's not usually because the op didnt work, it's because there are other problems. My horse still has suspensory damage which is a long job, but I would never say the op didn't work.
By the way..I did lean over my boy a few times during the rehab to check his reactions. He is a laid back horse who trusts me, not that you would have thought that during the box rest when it w impossible to walk him!,
 
Haha, yes. The dreaded walking in hand! How I hated it. Also I am so pleased to finally be allowed to work my horse as even with turnout he was becoming more and more of a handful! Since he's been lunging, he's become much easier to turn out. Not half so boingy!
 
My friends horse had this op in 2009 I think, last year he was out competing at Novice and 1* with no problems - she hopes to go intermediate this year, he is 11 I think. :)
 
I felt a bit let down in this respect on aftercare, I ended up insisting on potassium bromide and sedaline as he was reinjuring himself. I feel there should have been more input around the potential problems, I felt quite abandoned with it looking back
 
xxMozlarxx said:
I felt a bit let down in this respect on aftercare, I ended up insisting on potassium bromide and sedaline as he was reinjuring himself. I feel there should have been more input around the potential problems, I felt quite abandoned with it looking back
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That's a real shame. I have to say however, that Rossdales were very vague regarding his rehab and the only guidance I was given was the dates on which he could progress to the next stage. Now he is at the 'begin work' stage, there is no guidance at all and I just hope I am doing there right thing in starting lunging. Trouble is he is not very good to long rein and tends to get a bit wired! So lunging is my only option. Yet I am aware that it can be pretty strenuous and so I am only doing walk and trot for no more than 15 minutes at the moment.

I do feel that vets are not very understanding about the difficulties handling a pent up horse that is on box rest. It sounds so easy on paper "walk in hand twice daily for 5 to 10 minutes". Yes right! You mean rear and spin in hand whilst attempting to jump on top of handler twice daily for five to ten minutes! :o
 
I'm really pleased for you OP :) Here's hoping he continues to make good progress and is back to full work in no time!

Is he being any less *ahem* full of it yet? Or is he still giving you the run around? :D
 
jesstickle said:
I'm really pleased for you OP :) Here's hoping he continues to make good progress and is back to full work in no time!

Is he being any less *ahem* full of it yet? Or is he still giving you the run around? :D
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He really cracks me up. He behaves like an angel when being led from his stable out to be worked. But still, when it comes to his turn to be turned out (he currently has 3 hours with a companion in the afternoon), he comes out of his stable like a train and bounces all the way to the turnout enclosure! He then rears spins and bucks almost the entire time out (inbetween bites of haylage and tormenting his companion and making her squeal). :rolleyes:
 
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