Kissing spines - thoughts please

[hayleyj]

I have a horse on competition/sales livery, he's a 9 year old gelding who had evented to novice level with some good results but unfortunately had a terrible accident where he had a rotational fall, the horse actually wasn't injured but his rider lost his life, because of this the horse was sold to showjump and I have successfully competed him for 8 months, he jumped double clear in almost every class and was highly placed at every show. He started to feel not quite right so I took him to the vets to investigate and found kissing spines in 3 places with one actually overlapping, we have injected but there was no improvement so he is in need of the operation. The owner has now spent out almost 2k on vet bills as we didn't find kissing spines right away and he wasn't insured! I would like people's thoughts on what is best to do next and what sort of value he has if operated on and if anyone would actually buy horse that's had kissing spines.

 

[BethH]

Hi I have a KS horse. He was operated on successfully 8yrs ago. I know very few horses where the palliative route has had long term success, the op is usually the best way of resolving it and can be done in many clever ways now with horses returning to a decent if not full level of work - it is most successful though where the horse has nothing else wrong and the horses age still being quite young is helpful, I also have a niggling feeling that foot balance if not spot on won't help as they become very sensitive to how they carry themselves. I think the cheapest way of surgery is the ligament snip although I do not know what the long term effects of this are - others on here may be able to give you more insight, mine had the full blown op by a brilliant surgeon called Svend Kold at Willersley Equine in Gloucestershire, at the time he was the expert on this & is a great lameness vet so it may be worth looking him up as I am sure he would give an honest 2nd opinion on the x-rays.

If I am being honest, much as I wish it didn't, I think it does affect the value as there is history of surgery & you have to be more thoughtful than usual about how you care for them, some can also be tricky personality wise like mine if they have dealt with low level pain for years, he is a wonderful personality but very sharp & spooky. You may find potential purchasers are worried about secondary symptoms turning up like sacroiliac & hock problems. However for many horses, if they are ridden correctly ie, with the rider sat well and encouraged to work through from behind correctly to keep the back muscles strong, they do well. I don't know if it would affect value so much as attract someone willing to take what they may perceive is a risk.

My horse had genetic KS so may be different as he spent his growing years carrying himself incorrectly, but since surgery he can do everything, it is his nerves that hold him back. I was very careful with the rehab to put on correct muscle slowly but surely, the owner will need to invest time in the horse as well as money not only for the op but also for physio/chiro. I would also be wanting to ask the vet what limitations he feels the horse will have in the future & I would be doing plenty of long reining to try and keep some fitness on him before he goes for surgery (if he does) and it was key in his rehab, I swear learning to long rein him properly saved his life, he was doing serious handstands in the pessoa!

Hope that gives some info to help - Good luck

 

[hayleyj]

Thank you for your reply, he can be very sharp and spooky but I put this down to pain, sounds like he may stay this way even after the operation (if he has it). I will look up the surgeon as a second opinion may be useful.

 

[BethH]

My horse is too bright for his own good anyway - I would say that he calmed down considerably post op and is a joy to own, but he deffo isn't a novice ride, partly because of learned behaviour caused by the ks, he is 95% better than he was and he has also matured a lot as he was only 6 when we operated and had been a very troubled 5yr old, I think he played up so much finally because I worked him less when I was pregnant, which caused him to lose some of the muscle supporting the weak area in the back making any work uncomfortable for him.

If the owner loves him as a person and likes character in a horse then I would say the op should be seriously considered. If not find a home with a good rider who schools in a classical dressage way which would allow him to strengthen and possibly hold himself together which will allow him to cope, although you may go through a few hoops whilst he is strengthening, hence the suggestion of long reining long and low. I do think jumping puts strain on a back that is pre-disposed to KS, but I bought my horse to learn to jump and never really did because of the KS, so I am willing to be corrected by someone with more knowledge in the discipline as I would be too much of a scaredy cat to do any jumps with any height so have absolutely no track record!!