Kissing Spines?

[Piaffe63]

I have heard alot about Kissing Spines in books and just people talking, but what does it actually do and what can cause it? Thanks

 

[StormyMoments]

its just where the tops of the vertebrae touch known as kisses they can touch on the underside but this isnt very common and it causes pain when the bones rub together while moving, they dont hurt as much once they have fused themselves together

it is caused but lots of things but it tends to be form compensating for something like pain in the hocks etc hope this helps!

 

[Piaffe63]

its just where the tops of the vertebrae touch known as kisses they can touch on the underside but this isnt very common and it causes pain when the bones rub together while moving, they dont hurt as much once they have fused themselves together

it is caused but lots of things but it tends to be form compensating for something like pain in the hocks etc hope this helps!

Very helpful thanks!

 

[TicTac]

its just where the tops of the vertebrae touch known as kisses they can touch on the underside but this isnt very common and it causes pain when the bones rub together while moving, they dont hurt as much once they have fused themselves together

it is caused but lots of things but it tends to be form compensating for something like pain in the hocks etc hope this helps!

Sorry, but I'm going to disagree with you here. yes kissing spine is where the tops of the vertabrae have come into contact with each other. Once this happens the bones will rub together and erode and this causes the horse pain. They dont often fuse and if they do it is because of arthritus and that can be even more painfull for the horse.

Kissing spine is often the cause of other symptomatic problems ie possible hind leg lameness and not usually the other way around.

Many horses with ' kissing spine' can be successfully operated on as in my mare's case. She had the op last september due to the impingement of 7 vertabrae! She is now back to full strenght and not displaying any of the problems which led to the diagnosis in the first place.

If you have a look in the veterinary section of this forum on the pictures ( page 8) you will see the before and after xrays of my mare's problem.

 

[Piaffe63]

Sorry, but I'm going to disagree with you here. yes kissing spine is where the tops of the vertabrae have come into contact with each other. Once this happens the bones will rub together and erode and this causes the horse pain. They dont often fuse and if they do it is because of arthritus and that can be even more painfull for the horse.

Kissing spine is often the cause of other symptomatic problems ie possible hind leg lameness and not usually the other way around.

Many horses with ' kissing spine' can be successfully operated on as in my mare's case. She had the op last september due to the impingement of 7 vertabrae! She is now back to full strenght and not displaying any of the problems which led to the diagnosis in the first place.

If you have a look in the veterinary section of this forum on the pictures ( page 8) you will see the before and after xrays of my mare's problem.

Thanks for that- it was really interesting looking at the photos. So, during the operation, did they remove the problem vertabrae so they weren't touching anymore?

 

[TicTac]

Piaffe63, yes the vet removed the tops of every other one of the impinging vertabrae so that there is now a big gap between each one.

My mare is quite compact and short in the back and the vet seemed to think that her kissing spine is more congenital ( born with it) rather than being caused by an incorrect way of going.