Kissing spines.....

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Slightlyconfused

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Is also in vet but I thought we get alot if traffic through here......
Horsey has been diagnosed with ks, four vertebrae under saddle are fused and another four are in the process are fusing......

Can I have your experiences with it please ?

Vet is sending X-rays off to Ian Wright? At Newmarket to see if he can help.

Very numb and confused :(
 
very sorry :( dont dispare!!! the story is very long but my tb gelding has 6 fusing together at the back of his saddle, however is out doing his first ever medium test next weekend! it CAN come right
but remember you must do what is best for your horse
lay out every option you will be given, and push for infomation on each one, so you can choose what will be best. take your time as it will impact your horse for the future, and depending on what you choose you may invest alot of time and possibly money!
 
I was given our mare whom we sold 4yrs ago and she has this condition. Hers is behind the saddle and Vets have told us to ride her long and low to build her topline back, she has been ridden for too long with her head up in the air and a hollow back by the person we sold her to. Surgery is an eventual option but Physio says she is more mobile in her back than some horses she has seen recently so I am hopeful of a positive outcome in time to come. Apparently there are lots of horses out there with KS and not all owners of aware of it.

If she doesnt come right then she will be retired, shes only 15 and enjoys hacking out. Is living out for the first time ever and seems happy enough. Time will tell.
 
She is insured so if he can do it I think we will go for it.

She came to us as a state, had been mistreated alot and had issues. Nearly all of them are gone, it was just the reacting when girthing up that was not going. We wanted to re back her next year so I wanted to get the physical rules out.

How old is your tb? My mare is 13.

Did you have surgery? Or will you if he needs it?

Thank you in just a little shocked, she is such a sweet little mare and these explosions were just confusing and not within 90% of her behaviour. So I now know they are pain related.
 
Well I've known 4 horses with kissing spines.
One was very bad so a nutcase to ride and unlikely to come right even with an operation, but she's well bred so gone to be a broodmare.
One was also a nutcase to ride, had the operation and spine healed beautifully, but the horse never became any better to ride, but went to a real thruster to hunt who doesn't mind the horse's 'quirks' despite how dangerous they are!
One was never quite right and extremely nappy out hacking and hated walking down hills. Not too bad kissing spines, but also damaged sacroiliac muscles and as a result of these things something wrong with a tendon in the back leg??
Anyway, operation successful on his kissing spines, but because of the other problems he never came right and was put down as wouldn't be a happy hacker and hated being out too.

I have saved the best till last!
One horse with severe kissing spines, had successful operation and now hunter trialing up to 1m and sjing and dressaging too.

So I think it depends if the kissing spines have caused behavioural problems, and the temperament of the horse. 3 of these horses had successful operations so they were physically fine, but either mentally they were affected or they had a cocktail of other problems. So despite how depressing this post might seem, I would say that you have options, and although operations aren't always successful I think they are getting better very quickly and you can be positive about it.
I think 1 of these horses was done at newmarket and 2 at oakham vets?? Not entirely sure.

Good luck!
 
Thank you supercowpony.....she came to us with issues but on the ground they have just about gone and if she does have a backward moment it's just that a moment.

The ridden work she had always been tense in and ready to explode but I don't know how much of that is behaviour and how much is pain as the bone looks like its been like it for a while.....:(
 
we believe our gelding has always had ks, hes 12, diagnosed aged 11 but it was agrivated by a loaner.
this was april 2011 and we kept working him till that summer, when things got to serious, and i was putting myself in a position that was literaly life threatening
he would drop to the floor - onto anything - when doing up the girth and bolt when it was done up and breathed out. riding...hold on and hope for the best.
he only had injections, twice, with 8 months off riding, but ground work for 6 months of this,to strenght his back. and LOTS of physio...muscle spasms were his real issue
i got back on 1st march 2012 and was out competeing at prelim again by 12th april. he didnt really start working properly till summer, and we have had set backs with saddles and shoes and yard tension.but 'touch wood' everything is ok right now.
its a huge learning curve, but thinking back ive only been back riding him 9 months and from that ive gone from thinking id never get a saddle done back up on him - let alone GET ON!, to starting flying changes next month :)
 
Your welcome. Ive noticed Sol is a bit bad tempered, more than she was when we owned her before. She has been through a lot from being a one to one horse, to being on full livery with several people looking after her, ridden whilst in pain, the list is endless and I feel guilty for selling her.

I do see flickers of my old horse and its early days yet. She does pull faces when tacked up but then once out she loves it. Shes on 1 Danilon a day and hopefully the behavioural issues will disappear. I think each case is different but its good to share them.
 
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