Poor Spike

[Halfpass]

You may all remember that back in March my OH bought a horse that had a problem with being mounted.

We had him vetted and he passed with flying colours.

After a couple of months off in the field we sent him away to have his issues sorted and he came home after 4 weeks a different horse.

OH continued with the work of getting him to stand whilst being mounted and was getting on really well. Spike was getting fitter and had been to his first dressage comp and scored 63%.

Well over the last month my OH has taken 4 un planned dismounts. All being when Spike bolts then does twist type bucks but completely out of the blue and on one occasion after a good long hack and another after just walking in the school. Of the 2 out hacking, one was passed off as him being over excited. 1 in the school where OH landed on his head knocked himself out and we think broke his tumb and finally last Sunday after a hack on the concrete at the yard.

Each time OH got back on but we both had niggling doubts something wasn't quite right. We did all the usual and had teeth back and saddle checked. And all were passed as being fine.

After his fall on Sunday we decided that Spike needed to be checked over by our vet. We took him today and he had a full lamness work up and he is completely sound, and had his back checked over. The only thing found was some tension in his back but no obvious signs of pain.

We decided to go ahead with some back xrays just to put our minds at rest.
The xrays have showed that he has kissing spines.

He has just had some slow release local anaesthetic and some steroids injected into the 2 affected areas. OH has to get on in a week and keep his fingers crossed that Spike is more comfy. Worse case scenario he will need an op within the next year. I am please that we have found something wrong as we were starting to give him a 'naughty horse' label, but poor Spike must have been in so much pain!

Any helpful advice on how to help him be comfy would be much appreciated and any experiences of this treatment and the op would be great.

 

[Baggybreeches]

Wow, poor Spike, well done on finding out the cause and fingers crossed it can be sorted.

 

[Mrs_Wishkabibble]

Well done you and OH for finding cause. Far too many people write horses off as "problems" without looking for the real cause such as pain etc and sell them on to somebody else.

 

[teapot]

poor boy but glad you've found the cause

 

[Halfpass]

I really think that this is what the person that sold him to us did. Poor Spike though has probably been like this for some time. Considering this he has done remarkabley well to come as far as he has with us. The change in him since we have had his is amazing however due to not being worked particularly hard he is probably feeling more comfy.

 

[Blizzard]

Poor boy, Im glad you have found an answer though.

 

[Mrs_Wishkabibble]

Isn't it amazing just what horses cope with. He was obviously in alot of pain but had "put up" with it until it got unbearable and luckily for him you have listened.
Thank god he's come to you both and not ended up as a "dangerous nutter" at the sales - it could all so easily be a different story.
Let us know how he gets on with his treatment

 

[dozzie]

I poo pooed back problems for years and have recently had a horse diagnosed with back issues so I can sort of understand why your horse's issues went undiagnosed. When I look back I can remember so many that possibly/definitely had back problems. Most people seem to recommend Willesley in Gloucestershire or Liphook (nearer to you) for Kissing Spine ops.

 

[Flame_]

I don't know if you've read my other posts, but my mare bolts when mounted in an open space and posts like yours always get me worrying. She has passed a 5 stage vetting, and since been checked again by vets for physical problems that could be causing the behavioural problems. She has also had dentistry, physio and I've been told by Mark Windsor the chiropracter that she has a good back. He also believes he can tell if a horse has kissing spines by its reflex reactions and with a temperature senser machine.
I'm not one for just accepting what each expert tells me but at the same time I don't want to get so paranoid that I'm constantly taking horses to Newmarket for all the tests especially as I've been told by plenty of people this horse's problem's in its head and the vets don't seem to think there's much point referring her.
Did you have any experience with chiropracters/physios checking for Spikes problem and telling you he was fine and getting it wrong or did you go straight for the tests? I suppose what I'm really asking is does anyone know how reliable Mark Windsor's judgement is and do these temperature sensers sometimes miss a serious problem?

 

[Halfpass]

We had a sports massage therapist out to Spike and she did find some soreness in that area and she basicaly blamed the saddle, although she did mention KS but said that Spike showed none of the signs of having reactions.
Our dentist thought it maybe KS just by the way he reacted to having his teeth done but his teeth were all ok.
At the vets they did loads of tests before xrays ie walking up and down slopes with his head in the air, putting pressue on his spine, stretch tests bringing his head round to his sides, full lameness work up and nothing showed up at all. He basically passed a vetting easily.
We pushed for xrays just beacuse of the niggling doubt in our minds and they showed up easily right where the saddle goes! Fingers crossed it will work out for him . I would say go and get some xrays done just for your own piece of mind.

 

[Flame_]

Yep. Thanks, I think I will. I'll hate myself if she gets worse and I find out in a few months/years time that there's been a physical problem all along and I just haven't tried hard enough to find it. Might put up another post about this though cos I am interested in opinions about Mark's diagnosis, he was pretty positive he can tell if a horse has kissing spines.