While I’ve handled/cared for horses undergoing KS treatment or surgery, I’ve (thank heavens) never had to deal with it in my own horses up until now.
What are the more recent avenues of management with KS? It’s been a few years since I last visited the subject - and a lot of technology and information has been published since then.
What are COTHers doing to manage KS in their own horses?
(This is all paraphrased from my vet):
Kissing spine can be tricky, because severity on x-ray doesn’t always correlate with severity of symptoms. The more we x-ray horses backs, the more we find it, it’s not particularly uncommon. BUT: when is it a problem that requires invasive treatment, or even retirement?
If x-rays shown mild enough impingement, or if horse doesn’t seem to be that uncomfortable (subjective, of course), some treatments she suggested were:
If horse is clearly uncomfortable and x-rays show severe impingement, retirement is probably the best option. That’s what we decided to do for my horse. I wondered at the time whether it what the right decision, but the complete turn-around in his attitude has been pretty astonishing. It’s amazing how their outlook changes when they aren’t in pain.
I just had xrays done and it shows severe kissing spine. The vets and trainer were surprised, but I suspected.
I am retiring him, pulling him out of training.
Any suggestions to keep him comfy? He’s 8 years old, OTTB. Should I continue getting him massages? BOT? Supplements? He’ll be a cute pasture pet, but just want him as comfy as I can to live out his life.
I asked his two vets but no one has responded.
Callista I asked my vet/s the same thing. They said he’d be perfectly comfortable as long as he wasn’t ridden. So far, that seems to be the case.
BOT and supplements I wouldn’t bother with, they’re marginally effective at the best of times. Massage? I guess you could try it. If he enjoys it, and it doesn’t seem to make him uncomfortable, why not?
So sorry about your horses, Callista & Gumby.
I’ve seen robaxin, previcox and full 24/7 TO make a good difference for horses with facet remodeling/impingement.
Mine is already on full T/O. Havent decided what to do with him yet, whether or not I will try to bring him back. He is the same age too. He has articular facet remodeling c5-c6, moderate remodeling c6-c7, and impingement of dorsal spines t-11-l1.
Sorry about yalls horses and can’t speak to treatments. But the one I did have was leased out as a lesson horse and later sold to a student, started acting out and throwing her. They gave him back to me and I threw him out in the pasture for about 5 months while I thought on what to do with him. In the mean time I got some more X-rays pulled (couldn’t seem to get my hands on the first set), and while the lesions were obviously still there, he had become comfortable and his back was totally loose again; just a physical exam without X-rays, no one would have guessed he had kissing spine. The owners began to miss him, and asked for him back (with a strict no jumping clause) and he is sound again for light trail riding. So turn out can do great things for simply getting/keeping them comfortable in a retired state.
ETA: he was sound with no back problems when I sold him. He developed them after he was sold. The bucking was odd for his lazy personality and prompted the first set of X-rays, which is when he was diagnosed.
(Won’t let me reply with quote):
Beowulf, the vet report from my fellow states: “Dorsal spinous process impingement T10-11, 11-12, 12-13, 13-14, 14-15, 15-16, 16-17, 17-18, T18-L1, S2-3, S3-4 with cyst formation at T10-13 with sclerosis of the opposing borders and overriding processes at T11-12 and T14-15, 15-16,16-17”.
So I’m guessing he is much more severely affected than your guy. Just to put things in perspective, if you are considering whether to retire him or not.
I had one with severe kissing spine, honestly she was perfectly fine (would come out a little cold backed in winter and would take some time to loosen up)… until she went on trial with a heavy set kid and bad fitting saddle. She came back bucking and overly aggregated… that’s when we found it.
For her we did an experimental back injection, lunging in a Pessoa rig, and 24/7 turn out. We had hopes for her to come back as a pleasure horse/light job. Unfortunately she had another injury unrelated to this that led to her being euthanized. So I can’t say how well the treatment path worked. I will say she was much more comfortable after the injection! She wasn’t pissy anymore and seemed happier. I know it’s important for them to get strong through their back and core, hence the lunging.
Before her diagnosis she got robaxin at the show and used an equisage, this helped her tremendously! She was always happier at shows and now I know why! So I’m wondering if massage would help some too?
Good luck!!
Sorry for misspelling above, it won’t let me edit! Meant to say aggravated:)
My horse was diagnosed with severe kissing spine 4-5 years ago. He was successfully rehabbed with 3 treatments of shockwave and mesotherapy, saddle fit change, and A year of physical training of long and low. He is maintained with full turnout and work, no vacations of more than 3 weeks. He also required a course of legend during rehab because of his stifle. He also get his saddle fit checked regularly??. For him, it worked. My vet said that most horses will return to rideable IF the rehab is completed.
My horse had the Intraspinous Ligament Desmotomy surgery (AKA the “lig snip”) on Nov 7 and he’s doing great! I’m in the US but I’m a Brit and it’s a much more common surgery in the UK.
I had to jump through all kinds of hoops with my vets - time off, injections, even a bone scan, but the fact is KS is a skeletal problem and once the vertebrae have started rubbing and causing calcifications, all these “treatments” are simply temporarily masking the underlying problem.
If you haven’t found it already, there’s a great FB group for people whose horses have KS. Tons of great first-hand info.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/101279456709105/
Also had very good luck with completely refitting the saddle recently. Went to a set up similar to the balance saddle method- saddle that looks too wide in front then pad it. Started with over 1.5 inches of padding in front (tapered shims), now down to less than a quarter inch. Horse has developed trapezius muscles that were simply not there before and is completely fine and sound and no longer is cold backed or bucks. Moves much better too.
This is the first time I’ve done this with a horse who definitely had (mild) KS but I’ve been doing similar for decades with sore backed horses. I think the last 10 years custom saddles have become so popular and most of them are fit FAR too close imho. If you have a horse with huge dips behind the shoulder, build those muscles up, don’t fit a saddle to the existing atrophy!
Probably more useful to prevent the development of KS in the first place but it can fix a mild case.
I don’t think there is a lot new as far as options for KS. I had one horse have the bone remodeling surgery and it was the best thing I could have done for him. Sadly he has a more severe injury now and is enjoying a year of R&R. Will be hitting the lunging rig to re-rehab his back when he is deemed fit for work.
I also know quite a few other people who have had the same surgery done. Very mixed results. One I know of returned to his UL dressage job with no major issues. Two were retired, one is back to work but behavior similar to pre-op and one had the surgery but has a variety of other issues and now apparently has a fractured pelvis r/t pasture incident. Not sure how I would proceed if I had to do it again. I think it is so important to rule out any other issues that might become problematic post op. Bone scan pre-op? Not too sure - the one horse who is no better post op, had a bone scan that was essentially negative but IMO he has a million things not quite right.
Agree with prevention - correct back building work right from the get go. Personally, KS lesions in a sale horse would be a deal breaker for me - even if they were not symptomatic. I would however buy horse with surgically corrected KS that had been back doing the job I wanted them to do.
Gumby, that sounds like quite a lot…so sorry.
And everyone else, thank you for the replies and TY for the link to the FB group… just sent a request in.
If anyone is interested, here are his rads:
http://s682.photobucket.com/user/horripig/library/
Gumby, that sounds like quite a lot…so sorry.
And everyone else, thank you for the replies and TY for the link to the FB group… just sent a request in.
If anyone is interested, here are his rads:
http://s682.photobucket.com/user/horripig/library/
It was an exhausting 2.5 years for my young TB and I. Three rounds of osphos, custom saddles, back on track everything, several breaks and time-off. We tried injecting hocks, SI, stifles, when we thought his back was better but still not going well. Lots of lunging and rehabbing. I decided to retire him at 7, when a final go around of time off, rehab, riding produced the same nervous, hot and in-pain horse. He is happily enjoying the blue grass now in full retirement. Sometimes the horse just tells you, enough is enough.
Here’s my guy’s rads:
http://imgur.com/OOyTmkB
http://imgur.com/PncmOYg
I’m no vet, but his processes seem to overlap a lot more than your horse’s, Beowulf. Hopefully your guy is a less severe case, and he can be successfully rehabbed.
I’ve seen the Ligament surgery help quite a bit. It was a horse that responded well to guided injections well initially then needed more help.
Here is my boy’s story: http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?479156-The-I-m-rehabbing-my-TB-with-kissing-spine-thread. My vet is against the surgery.
The problem with KS is that there are SO many things that can be tried it gets very expensive before you know if anything will work! I don’t even want to add up what I have already spent. I tried the lig snip already. My vet is now telling me it has fallen out of favor and she is doing more lig snips combined with the reshaping surgeries and having more success. She believes in therapies first before resorting to surgery. Injections, Mesotherapy, laser, and shockwave are her normal go-tos and she said she is successfully managing quite a few horses on therapies alone (she is surgeon as well as FEI vet.)
I have not found a solution for my guy but may try some acupuncture this spring as a last resort.
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