Kissing spine surgery

Would you buy a horse that had kissing spine surgery? What questions would you ask?

No. I wouldn’t consider the horse at all.

However, questions I would ask are: Who did the surgery. How long ago. What rehab protocol was followed. Where is the horse now in terms of performance & maintenance. I would like my vet team to review the surgical records, all the vet records in fact. I’d like to see the ‘before’ rads of the spine also.

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I would not consider the horse unless it was free/very very very cheap. IME it is rare that KS is the “only” thing the horse has going on, once it gets symptomatic enough to consider surgery.

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I wouldn’t. KS surgery is still relatively new and even if the horse comes back 100% after it there might be problems down the line. Also maintenance will definitely be required. My horse has had KS surgery (which failed) so I have been in the Kissing Spine facebook group for a few years and its not uncommon for issues to pop back up a few years post surgery.

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Thank you all for the feedback.

The horse isn’t super cheap, it also isn’t very old, so I was surprised that they already did the surgery.

I will take the advice given and pass on the horse.

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