Your vet may also suggest a bone scan (scintigraphy), which involves injecting your horse with a radioisotope. Horses with shorter than average backs are more likely to develop kissing spine. Casey was seeing good results from the exercises she was doing under the instruction of an equine physical therapist. Let's stop horsing around and get to what causes kissing spine in horses. Officially known as "overriding dorsal spinous processes" or "spinous process impingement" this term describes the touching or "kissing" of the long, thin bones that project upward from the vertebrae of the spinal column in the horse's back. Does everyone agree? If your answer was no (and we hope it was!
Kissing Spine Surgery Horse
Treatment of Kissing Spines in Horses. I'm just wondering am I wasting my time posting him? Supporting their joint and soft tissue health through a supplement like Integricare's TRI-ACTA for Equine. LOL, all board members should take their horse and many of yours have kissing spine and you don't even know it. One guy had surgery done on his gelding's back before it even started having problems, while another woman had to retire her best mare when she suddenly started refusing to go in the box and bucking in the field. The Truth: Kissing spines can actually be successfully managed in most horses with a variety of treatments. The part of the vertebrae that we are interested in is the vertical part that projects up and should be evenly spaced from the adjacent process. This surgery has an increased risk of infection and complications. Struggles to pick up or maintain the canter, the correct lead, or a proper three-beat gait; cross-canters, has a disunited canter, or breaks from the canter. Watch the video to hear her explain what it is, how to treat, and how to know if horses with Kissing Spine can be ridden. SmartPak's Staff Veterinarian, Dr. Lydia Gray, talks about Kissing Spine in horses. Each of these vertebrae has a protrusion of bone at its midline that points straight up toward his back—similar to the dorsal fin of a fish. I would not pay as much for him as I would a perfectly sound horse though. Tension and pressure on these nerve endings gives the horse back pain, and causes reflex muscle spasm which pulls the spines even closer and makes it even worse.
Would You Buy A Horse With Kissing Spine Book
As horse owners, we need to stay vigilant and on guard for the sake of our horses' health. Identification of Genomic Loci Associated with Performance-Limiting Kissing Spines in Quarter Horses and Warmbloods. Surgical correction for kissing spine should be considered a "last resort" option that offers hope for horses severely affected with the condition if they have not responded to other treatment options.
Kissing Spine In Horses Surgery
Over the course of this journey, I realized that I had been exercising horses improperly my entire life. If you didn't choose a proper saddle for your riding, it would be dangerous for your horse. When ridden, horses with pain elsewhere in their body may hold their back stiffly and resist bending one or both ways. I had owned my horse, Monkey, for just over six months when he was diagnosed with kissing spines in October of 2019. "Nobody knows what causes it. What can't be appreciated in some circumstances without ultrasound is back soreness from the ligament that runs over the spine and inserts into these DSP's nor the ligaments that are located between the bones.
The advantage is that, like thermography, they are dynamic exams and show problems in real time as opposed to static exams such as radiographs or ultrasound that show what is currently there, but don't necessarily correlate to inflammation or degree or activity. The most important concept is that regardless of the treatment, physical therapy is particularly integral to a successful outcome. Wouldn't trade the gelding I have for all the money in the world but that's why I wouldn't buy. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (pulses of high-pressure mechanical energy). Sinding, F. and Berg, L. Distances between thoracic spinous processes in Warmblood foals: A radiographic study. 1||$800 – $1, 2002|. Treatments in use today include surgery, joint injections and non-invasive rehabilitation. You may be wondering why I would pay $1 million for a horse with kissing spine. Large head in relation to their body. If the signs of pain have resolved, this indicates that the kissing spines are causing pain. Prognosis for Horses with Kissing Spines. She educated herself about it and takes the proper care and precautions of him. In fact, a 2018 consensus statement from the European Federation of Veterinarians (FEEVA) stated that "there is no evidence of a correlation between radiographic appearance of the dorsal spinous processes of the back and future risk of disease in asymptomatic horses. "
Like I said, educate. The following picture is of a combined back radiograph from a horse with normal spacing. View previous thread:: View next thread. Called impinging spinous processes by vets, it's a relatively common condition that can affect the vertebrae in your horse's back. The availability of certain treatments in the area. De Graaf K., Enzerink E., van Oijen P., Smeenk A., Dik K. J. When the coffin bone rotates upward, the horse must move its hind limbs in a way that stiffens the back in a hollow posture. Kissing spines have also been observed in the lumbar vertebrae, but this is less common. If you are purchasing a horse, radiographs of the back can help guide management that might prevent problems from developing. Horses are most commonly diagnosed around 5 to 10 years of age, but younger and older horses can develop it, too.