Kissing Spine Hope: A Roundup of Posts to Educate and Encourage

When I first discovered my Thoroughbred gelding Knight has kissing spine, to say I was devastated would be an understatement. My veterinarian’s grim tone when she showed me textbook photos of a healthy horse’s spine in contrast to the radiographs of Knight’s spine, gave little hope. It didn’t help when a few days later I ran into a barn friend at a tack shop, told her the latest discovery and a teenager nearby overheard and blurted, “Oh! My friend had a horse with kissing spine and they just retired her. She was six.” Gulp. (Click here to read my first kissing spine blog post.)

Today I know for a fact that there is so much hope for horses with kissing spine!

Kissing spine in my friend’s mare who later had surgery and made an incredible comeback.

I’ve been in research mode since my horse Knight’s kissing spine diagnosis over a year ago. I didn’t want to be limited by the advice offered from one opinion–that of my vet, so I sought out multiple opinions. In so doing, I’ve had my spirits lifted and became much more informed. Here’s what I did:

• Talked to veterinarians, trainers, equine chiropractors, and people who specialize in equine rehab
• Found people like me–who own and love a horse with kissing spine and asked them a ton of questions 
• Joined the supremely helpful Facebook Groups Horses With Kissing Spine and Related Issues and Horses with Kissing Spine
• Followed other equestrians on social media (Instagram and Twitter) dealing with the same issues with their horses by using the hashtag #kissingspine and #kissingspinerehab

• 

  Join this Facebook Group for support and encouragement.

Finding out your horse has kissing spine doesn’t have to be a catastrophic blow to your partnership. It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of a career. It could be the start of something new. My horse Knight who I was told would only be good for walking in straight lines and should never be backed up, has just started foxhunting.

He’s doing so much more than walking in a straight line on well-groomed arena footing!

He is trotting like a Standardbred and cantering fast or slow over varied terrain like it’s what he was made to do! I will never forget the thrill of our first hunt when he sailed over the fallen log and landed and just kept cantering smoothly, perfectly. My heart was soaring!

My hope is this blog post will encourage you (or a friend) if there has been a recent discovery of kissing spine in a horse you love. These are just some of the websites, articles, blogs, videos I have been encouraged by on the kissing spine journey. I’m not a medical professional–simply a horse lover who asks a ton of questions and won’t give up.

I want to add more posts and newer information as it emerges. If you know of a source I should include, please leave a comment at the end of this post. 

My friend Jes and her mare Tattoo post kissing spine surgery, schooling at Galway Downs.

17 Posts on Kissing Spine in Horses

1. Start here by reading about my friend Jessica’s OTTB mare who had the bone shaving surgery on four vertebrae a few years ago. That’s her spine in the picture above. Jes and Tattoo event and the surgery worked wonders! This blog post My Equestrian Inspiration shares the story of their kissing spine journey from severely overriding vertebrae to video of them schooling cross country at Galway Downs.

2. This Equitopia video Developing Your Horse’s Back: the Biomechanics of Engagement blew my mind when I first saw it! Around the 3:30 mark there is a demonstration of a horse at rest and a horse with his back engaged and how it affects the space between each vertebrae. When engaged the space almost doubled between the vertebrae! When you finish that video, watch Part II Developing Your Horse’s Back: the Essential Components of Self-Carriage.  These are both excellent and the message very well communicated.

3. Kristen Rozycki wrote a heart-felt post for Eventing Nation about her mare Full Circle (aka Phyllis) who overcame kissing spine, two bowed tendons and blindness in one eye and gave Kristen her first national and international championships. Here’s another article about Phyllis and Kristen’s accomplishments from The Chronicle of the Horse.

4. This Kentucky Equine Research article gives stats based on a study conducted on horses in Sweden that had the spinal surgery versus the “lig snip” as it’s called. A very short read and informative. 

5. Jean Luc Cornille is a biomechanics expert specializing in classical in-hand training for horses as a means to combat lameness. He lectures around the world and has some DVDs for sale. I found Cornille’s site Science of Motion through word of mouth via an equine chiropractor who believes wholeheartedly in this gentleman’s system. The chiropractor and I had a discussion about how if there is something in a horse’s way of moving (improper posture/carriage) and the horse is not retrained to carry itself differently, all of the other aspects to treating kissing spine might be a total waste.

6. Another excellent video from Equitopia titled “Recognizing Topline Syndrome” featuring a variety of trainers and veterinarians discussing spine health. It’s about 13 minutes long and very well done. One of the aha moments I had was when the speaker showed a horse’s mane growing with a tiny section flopped over to the “wrong” side of its neck. She said mane flipping over can be caused by uneven muscle development or tight fascia! 

7. “It [kissing spine] is quite manageable as long as you go through the options, because each horse responds differently.” This Paulick Report article on kissing spines is an easy and hopeful read. It talks about kissing spine in an unraced Thoroughbred and a cutting horse Quarter Horse, and how it was addressed and what the horses are doing now.

8. Watch Cornell University Equine Hospital’s feel-good video about Wrangler the Quarter Horse who had 11 vertebrae touching–four of them having fused together–and how through surgery and a year long rehabilitation, he has returned to the show ring, pain free. He’s since gone on to win more ribbons. There is an accompanying kissing spine article too.

9. This Dear Abby style article in Sidelines column “Vet Talk with Doctor Richard Wheeler” magazine was actually a veterinarian’s response to my letter when I first learned my horse Knight has kissing spine! Richard Wheeler, DVM specializes in equine sports medicine and is based in Wellington, Florida. His patients include some of the most elite horse athletes in the country and I highly value his view.

10. The delightful science-y publication The Horse has a downloadable report titled “Kissing Spines are Common in Horses but Not Always Career Ending”. Let that title alone bring some hope to you if you’re just now discovering your horse has kissing spine!

11. The Horse also published a 2-minute video titled “How Are Horses with Kissing Spine Treated?” providing details on various treatment options commonly practiced in the United States.

12. Schleese, a well-known saddle maker specializing in saddles for women, published this short, yet informative post Saddle Fit and Kissing Spine. It discusses whether or not saddle fit contributes to kissing spine. 

13. A lengthy and detailed article published on Thinline’s website (Thinline sells therapeutic saddle pads) which goes over alternatives to surgery for horses with kissing spine. 

14. This blog post from the Turner Equine Sports Med veterinary website shares the following about kissing spine and contains thermographic images: “Treatment is usually multifactorial and no one treatment can be expected to cure these problems. We concentrated on one treatment regimen that had previously been identified as helping back sore horses. The treatment using shockwave therapy, mesotherapy and exercise (SME therapy) was used on 24 horses. The most important aspect of treatment was the exercise. Exercise had to achieve the goal of the horse moving freely forward in a relaxed frame (“long and low”).” Definitely worth the read!

15. How to Help Your Horse Kiss Kissing Spine Goodbye. I LOVE that title! The article written by dressage trainer Visconte Simon  Cocozza. There are 48 comments (at the time of this writing) following the article.

16. If you have some time on your hands, definitely check out the blog My Kissing Spine Story. It is a devoted to one horsewoman’s experiences with her horse who had kissing spine surgery. The tagline of her site is “A diary of Jackobee’s Kissing Spines journey – from diagnoses to surgery, rehabilitation, recovery and return to competition.” The blogger wrote consistently over a period of about three years.

17. A roundup blog post would be incomplete without a foray into the Chronicle of the Horse’s forums. This thread on kissing spine is interesting as it’s real horse people talking about their experiences with their horses with kissing spine.

Thanks for reading and tally ho!

Question: What is your connection to kissing spine? Do you also love a horse with this condition? What’s been your experience? Go ahead and share in the comments section. 

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Trot along with Knight and me on our kissing spine journey over on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.