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Kissing spines is a problem which affects many horses and seems to be a common problem in ex racehorses. It often goes undiagnosed for a long time due to many of the symptoms appearing to be behavioural issues rather than a physical problem. Although there is treatment available, it seems to be the most common answer is to retire or put the horse to sleep. I think this is mainly due to the cost and the amount of time it can take to recover.
I recently came across a blog: Diary of a Kissing Spine which recorded the progress of a horse who was diagnosed with kissing spine and their recovery. Ruth, the writer of diary of a kissing spine, kindly wrote this blog post for us about her experiences.
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Firstly I’d like to introduce my gorgeous boy, Adam. I have owned him since he was just coming on 6 and he is now 14. He will be 15 in april. Adam is an anglo arab, with strong showing lines in his breeding. I had him on loan for 9 months before purchasing him and we have learnt alot together through the years. He was a little monkey for many years, not coping too well with hacking and big vechiles. Never particularly took to schooling and would throw his dollies out the pram at any given oppourinity. All these problems seemed very much behavioural and nothing ever occurred to me that there was an underlying problem going on.
He now tolerates water 🙂
To find out more about Ruth and Adam, please visit their blog, Diary of A Kissing Spine.