Please share your kissing spine stories. What worked for you & your horse(s)? What did not work? Did you opt for surgery? Did it work? Or was the horse managable? How? What was the horse(s) performance before & after treatment/ management? 

Thanks! 

Summit injections are helping .  Because it reduces inflammation by increasing the viscosity of the synovial fluid around the joint.  Healthier synovial fluid and thicker synovial fluid reduces the chance of bone on bone rubbing. You would need to give the loading dose the one dose every other week until you get ahead of the pain and inflammation.  I would be glad to answer any questions you have.  

Are you a dealer?

My gelding was dx with mild kissing spine. He had 3 processed effected, mostly narrowed not really rubbing. However, based on the x-rays you could tell they made impact at some point (he did take a big fall prior to issues starting). I do personally believe there was some soft tissue injuries as well but MRI was too expensive and it wouldnt have changed my treatment plan.

My gelding already had dressage basics (I start all mine that way) so his topline was pretty nice to begin with. However, he had muscle soreness from protecting his back. He acted like it was 40 degrees and raining all the time so his back muscles were hard as rocks. I did start with meso therapy to give us a headstart and then did physical therapy type treatment. I did all long and low, back strengthening exercises. I was diligent. Started small but frequent and long lined him probably 5x minimum per week. If he sat too long, his back got tight.

I also did massage on him often, used Sore No More after workouts with some simple techniques my body work gal taught me and then I always kept him warm. I did whatever I could to keep him from hunching his back up. I spent about 6 months rehabbing him before running him and he has progressively gotten easier to manage as time has gone. I ran him lightly for 2 years after being diagnosed and retired him about 2 years ago due to unrelated issue with his past check ligament surgery.

However, I did pull him out of retirement a few weekends ago and he was in the 3D (he was a 2D horse in his best runs, consistently a 3D horse). I used this same method on two other kissing spine horses with success but it takes a lot of time and my life kind of revolved around it. I know a lot have had success with the surgery.

I did use adequan and noticed no different. I spoke to several vets about injections and they werent recommended due to not being able to access the spine effectively.  

I had a mare that was diagnosed with mild level 3 kissing spine last year. Since then, I have got her back injected and it has made a world of difference. The vet recommended to me to do a lot of long trotting as well as making her step over poles. By making her step over poles, it forces her to use her back muscles to pick up her feet which strengthens her back. 

She is a barrel horse and has been since she was a four year old. She has a little bit of a longer back conformationally and that is why she got it in the first place. When she was just diagnosed, I had her on prevacox for 45 days and gave her 5 months off to let it heal on its own before getting the injections. I think allowing the inflamation to go down naturally really helped her out a ton. 

I have also adjusted the workout routine as well. Being that she is 15 and a finished barrel horse, I will exercise her a few days a week by ponying her while I am on another horse. It helps keep my added weight off of her back and it still keeps her in shape. 

That is what I have found to work the best for myself and my horse.

How do you know it does that when there are no studies proving safety or efficacy?

it's quite obvious that she is

and it may give a minor amount of relief but it's unproven and a shot in the dark at the very most. 

she doesn't know but like everything she sells it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Just ask her

Curious if this horse has ever been tested for PSSM2?

LOL, I know right!!! On another thread she was saying she would be glad to answer any questions about this summit.. I wonder if she has her lawyer on stand by for anybody that dont agree with her.

Currently in the middle of it. Diagnosed in October. Did meso, no luck. Had her spine injected, 4 processes, last month. Seeing some improvement, but nothing major yet. But it took almost 3 years to figure it out. First at 3 with only 60 days on her, I thought she was just being a brat. So we tried to work through it. Then symptoms kept changing & progressing. After the injections she carries herself a lot nicer, will collect herself and lift her back when lunging. All on her own, no contraptions needed. Couldn't get her to walk forward with a rider, but she'd lunge fine. So we lunged her with a rider & she did well. Tried that for a couple days & then just tried riding & it was better. She still sometimes stops abruptly or is hesitant to go forward but she's figuring it out. Still needs her SI injected, that's getting done soon. That's from compensating for at least 3 years. I don't think I'll have her 100% or close to until that is no longer sore as well. But otherwise she's been doign well with that. I will start her on the pattern this year and if I feel like she's going to be really worth it, then we'll go ahead and just do surgery. She has trauma where those vertebrae at some point crashed together and pieces broke, so she's got a little more going on than just the KS. But it's a daily maintence thing, they aren't horses that can sit for lengths of time. They've gotta be exercised consistently all year and you have to do all the fun exercises to lift their backs & keep them from hollowing out. I have to do her 5-6 days a week. Some people have had good results with Tildren as well 

No she was never tested for it but I have not had any problems since getting her treated.