Kissing Spine - Do you understand what's happening in the horses spine?

This month I am writing a series of Kissing Spine articles, because it's a specialist area of my work, and I want to share more about it so that more horse owners can understand what is potentially happening with their horse and ask more questions, maybe even get diagnosed and treated, so that we can all increase horse welfare and improve their quality of life. 

This weeks blog is around the anatomy of what is actually happening in the horses spine when 'Kissing Spine' is diagnosed. 

Looking at the image, I will explain a bit about why I see that Kissing Spine is inevitable really for horses. The dip in the thoracic spine area is the lowest part of the back, and it's where we put the saddle and sit. If you look closely, can you see that the dorsal spinous processes are actually pointing in towards each other...so imagine what would happen to the bones when the spine is dipped even further...the bones come even closer together, and can touch, rub, and create pain in the bones and ligaments in between the bones.

Research has shown that the most common area for Kissing Spine is under the saddle..not really a co-incidence...it's where the bones are closest and pointing towards each other. 

So just looking at the spine in quite a simplistic way, it should be more easy to see that Kissing Spine can be happening really easily within the horses back, just based on their 'design'.

And this is why I talk so much about posture, teach horse owners how to look at their own horses posture and assess it, look at the horses back and consider what's actually happening inside the body, and then what to work on to improve our horses core, to lift the spine and create more space in between the dorsal spinous processes. 

Working on your horses body strength (core strength) is one of the most important things we should be working on with our horses...if they are weak in their body, the spine will potentially sink when you sit on the horse, if the horse has had time off, they will be weaker in their body than before the break so need strengthening again prior to being ridden, if your horse has been on box rest / had an injury, they won't have been moving as much or had enough exercise to be strong in the core and back. These are just a few examples of common situations with horses where they lack core strength. 

The core works to push the back up, so our horses needs a strong core (abdominals and waist muscles) to lift the middle section of the body. This in turn creates more space in between the dorsal spinous processes, in combination with core strengthening work which increases the size of the multifidus muscles which sit along the dorsal spinous processes. All of this gives your horse a stronger platform that we can then sit on. 

I hope all of this makes sense, it's important to understand that any of our horses can actually be suffering with Kissing Spine, and in particular if they have poor posture. 

***Please get in touch if you are struggling with this with your horse, or you would like to learn more***

FREE EBOOK: Feel free to download my Free Ebook Kissing Spine Rehabilitation, the key steps to recovery...CLICK HERE FOR EBOOK DETAILS

KISSING SPINE SUPPORT: Also check out my Kissing Spine Resources page, where I list all of the current ways that I can help you...CLICK HERE FOR KISSING SPINE RESOURCES PAGE