Kissing Spine Rehabilitation

'Kissing Spine' is a condition with horses that is much better known and diagnosed/treated now than it was 10 years ago. You may have heard about it, or experienced it with your horses. 

In my work as a Spinal Manipulation Therapist and Physiotherapist/Rehabilitation Specialist I have worked extensively with horses with Kissing Spine, alongside vets, during the rehabilitation process, so have gained a lot of experience with HOW to rehabilitate this condition, and have the benefit of comparison. 

What I have found with many of the horses that I have worked with, is that they have poor posture, and/or have been 'locking' in their body. 

So in the early stages of rehabilitation, what I am looking to achieve is to teach the horse to 'unlock' his body by releasing over his topline. I cover this in detail in my In Hand Exercise Series as it's a super important exercise to teach your horse, and can actually show up how locked your horses core is, and therefore what you need to work on. 

Next I train core activation exercises, once the horse is 'reset'. These are the "carrot stretch" exercises, that  are super useful exercises to teach your horse, you can make a huge difference to your horses posture once the core muscles are switched on and then strengthened. BUT how do you know if you're doing them correctly and effectively? I can show you HOW to do these exercises for the best results, and show you what CHEATING looks like from the horse! 

Then once the horse is 'reset' and has been taught the core activation exercises I move into various types of groundwork, looking at different ways to engage the core muscles, which in turn lifts the back, and ultimately gives the long and low frame that we need to aim towards, to separate the Dorsal Spinous Processes, the bones that touch in Kissing Spine. And on from there it is a strengthening process, once we have the new more correct posture trained. 

It is crucial that your horse is retrained following Kissing Spine diagnosis/treatment. If you would like some support and Training to help you understand WHY and HOW to do some of the most effective core strengthening exercises, whether your horse has Kissing Spine, or you would just like to improve their posture, then click through to read about my online training programme: CLICK for Strength & Straightness Online Programme

I have also written a detailed Ebook: Kissing Spine Rehabilitation & Prevention Strategies, if you would prefer to read more about KS: Kissing Spine Ebook

If you need any further help, do get in touch, I will always do my best to help you...Jenny x