Kissing spine is unfortunately a relatively frequent problem with very few medical solutions. One is invasive surgery, with all the risks related to surgery. The other is injections which might provide transient relief but do not cure the problem nor teach the horse to live with the abnormality.

The problem of kissing spine often combines genetic anomaly and protective posture. The dorsal spines are inherently too close and the horse adopts a protective posture providing short-term relief but long-term problems. In a 1980, Leo Jeffcot summarized the results of 443 cases of horses having back issues. The British scientist categorized the severity of dorsal spine impingements into five levels.

Interestingly, there were a high percentage of affected horses showing a higher level of severity, (42%). In the eighties, back soreness was thought only to be a compensation for hock pain or other musculoskeletal disorders. Commonly, kissing spine issues induce discomfort in the hind legs. The symptoms vary from reluctance to pick up the hind legs to lameness. One can imagine that with the mind set on the thought that back problems were the outcome of hock issues, hocks and other limb joints were investigated and injected again and again before looking higher into the horse's vertebral column. When finally the focus was directed on the horse's back, the problem had already evolved to the higher severity level.

With technology improving the quality of the pictures and a greater willingness to investigate the horse's vertebral column, horses can be diagnosed even when the dorsal spine only touches intermittently. These horses are easier to reeducate. The concept of therapy in motion is pertinent especially in a world where training techniques are the main cause of equine injuries. In 1994, Mikael Holmstr�m wrote, "Most dressage manuals describe the training of passage and piaff, but very few explain how the horses perform them." Indeed, the science of motion focuses precisely on the body coordination allowing a horse to perform soundly and efficiently.

In many instances, the genetic predisposition, which places the dorsal spine too close, does not alter the horse's activities until the intensity of the demand increases or the horse is submitted to inappropriate training techniques. Very little can be done about this genetic predisposition, which places the dorsal spines a little too close, but a horse can learn to work and function efficiently with this genetic abnormality. The key is to identify the posture and working attitude causing intermittent contact of the dorsal spines. The horses that we have reeducated presented a combination of stiffening or arching of the thoracolumbar spine, associated with a problem of lateral bending and/or transversal rotation. 

Once the source of the kinematic abnormality has been identified, the reeducation is in fact an education. The therapy for kissing spine can be summarized as educating the horse to live with his problem. The horse learns to function efficiently adopting a vertebral coordination avoiding closing of the dorsal spines.

Adequate gymnastics is in fact the horse's sole hope. The reeducation is precise, demands great consistency, but is not outrageously difficult. In fact, the difficulty is more in turning back to old habits.

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