Head shaking - any advise needed

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PIP17

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Hello - is there anyone on this forum who owns or has owned a head shaker? I bought my lovely boy in April and over the summer his headshaking has become more and more apparent - I did try and convince myself I was paraiond but Im afraid I now have to face the fact that I have been sold a head shaker. Sooo that done - what can I do to help him? He doesnt shake all the time - very little in the outdoor school when I am having a lesson but gets extremely distressed when we have been out for a while hacking and he gets warm and the flies swarm round his head. Last week I had to get off and lead him home :( The trouble is I have found when mentioned people treat us like we're leapers, so I only hack out alone now. Does anyone know of any websites etc I can look at? I have done research and tried face nets/nose nets/nasal sprays/decongestants/local honey/tried changing his bit/teeth checked/back checked. I have had advice ranging from its all to do with his saddle to not riding him for six months and clicker training him. I have now started him on Naf Shakerelief on Thursday but no difference yet, though perhaps it takes a while to work? He is a big lad nearly 17hh so probably needs the whole tub first!! I have also booked an equine behaviour/physicotherpaist to see us in October. Can anyone give me any support or help at all? He is such a lovely chap and I just want to help him but I cant remember the last time I enjoyed hacking out because even though he doesnt do it all the time I suppose I must be sitting there waiting for it to start. I wont give up though - even if I can only ride occasionaily he deserves to be comfortable. Sorry rather long post - but can anyone please tell me this horrible thing is managable? :(
 
Hello,
My mare is a headshaker, she is clearly allergic to tree pollen as when we ride in places with lots of trees e.g. old railways she will shake then if we get out of this area the shaking will nearly stop. She also shakes when not ridden. The half solution to this is global herbs pollenex, not cheap but seems to work also tried ventapulmin which didn't work and naf shake relief that didn't seem to work AS well. I got inhalors off the vet which seemed to make a difference but was hrd to get in, used to use these before heavy work but these have shot up in price, need to find someon with brown inhalers.

I think the best idea is to see if there is any pattern you can find with the hadshaking then go from there as it may not be due to allergies, i think if they shake int he field this is a good iundication.
 
Hi

Sorry to hear about your horses headshaking. Does he do it out in the field loose? Only I bought a mare from some people I knew and during early summer she started head shaking. Pretty violently especially in bright sunshine.

Took her to the vets and they said she'd got an eye infection, on the surface of the eye ball. They gave me some creams to squeeze into her eye. It took weeks to heal.

She wore a fly mask out in the field, but one day had got it off, and was headshaking madly in the field too.

So bright sunshine and/or flies made her really uncomfortable.

It's strange that yours doesn't do it in the school, maybe because he's concentrating on the work, not what his head is doing?

Or would you say he feels safe in the school and a little nervy to hack? In which case, maybe it's nerves/excitement causing the shake? One of my friends has a show jumper that tosses his head violently as shows. He doesn't do it anywhere else, so must be excitement related.

I hope you can get to the bottom of it.... often it's just trial and error

Good luck
 
Thank goodness we're not alone!!! No he doesnt shake in the field - he twitches his nose abit but thats all, he tends to start when he gets warm and the flies start landing on him when we're out and about, someone else said he might be stressed because of the recent change in ownership - he just does it hacking out after about half an hour or so but the flies certainly make it worse. The worst thing is - he actually tries to scratch his nose or get rid of the flies by lifting his hoof!! Not funny when in traffic! Its frustrating because in general he is so laid back and genuine. :confused:
 
I used to ride a headshaker, it was quite alarming how violently he would react under saddle, like he had been stung. I attached a fly fringe to his noseband and it worked...looked a bit odd but stopped the headshaking!
 
I have 2 horses with it....yes i'm mad!

I have a mare that is truly violent with it,some days are better than others but generally she would rear,constantly scratch her face with her feet,rub her nose along the ground,stop dead in a second if you were trotting and unseat you!,reverse into ditches anything behind her when shaking! Literally turn herself inside out.
Could go on forever about her as she is truly awful with it,she has been on anything and everything,she hates nosenets and nasal sprays. Have found Pollen x helps her a little on the higher dose,NAF shake relief made her worse.

My gelding isn't quite so bad,he will properly head shake,not totally voilent but still chucks his head around,on a better day he just nose twitches. He randomly was totally perfect on the NAF shake relief rather than Pollen x but as my mare was much worse and these supplements are v expensive he had to go on the Pollen x too,just couldn't afford them both to be on 2 dfferent supplements,my 3rd horse is on a v exp joint supplement and i've worked out i spend over £150 p/mth on supplements alone,scary!!

If you have any questions feel free to pm me,have got used to them but it is a very hard frustrating condition to manage.
You have to have to be a very patient person to have a horse with it as some days you do ? why you bother when you could have a 'normal' one!
 
Have a look at my previous posts on this :)

Try Chris Day MRCVS - he's a homeopathic and conventional vet - he's very good with allergy headshaking cases

I had a little horse who was so bad, he was unrideable in the spring, summer, and autumn.... he was allergic to pollen - but a different pollen set him off every spring so he was given a different combination of homeopathic tablets each year.

He went from just broken (1st year of headshaking) to Blenheim 3* (5th yr of it)

http://www.alternativevet.org/therapies.htm
 
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