Head tilting, can anyone help my poor friend?

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Seahorse

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My friend has a lovely bay ISH gelding that she has owned for about 18 months. He has always been a bit on the nappy side but she was beginning to over come this when he started doing this really severe head tilting.
He does it on the lunge in trot, under saddle in all paces and even does it in hand when he is going to/coming in from the field.
When I say head tilting I don't mean just a little sideways he lifts his whole head up and away, showing the whites of his eyes. You cannot pick up a contact at all when he's being ridden.

His owner has had the vet out and he's been thoroughly checked out, first of all they thought he was a headshaker and he's been scoped, had his head x rayed and ears examined, his teeth have been done 3 times now. His eyesight has been checked too.

His neck was x rayed, as was his hocks as well as being nerve blocked in the fetlock and hock area. He has been on 4 bute a day, no difference
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Nothing has shown up at all.
The vet has given him antihistamine powders as they are treating him as a head shaker but this made no difference either.

The only thing they can do now is x ray his back and nerve block his sacro-illiac joint. But the vets are reluctant to do this for some reason and just keep fobbing her off. Nw her vet has gone on holiday....
This has been going on since february, and he is at this moment unrideable.

My poor friend is distraught and really needs to find out what's wrong with him as you can imagine. He is such a lovely gentle horse and we are finding it hard to believe that this is a behavioural problem.

Has anyone ever come across anything like this at all, and what was the outcome?

A glass of wine for getting this far
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We had a horse with a similar issue actually.

He originally perforated his eardrum but in the process we think the tension associated with the intense pain at the time did some neurological damage. There are lots of nerves in the head which can get trapped.

It's worth contacting an acupuncturist- ours was done several times and it did seem to help. I'd also ask for a referral to a neaurologist, our boy had an MRI scan on his head which tbh didnt show up a lot but they were expecting it to!

We always ride him in ear covers- he's very sensitive to noise so ear plugs are good too. He isnt good in the wind and he doesnt do well when it is very hot, for whatever reason.

Hope this helps, it doesnt sound like the exact same thing but does sound similar
 
So sorry to hear about your friend's horse -I would advise she gets a 2nd opinion as the vet seems a bit haphazard in his approach.

Doesn't sound like standard headshaking, but if it was its fairly well documented that anti-histamines are unlikely to help this condition.

Its very difficult to nerve block the SI area and this would only normally be done after scintigraphy. In any case the head tilting does not sound like a sign of back problem, especially if he does it in hand - I would think more likely to be ear/ head.

The vet seems to jumping from one thing to another. Is the horse insured? I would recommend geting him referred somewhre like Liverpool wher he can be properly assessed by a decent vet.
 
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So sorry to hear about your friend's horse -I would advise she gets a 2nd opinion as the vet seems a bit haphazard in his approach.

Doesn't sound like standard headshaking, but if it was its fairly well accepted that ani-histamines are unlikely to help this.

Its very difficult to nerve block the SI area and this would only normally be done ater scintigraphy. The vet seems to jumping from one thing to another. Is the horse insured? I would recommend geting him referred somewhre like Liverpool wher he can be properly assessed by a decent vet.

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Unfortunately the vet practice she uses isn't very good (IMO and a lot of other peoples!) And they do seem to be clutching at straws. I think I could poss persuede her to change vets, but she seems happy with what they are doing!
Yes he is insured, and I think she would use her own money if it goes over her insurance limit.
 
I would definitely get him referred. I would have suggested Derek Knottenbelt at Liverpool but have just noticed where you are so it would be a bit of trek. Someone on here may be able to recommend a good referral practice in your area. Newmarket may be a possibility?
 
Liphook have a good reputation I believe. I dont know about Bell equine . It might be worth putting a separate post on here as some practices are better at lameness , others at other things. I would think you need somehwere with scintigraphy and poss MRI, though I think they need a GA to have the head done. Your friend will need a referral from her own practice and may have to stamp her feet a bit, though tbh they sound fairly clueless and may be pleased to lose the responsibility. PLease dont bother messing around with chiroprators etc , from what you describe it sound like ear or neurological. I know from experience how stressful it is to have a horse with something like this, not knowing what is wrong is the worst thing.
 
Definitely insist on a referral if the vets are just clutching at straws. My horse is going to the Animal Health Trust next week, I'll look out for a horse with a sideways head!!!
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My Appy was beginning to hold her head to one side when ridden, more tilted than anything, not as bad as your friends sounds. we had chiro and accupundture and it worked like magic. My mare had a lot of stiffness on the right hand side of her neck and that shouldre had bulked up. A friend pointed it out as it had been so gradual we had not noticed. She was also very fat and that also resolved after the chiro and accupuncture.
 
Bell Equine are great with a couple of vets who specialise in subtle lameness and performance problems and all the equipment for a proper workup ie scintigraphy, MRI etc etc.

I can recommend David Sinclair who is one of the partners there.
 
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Has he had his teeth investigated by a damn good EDT?

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No the vet has done his teeth each time, the owner seems happy with this although said today she will get an EDT to look at him, there's one coming to the yard next week.
 
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