ALFF
Active Member
Hello all
Hope it's OK to share a piece of despair.
I've had my horse for a month and a half now, following a year of searching and multiple failed vettings, hours travelling and viewings.
Ive shared and ridden others but this is my first solo ownership horse, a dream that I've been saving for many years. This horse cost me just under 10k which I thought I was lucky for, a stretch of my budget.
This horse came to me on a weeks trial from a reputable sales livery yard. On the last day of trial it toss his head in the air a bit while I was riding. I didn't think much of it, I asked the seller about this and they said they haven't done this before. I truested the seller and told myself it was a matter of dentist and at the time was pretty unfamiliar to headshaking as a whole, and didn't have the luxury of time to assess it. The dentist came and he was back to normal for a bit.
He proceeded to headshake intermittently, would maybe do the odd day but nothing severe so I invested in his comfort like using a micklem bridle and a poll guard which seemed to help and he rode peacefully a few times. Though now looking back it may just have been a coincidence.
Come to month of May, he started doing it more and more, whenever lunged or ridden. I stopped riding and lunged him gently and over poles to keep him strong.
By this point I was starting to research headshaking, with increasing concern.
I went through all the obvious, dentist, saddler, chiro for any soreness, farrier, to no avail. I tried him on anti histamines for a day and a half to rule out allergies with minimal effect. I tried a nose net which also had minimal impact.
One desperate day last week I called my vet for an opinion, already mourning the costs of vet intervention for a horse I have just got, investing so much of my savings into. They said to keep a diary and gradually try things to see what might be the cause, and how to manage him.
This horse is 9 years old, they said if its trigeminal mediated and not allergy related headshaking, then he's likely to have had symptoms before.
So the two possibilities are, he's been sold to me without disclosure of trigeminal mediated headshaking (with a much higher price than he should) or he is allergic to something he hasn't encountered before (that isn't affected by the anti histamines I've already tried him on).
His yard was not a good place and I was looking to move him; took him to a new yard yesterday which might tell us more, if it was an allergy on the other place then he may stop.
I've though about telling the seller who had him briefly on sales livery but to be frank in the horse selling community, people only seem to get abuse when they ask something unpalatable. I don't think she will be at all interested in helping in any way. I have no hope whatsoever of seeing any compensation however unfair or wrong that may be.
I just can't believe that after all the searching and money saving, this dream has become such a nightmare. I picked a healthy fit horse, five stage vetted him, trialled him, did everything I could think of to get a good one, and am now thinking he'll have to be put to sleep within weeks if this doesn't resolve and I can't ride him. Or even if it does resolve, he'll be practically unsellable as I'll have to disclose this on any future sale. I have spent so much money on all this as well, it will take me years to save it back. How much bad luck can a person have? Is this just a sign that I should give up on horses for good?
Hope it's OK to share a piece of despair.
I've had my horse for a month and a half now, following a year of searching and multiple failed vettings, hours travelling and viewings.
Ive shared and ridden others but this is my first solo ownership horse, a dream that I've been saving for many years. This horse cost me just under 10k which I thought I was lucky for, a stretch of my budget.
This horse came to me on a weeks trial from a reputable sales livery yard. On the last day of trial it toss his head in the air a bit while I was riding. I didn't think much of it, I asked the seller about this and they said they haven't done this before. I truested the seller and told myself it was a matter of dentist and at the time was pretty unfamiliar to headshaking as a whole, and didn't have the luxury of time to assess it. The dentist came and he was back to normal for a bit.
He proceeded to headshake intermittently, would maybe do the odd day but nothing severe so I invested in his comfort like using a micklem bridle and a poll guard which seemed to help and he rode peacefully a few times. Though now looking back it may just have been a coincidence.
Come to month of May, he started doing it more and more, whenever lunged or ridden. I stopped riding and lunged him gently and over poles to keep him strong.
By this point I was starting to research headshaking, with increasing concern.
I went through all the obvious, dentist, saddler, chiro for any soreness, farrier, to no avail. I tried him on anti histamines for a day and a half to rule out allergies with minimal effect. I tried a nose net which also had minimal impact.
One desperate day last week I called my vet for an opinion, already mourning the costs of vet intervention for a horse I have just got, investing so much of my savings into. They said to keep a diary and gradually try things to see what might be the cause, and how to manage him.
This horse is 9 years old, they said if its trigeminal mediated and not allergy related headshaking, then he's likely to have had symptoms before.
So the two possibilities are, he's been sold to me without disclosure of trigeminal mediated headshaking (with a much higher price than he should) or he is allergic to something he hasn't encountered before (that isn't affected by the anti histamines I've already tried him on).
His yard was not a good place and I was looking to move him; took him to a new yard yesterday which might tell us more, if it was an allergy on the other place then he may stop.
I've though about telling the seller who had him briefly on sales livery but to be frank in the horse selling community, people only seem to get abuse when they ask something unpalatable. I don't think she will be at all interested in helping in any way. I have no hope whatsoever of seeing any compensation however unfair or wrong that may be.
I just can't believe that after all the searching and money saving, this dream has become such a nightmare. I picked a healthy fit horse, five stage vetted him, trialled him, did everything I could think of to get a good one, and am now thinking he'll have to be put to sleep within weeks if this doesn't resolve and I can't ride him. Or even if it does resolve, he'll be practically unsellable as I'll have to disclose this on any future sale. I have spent so much money on all this as well, it will take me years to save it back. How much bad luck can a person have? Is this just a sign that I should give up on horses for good?
