Headshaker - what to do next?

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juliette

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My horse has a pollen allergy. Particularly affected by rape. He has had it since before I owned him, this is our 3rd spring together.

I have been fairly successful in the past in managing this condition, but this year I think he seems worse. He is generally ok in walk, but headshakes A LOT in trot. Think rocking horse in canter!!!

Currently he is turned out 24/7.
He has daily:
4 anti hystamine tablets (2 am and 2 pm in an apple)
1 spoon of local honey
1 handful of Marsh Mallow Leaf
1 small hand of Aniseed
3 handfuls of Buckwheat
2 scoops garlic
slug of Carl Hester Air Power

all mixed in with Glucosamine, horse and pony mix and Alfa A Oil.

The Marsh Mallow Leaf, Aniseed and Buckwheat were all recommended by a guy who specialises in herbs and he has been successful in helping a friend's pony with other issues with great success.

When ridden he wears a nose net and has some Carl Hester Vapour rub up his nose. I have also been using Pollenex puffer up his nose, but stopped as it seems to have no effect at all and he obviously doesn't like it.

Any ideas what else I can do? Getting a bit desperate! :confused::confused:
 
You might find he's worse because of the amount of rape - it's usually planted on rotation with other crops, so you might have more locally than you had last year.

The good news is it won't be for ever! Other than that I've got no suggestions on top of what you're doing, I too am involved with a seasonal headshaker but this year for the first time ever I've been able to work him through without it getting in the way. When I'm teaching on him with clients who don't ride him in an outline he's as bad as ever, but when he's working correctly he doesn't shake. I think this is because he only has one brain cell, and forgets his nose is itching if he's thinking about something else. Never shakes the last few strides into a jump either cos brain is elsewhere - though I've also known a horse who stopped coughing when they start jumping too and started again when they finished - the brain is a funny thing!
 
Give him Shake free from beginning of March. No point in starting it halfway through the pollen season - all these herbal remedies etc only work if you get it into their system well before the rape comes out. I started mine of shake free in March, she also has once a month shiatsu sessions. This year I've had no problems at all. In previous years, I've spent a fortune on vets/scoping/ventipulmin, etc et and still not been able to ride!

(I'll still keep my fingers crossed though)
 
The bad news is that every year you're unable to manage the pollen allergy well, the horse's lungs will deteriorate. Pollen allergy is a b!tch to manage. With a hay or dust allergy, you either soak hay or feed haylage and keep the stable scrupulously clean or turnout 24/7. With a pollen allergy, every breath the horse breathes in from now until September will be laden with pollen grains. It isn't possible to keep a horse in a hermetically sealed room to stop him breathing the pollen in.

There's a product called Nostrilvet that you might like to waste your money on. It's a spray that produces a stickiness that lines the horse's nostrils. The idea is that every breath the horse takes, the air will rush across the sticky substance and all the pollen grains will be filtered out. My equine vets tell me nice idea but useless in reality as the horse breathes in a vast volume of air in every breath and only about 0.00000000000001% of it will ever brush past the sticky nasal walls.

Any over-the-counter supplement, you need to read the small print with your "critical" hat on. They all say versions of strengthening the horse's own body/immune system so he can better deal with things. Cobblers to my mind and this is born of experience not just cynicism. If any of these things actually worked then vets would prescribe them immediately and there would never ever be a life threatening case of severe pollen allergy again.

My veteran horse Sunny developed a very severe pollen allergy about 5 or 6 years ago. Started as a mild summer cough but over the intervening years it has become life threatening. He was endoscoped for the 2nd time last October. Vets didn't dare sedate him because they feared he would stop breathing altogether. He's been on every drug known to man (except anti histamines which your vet will tell you don't work on horses). Winter 2010 was set to be his last winter due to quality of life issues. BUT!!!!!! My wonderfful equine vets went to a talk by a company that had developed a newish product for sweet itch horses. The rep said it works by stopping the mast cells from producing the histamines that cause all the trouble. So NOT an antihistamine, but a drug that stops the histamine being produced in the first place. They told my vets that it should work exactly the same for pollen allergy horses. The manufacturers gave my vets 3 x 3-month packs to trial. They are using 2 packs on sweet itch horses and very kindly gave me the 3rd pack to trial on Sunny and his pollen allergy. You have to start giving it 3 weeks before the first symptoms are expected - Sunny started it the weekend the clocks went forward at the end of March. I am terrified to publicly announce the results of this ongoing trial in case I've got it wrong and the coughing will start any day now. But watch this space - if I find it has stopped Sunny's pollen allergy dead in its tracks my aim is to tell every horse owner in the UK about it, AND the manufacturers AND veterinary practices.

Bear with me for another 2 or 3 weeks and I'll know for sure one way or the other.
 
I've heard that garlic actually makes them worse (don't know how true this is). Mine is pretty much the same all year round, and I just use a nose net, which is pretty effective, if not completely so.
 
I assume the sweet itch product you are referring to is Cavallesse ? I am not sure why you are being so cloack and dagger about it... It is widely available and it worked very well on my horse who had sweet itch.
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
. With a hay or dust allergy, you either soak hay or feed haylage I only feed him haylage and keep the stable scrupulously clean oh yes, if he is in it's cleanor turnout 24/7.

There's a product called Nostrilvet that you might like to waste your money on.Tried that thought it was useless


He's been on every drug known to man (except anti histamines which your vet will tell you don't work on horses). Yes, my vet did say that but he is definately worse if he doesn't have them!!

My wonderfful equine vets went to a talk by a company that had developed a newish product for sweet itch horses. The rep said it works by stopping the mast cells from producing the histamines that cause all the trouble. So NOT an antihistamine, but a drug that stops the histamine being produced in the first place. They told my vets that it should work exactly the same for pollen allergy horses. The manufacturers gave my vets 3 x 3-month packs to trial. They are using 2 packs on sweet itch horses and very kindly gave me the 3rd pack to trial on Sunny and his pollen allergy. You have to start giving it 3 weeks before the first symptoms are expected - Sunny started it the weekend the clocks went forward at the end of March. I am terrified to publicly announce the results of this ongoing trial in case I've got it wrong and the coughing will start any day now. But watch this space - if I find it has stopped Sunny's pollen allergy dead in its tracks my aim is to tell every horse owner in the UK about it, AND the manufacturers AND veterinary practices.
please do keep me up to date with this, I'd love to find a better solution. I start my treatments in February every year and usually stop around end Oct and even remove the nose net for Nov, Dec and Jan - shame it's usually snowing or pouring with rain so i get to ride less!!!!
Bear with me for another 2 or 3 weeks and I'll know for sure one way or the other.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info!!! Look forward to hearing more
 
BigRed said:
I assume the sweet itch product you are referring to is Cavallesse ? I am not sure why you are being so cloack and dagger about it... It is widely available and it worked very well on my horse who had sweet itch.
Click to expand...

Can you give me any more info on this? Will call my vet if it is a possible solution for us...... Want to avoid getting to the Ventapulmin stage again.
 
Pat10 said:
I've heard that garlic actually makes them worse (don't know how true this is). Mine is pretty much the same all year round, and I just use a nose net, which is pretty effective, if not completely so.
Click to expand...

Oh heck, I use that to mask the taste of some of the herbs and for fly relief.... best I get on google and research this!
 
dooble said:
Give him Shake free from beginning of March. No point in starting it halfway through the pollen season - all these herbal remedies etc only work if you get it into their system well before the rape comes out. I started mine of shake free in March, she also has once a month shiatsu sessions. This year I've had no problems at all. In previous years, I've spent a fortune on vets/scoping/ventipulmin, etc et and still not been able to ride!

(I'll still keep my fingers crossed though)
Click to expand...

I did start all his stuff in February as i keep a diary year to year to make sure i keep on top of it. Have avoided Ventipulmin since the first spring we had together when he got a really horrid cough. He does have a massage lady and sees the back man but haven't had shiatsu - will look into that
 
I'm not being cloak and dagger about anything. My horse is on a "last hope" drugs trial. It's still too early in the pollen-allergy season for me to reliably post on the results. I'm terrified that it won't work so will only advise when I know for sure. If it DOES work, it will be almost a miracle cure for owners of pollen allergy horses. If it doesn't, well, there you go. The only challenge (for some owners) is that a) you have to start giving it at least 3 weeks before you expect symptoms to start appearing and b) you have to give it at the same time every day. Sunny has his at 1pm. If you're late or miss a day, the suppression of the action of the mast cells is lost and you might just as well have saved your money.

Please, please everyone bear with me. Just a couple more weeks now and I'll be able to either shout the results to the world or file Cavalesse with the million other products that promise big but deliver small.
 
Isn't there a surgical procedure that stops headshaking? I've never had a shaker but my friend has and she once said something about an operation to put something up the nose?
 
I have used pollenex with good results. The operatin you are thinking of may have been what my vets mentioned once. Stiking a rod up nose and mashing nerves, lovely, quickly discounted!
 
much-jittering said:
You might find he's worse because of the amount of rape - it's usually planted on rotation with other crops, so you might have more locally than you had last year.

The good news is it won't be for ever! Other than that I've got no suggestions on top of what you're doing, I too am involved with a seasonal headshaker but this year for the first time ever I've been able to work him through without it getting in the way. When I'm teaching on him with clients who don't ride him in an outline he's as bad as ever, but when he's working correctly he doesn't shake. I think this is because he only has one brain cell, and forgets his nose is itching if he's thinking about something else. Never shakes the last few strides into a jump either cos brain is elsewhere - though I've also known a horse who stopped coughing when they start jumping too and started again when they finished - the brain is a funny thing!
Click to expand...

mines much the same - if shes concentrating she wont shake though I cant stop her out hacking but a nose net cuts it out enough!

One problem might be the anti histamines - he may have got used to them and they may not be working as well as they were last year. Its best to do a year without them (well for humans anyway) so they work again the following year or try a different make in alternate years though one make might not work as well as the other.
 
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