Headshakes/nose nets/jumping

S

SusieT

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2009
Messages
5,964
Visit site
Few quick questions:-
Does anybody have a headshaker that they event/sj? Does it affect you? Are yuo concerned that they could headshake just before a fence?
Do you use a nose net?
Do you find it helps?
 
I used to ride a horse that had quite a severe case of headshake. She had been bought as a pony club pony but was basically unrideable if it was really sunny and/or with a lot of dust of pollen about. She was mostly fine in spring/autumn especially if it had just rained or was a dull day. I don't think a nose net helped tbh as it was a combination of light and allergens for her but the owners gave her piriton which seemed to help a little bit. I was thinking some sort of sunglasses i.e. a flymask with full eye cover might have helped but never got to try it! Not much help but that's my experience :-)
 
Fleur is a head shaker & I BS with her, I use a nose net which does really help. She is at her worst when hacking near trees & the bluebell wood on our farm is a no no. I used to worry as sometimes she does twitch & her front legs come up, but she rarely does it jumping & I can ignore it if she does as have had her 2 years now so we have a good partnership & it has never affected her jumping. She is also very sensitive to small insects around her ears & face & was a bit twitchy when I got on her at the show today, but she settled after a short time & was fine in the ring. Hope that helps.
 
It very much depends upon the severity of the headshaking. Having ridden a horse who went from working really well on the flat and having competed successfully at prelim dressage to headshaking to the point of throwing herself on the floor, I can safely say that a nosenet didn't help in the slightest. Neither did antihistamines or any other drugs that the vet prescribed. Three months off riding was the only option for this mare
 
Hi yes my son's JA pony headshakes and allways where's a nose net and she can not be with out it, she will still throw her head about when jumping but my son has learnt to ride with it :) and they still get the job done
 
Yep, i've got experiece with competing a headshaker. Jumping wise it was never a problem, but the horse was always jumped with an ear veil on outside to keep small insects away from their ears. The horse was a lot better when the bitting was sorted so it was 100% comfortable in it's mouth, as it head shook at it's worst when it wasn't fully happy in the contact. It hacked out in a nosenet in the summer, and often did dressage in a nosenet too when eventing, just as a preventative more than anything. More and more horses are headshakers, it just depends how severe it is and the cause of it to whether it effects performance.
 
My daughter's pony is a terrible head shaker. He is very sensitive to bright light, and this seem to be his worse trigger. He has a nosenet which is a help but when its very bright he wears a full face mask (the Cashel riding mask) and this is excellent. He wears it for everything; xc, sj, flatwork, jump cross. It just goes over his bridle in a couple of seconds, easy. The visibility is really very good. He still nods a bit but it looks worse than it is to ride, and my daughter just gets on with it. Before this we had one nasty incident when riding xc at a small tiger trap (1ft6 ish) and he suddenly head shook when he should have been taking off, and just fell over the fence. Since the face mask we haven't had to worry about this happening again. We also find that when he is concentrating on something like jumping he does it less than say in the school where he is obviously not that interested and then the shaking starts up with a vengeance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top