Art Nouveau
Well-Known Member
This is going to be a long and convoluted post as there's a lot of history and I don't want to miss anything important.
TL: DR could a sinus tumour (removed) cause headshaking/trigeminal nerve issues that are slightly alleviated with magnesium supplementation, but possibly not enough to remove all the pain? How would I find out?
I bought my mare in June 2015, she had just turn 7 and was sold as a green project who was beginning to show increasing problems under saddle - rushing in trot, wanting to break into canter, and rearing/head tossing if held back. She was vetted, and the vet agreed with the owner that the issues were just that she needed more work and training.
Over the next year her behaviour continues to be difficult, she was tense and anxious a lot. She would often stop to rub her head and she would flick her head trotting on the lunge or if trotting or cantering round in the field. In April 2016 after a recurring sinus infection we found a sinus tumour, an ossifiying fibroma, which was the size of an orange and was also beginning to distort her skull. This was removed, she came home, then the surgery site got infected but responded to antibiotics. Since this time, most of the work with my horse has been in a bitless bridle.
At the end of August 2016 we moved away, and my mare was moved to a friend's field with a companion pony. We had no facilities and the pony got stressed on his own so I was limited to riding only when someone could bring the pony too. My mare was still edgy but would happily follow the pony and if we had someone leading the pony who didn't mind running then we could do some trot work.
In May 2018 we moved to a livery yard. The pony had an accident in the field and was put to sleep. My mare became extremely herd bound and stressy. I would watch her running around the field flicking her head and remembered that I had previously pondered whether she was a headshaker. I spent the summer getting her confident leaving the field and being ok in the arena and for short walks out. I re-introduced magnesium as a calmer and she gradually improved in her behaviour and confidence. As she'd been out of any sensible amount of work for so long I wanted to build her up really slowly, so we stayed in walk when riding in the arena and avoided the deep corners, and built up her trotting in straight lines on the road.
Early 2019 we reintroduced trotting in the arena, which was to start with very rushed, high head carriage and hollow and some 'hopping' which we (me and my instructor) thought was probably just remembering the issues from her tumour and panicking. Over time she got more balanced and calm. However, we hadn't got very far when I got pregnant and I had a horrible pregnancy so my mare was on the back burner again. Baby was born in December, then in January this year my mare got an abscess which then recurred in February. That brings us to lockdown! So my instructor couldn't come over and I didn't have access to childcare from my family so haven't been able to do much with my mare since I have a baby in tow!
As my baby has got older it has been easier to leave her with my husband while he works from home and I rush up to work with my mare. I started longreining her out, which we'd made good progress with last year, but she got increasingly reluctant to go and panicky about one particular location that we have always struggled with. I decided to stop her hard feed 10 days ago, which she only has to carry the magnesium, to see whether she is reacting to something in that. She also doesn't tend to eat much of her feed in Spring and Summer once they're on the grass, so I figured she may not be getting enough magnesium to help anyway.
Since stopping the feed, I have led her out on a walk once when she was very stressy, but I put that down to her developing a fixation on a mare who is only in the herd for a few hours and then gets taken out to be on an area of hardstanding with hay and so thought perhaps this was restarting some herd bound issues. I then decided to focus on in-hand work and lunging in the arena while waiting to see what difference stopping the hard feed makes.
Day 1: in-hand work with a bitted bridle, my mare was tense and nervous of most of the arena! She was pushy with her shoulder and kept stopping to rub her head. I have only re-introduced the bit recently so I initially put this behaviour down to getting used to the bit again, or that I should get a bit-fit consultant out to find the best bit and bridle set-up for her.
Day 2: in-hand work and lunging in a rope halter. She was ok with the close in-hand work, although she persisted in finding a lot of the arena scary. She refused to lunge, displaying the behaviour she showed when I first had her, of either turning in to face me, grinding to a halt, or rushing into a trot with lot of head flicking
Day 3: this morning, lunging with a cavesson (rolled leather noseband). Continuing to refuse to lunge, or rushing into a trot and head flicking when I insist that she walks on rather than turning in.
With hindsight, I can see that her behaviour is consistently worse in spring/summer. But then, I also tend to do less in winter as she's a very fair weather horse, but perhaps this is another symptom as she hates rain on her face so much? It could be allergies or sunlight if it's seasonal, but then it could also be that it's easier to get her to eat all her magnesium in autumn and winter. A quick google suggests that magnesium supplementation can help headshakers. Or it could be a permanent issue as a result of the tumour.
If it is headshaking, how would I know how much pain and discomfort it's causing her? She appears to be better on magnesium, based on her behaviour since being taken off it over the last 10 days, and also based on hazy recollections of her behaviour over the past few years. On the other hand, could it still just be that she needs consistent work which I haven't yet managed with her, and also the input of my instructor who has much better timing than I do with in-hand work, and corrects my balance when I'm riding?
On this website, https://www.an-eventful-life.com.au/eventing-news/horse-management/headshaking-horses the symptoms that she has shown at various times are:
TL: DR could a sinus tumour (removed) cause headshaking/trigeminal nerve issues that are slightly alleviated with magnesium supplementation, but possibly not enough to remove all the pain? How would I find out?
I bought my mare in June 2015, she had just turn 7 and was sold as a green project who was beginning to show increasing problems under saddle - rushing in trot, wanting to break into canter, and rearing/head tossing if held back. She was vetted, and the vet agreed with the owner that the issues were just that she needed more work and training.
Over the next year her behaviour continues to be difficult, she was tense and anxious a lot. She would often stop to rub her head and she would flick her head trotting on the lunge or if trotting or cantering round in the field. In April 2016 after a recurring sinus infection we found a sinus tumour, an ossifiying fibroma, which was the size of an orange and was also beginning to distort her skull. This was removed, she came home, then the surgery site got infected but responded to antibiotics. Since this time, most of the work with my horse has been in a bitless bridle.
At the end of August 2016 we moved away, and my mare was moved to a friend's field with a companion pony. We had no facilities and the pony got stressed on his own so I was limited to riding only when someone could bring the pony too. My mare was still edgy but would happily follow the pony and if we had someone leading the pony who didn't mind running then we could do some trot work.
In May 2018 we moved to a livery yard. The pony had an accident in the field and was put to sleep. My mare became extremely herd bound and stressy. I would watch her running around the field flicking her head and remembered that I had previously pondered whether she was a headshaker. I spent the summer getting her confident leaving the field and being ok in the arena and for short walks out. I re-introduced magnesium as a calmer and she gradually improved in her behaviour and confidence. As she'd been out of any sensible amount of work for so long I wanted to build her up really slowly, so we stayed in walk when riding in the arena and avoided the deep corners, and built up her trotting in straight lines on the road.
Early 2019 we reintroduced trotting in the arena, which was to start with very rushed, high head carriage and hollow and some 'hopping' which we (me and my instructor) thought was probably just remembering the issues from her tumour and panicking. Over time she got more balanced and calm. However, we hadn't got very far when I got pregnant and I had a horrible pregnancy so my mare was on the back burner again. Baby was born in December, then in January this year my mare got an abscess which then recurred in February. That brings us to lockdown! So my instructor couldn't come over and I didn't have access to childcare from my family so haven't been able to do much with my mare since I have a baby in tow!
As my baby has got older it has been easier to leave her with my husband while he works from home and I rush up to work with my mare. I started longreining her out, which we'd made good progress with last year, but she got increasingly reluctant to go and panicky about one particular location that we have always struggled with. I decided to stop her hard feed 10 days ago, which she only has to carry the magnesium, to see whether she is reacting to something in that. She also doesn't tend to eat much of her feed in Spring and Summer once they're on the grass, so I figured she may not be getting enough magnesium to help anyway.
Since stopping the feed, I have led her out on a walk once when she was very stressy, but I put that down to her developing a fixation on a mare who is only in the herd for a few hours and then gets taken out to be on an area of hardstanding with hay and so thought perhaps this was restarting some herd bound issues. I then decided to focus on in-hand work and lunging in the arena while waiting to see what difference stopping the hard feed makes.
Day 1: in-hand work with a bitted bridle, my mare was tense and nervous of most of the arena! She was pushy with her shoulder and kept stopping to rub her head. I have only re-introduced the bit recently so I initially put this behaviour down to getting used to the bit again, or that I should get a bit-fit consultant out to find the best bit and bridle set-up for her.
Day 2: in-hand work and lunging in a rope halter. She was ok with the close in-hand work, although she persisted in finding a lot of the arena scary. She refused to lunge, displaying the behaviour she showed when I first had her, of either turning in to face me, grinding to a halt, or rushing into a trot with lot of head flicking
Day 3: this morning, lunging with a cavesson (rolled leather noseband). Continuing to refuse to lunge, or rushing into a trot and head flicking when I insist that she walks on rather than turning in.
With hindsight, I can see that her behaviour is consistently worse in spring/summer. But then, I also tend to do less in winter as she's a very fair weather horse, but perhaps this is another symptom as she hates rain on her face so much? It could be allergies or sunlight if it's seasonal, but then it could also be that it's easier to get her to eat all her magnesium in autumn and winter. A quick google suggests that magnesium supplementation can help headshakers. Or it could be a permanent issue as a result of the tumour.
If it is headshaking, how would I know how much pain and discomfort it's causing her? She appears to be better on magnesium, based on her behaviour since being taken off it over the last 10 days, and also based on hazy recollections of her behaviour over the past few years. On the other hand, could it still just be that she needs consistent work which I haven't yet managed with her, and also the input of my instructor who has much better timing than I do with in-hand work, and corrects my balance when I'm riding?
On this website, https://www.an-eventful-life.com.au/eventing-news/horse-management/headshaking-horses the symptoms that she has shown at various times are:
- Occasional head toss, episodes of intense head shaking or constant head shaking
- Striking the air during trotting, getting very light in front (often seems to hop into trot, and sometimes chuck her head up and feel like she's going up slightly, but this improved over time. Then again, could have been as we were heading into winter again/getting more magnesium)
- Rubbing the nose and muzzle on front leg, gates, walls and fences
- Head may be moved up and down, side-to-side or even in a rotary fashion
- May show pain when touched at the base of the ears (though sometimes she loves having her ears rubbed)
- No head shaking, but getting angry and slinging the head
- May get worse as exercise session progresses (worse when moving faster ie doesn't display issues when walking, but does when trotting either in the field, lunging or ridden)
- May be seasonal
- May occur only with poll flexion - not sure about this one, it's not something I've looked out for before
I hope this makes sense, please do ask me questions for clarification. I've basically spent the last 4 years since the tumour removal flipping backwards and forwards between she just needs consistent, good work and being niggled that there's an issue. She's been treated for ulcers and hormonal issues with no effect, has had her ovaries scanned with no issues showing, no arthritis although now she's 12 maybe it's worth rechecking?
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