Headshaking ..... another post!

C

cluedo

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 August 2007
Messages
668
Visit site
We have bought the perfect horse a month ago. Last weekend he started headshaking and it has got worse over the last week. The vet thought it could be photosensitivity as he got some scabs on his nose and chest, and gave him some steroid cream. We thought that had worked and he seemed better. We rode him twice this week (it was overcast) and he was a lot better. Today he was terrible and pretty unreidable as he kept trying to rub his nose on his leg, snorting, trying to put his head at a funny angle, and was doing this in the stable, and field as well as being ridden.

Pretty sure he doesn't have anything in his ears.

We brought from a dealer and told him today and he is shocked as has known this horse he said in Ireland since a foal. But the symptoms he is showing is classic headshaker - he is flicking his nose in the stable as well.

We are gutted as this horse is 200% perfect and the nicest horse you could ever meet.

Has anyone got any ideas?
 
Have you tried a nosenet, it works for mine but I am trying to go without one for a dressage test so that we can do FEI eventing.I have been sent a spray from a kind HHO'er but have only started to use it today
 
Cluedo - what incredibly bad luck though TBH such serious symptoms of headshaking should have been pretty obvious to previous owners! There's been a load of posts on the forum about this so it might help if you search for the threads. You'll already know that headshaking is a sliding scale and can be as little as a sweaty horse rubbing its nose on its leg all the way up to a virtually unrideable horse. There's a whole raft of help out there though whether anything really works is a very individual experience. Plenty of members have posted that nosenets are an instant and brilliant relief and I believe are legal in dressage now. There's other herbal and supplement products you can try. Some people are forced to only ride their horse in the early mornings or during the autumn/winter months. Good luck with finding a way to help such a lovely sounding ned x
 
It doesn't seem to be linked to any field, he is doing it now even when loose schooled. he had two days he didn't do it last week and today he was worse. Only thing I noticed last week was he was paranoid about the flies and was cowkicking like mad and wriggling as if they were on him.
 
tbh it should have been revealed by the dealer, it is a notifiable "vice" iirc. is it too late to return the horse? sorry, but it's a HUGE problem, honestly.
having had 2 headshakers now, one of whom i bred who suffered terribly from it, and having had the benefit of a long conversation with Prof Knottenbelt about it, i believe it is a really painful affliction. he told me he believes it is like shingles in the face in people, and that it is excruciatingly painful. (there was an 80% suicide rate of people with it, before pain meds improved, according to him.) my lad who had it badly was like riding through a swarm of stinging bees. i adored him, but i eventually had him pts because of it. broke my heart.
i'd put a full fly rug on your boy, covering belly etc too, see if that helps the fly problem, and a full face mask and nose net. try homeopathics (Ainsworths homeopathic pharmacy in london does mail order, and they are very helpful and used to dealing with horsey people!), some horses respond to this.
at best you can manage the symptoms though, it isn't possible to cure it, imho.
 
Hello,

just to add a bit! I ride and look after the horse and he is a full fly mask with nose and ear cover plus a fly rug with tummy cover. I keep this on him in the stable too. I have also put him out at night when the flies have gone.
When he first started doing it the vet put him on bute and told me to keep him on box rest for a week which I did, it hasn't helped.
A nose net when ridden makes no difference to him at all. He also does it in the field and stable and on the lunge.
He has the odd day when he doesn't do it at all.
 
there are a few different types of headshakers
until recently I owned one. He was my ideal horse i'd had him on loan for a year and a half with no signs at all then decided to buy him and he started to shake. He started not too bad but it got worse and worse and he became unrideable. We got our vet involved who prescribed him some very strong steroids which had no affect, he was then injected in his nose with something which would numb the nerves in the most sensitive area which had no affect. We then rang Prof Knottenbelt and explained to him what had happened and he reccomended an operation to put coils into his nose, so we travelled all the way to liverpool hospital where this took place. We brought him home to recover for some time and then started to ride him, it was amazing there was just no headshaking at all for 2 months, it then started again until just as bad as before. We then rang up liverpool again and they told us that it would be kindest to have him put to sleep. We found that he was not shaking at all in the field so have sold him to a very nice home as a companion, such a waste of my perfect horse. Since we have sold him we've been told that this was a very extreme case of shakin and with a lot of other horses things such as nose nets will help to stop this. I wish you the best with your new horse.
 
my horse head shakes at times - I have managed to rule out pollen & sun but the contributing factor is definatley flies!

He can be almost unrideable at times & I do have to avoid long grass & low trees. It is almost 100% stopped by the use of a fly fringe - not a net, but one which acts as a browband with tassles - they wave around & I think it is more that he can't see them or the tassles distract him from the flies. Obviously this is problem for competing but I do find he is better in open spaces & indoors is absolutley fine - unless the flies follow him in of course!

Might be worth a try to see whether you can identify what exactly it is that is bothering him.

Good luck
 
I have one that headshakes and rode with a nose net then full face mask. Her nose would be down to the ground and then way up in the air, which was not safe even in walk as she couldnt see where she was going. Someone suggested going bitless and she hasnt shaken her head since.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top