Headshaking or am I paranoid?

Buzz has a pollen allergy so headshakes in some circumstances, and it's nothing like that :) he will also do a sassy head flick just like that when he's in a playful mood! I wouldn't worry.
 
She doesn't understand where she is meant to be going and then whrn she gets to go forward she can stretch her head out a bit.
 
My gelding, being the queen? that he is, also does this. Sometimes when I am free lunging him he will turn his head and look at me, and I'll give him an "oh, get out of here and get on with it" and he will do his sassy headshake and carry on. He's done it once or twice while riding.

Does it in the field from time to time.

Just another thing in the vocabulary of horse body language.
 
Attitude. My head shaker gives a kind of involuntary twitch. Minus supplement it is regular and more violent. Nothing like that - in the video of Hermosa she is telling you that you are being annoying!
 
Both my pure Welsh D and my araby chap do this exact sassy head toss :) :) The Welsh one does it really quite a lot and particularly expressively just after she has done something 'clever' (eg jumping a new sort of jump) or when she is about to do something 'exciting'...I love it and I find it reassuring now; it signals a real engagement with whatever is going on. :) My arab chap just does it for no apparant reason but it usually seems connected to him feeling 'jolly' about something. That is often!! :) :) The Welsh one really can perform some lovely nose pirouettes in fact.
 
Definitely sass!

My first horse developed HSS when he was about 17. The tics were very distinct, like he’d got an electric shock on the end of his nose, a very sharp, but small jerk of the head.
 
My 8yo TB does similar, I call it helicopter head as when he goes for it his head goes round and round... Usually when he is stressed, wanting to go back out in the field after being stabled or sometimes when it's dinner time. He does it a lot less now than when I first got him in March '19.
 
My welsh D does the sass head toss too. Usually coz I've interrupted his flow, or stopped his trot floating away. Not great mid dressage test...but totally harmless and quite funny.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I don't understand why you are free lunging a young nursing mother. I would leave her and her foal alone to get on with being horses until much nearer time for weaning..
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Uh, yeah. That video was from April (note how furry the horse looks, for a start...). I posted it because she flicks her head once, and it was easier to show the behaviour rather than trying to describe it. As I said in the OP, she does it a lot more since she's had the foal. I see her do it on my CCTV when following the foal across their field, so she does it even when there are no humans in sight.
 
Mine do it to each other often. Full-on sassy discussions!
My gelding when excited about something….normally food, does it beside me accompanied by a grunting sound - a sound ive never heard from a horse before!
 
Caol Ila said:
Uh, yeah. That video was from April (note how furry the horse looks, for a start...). I posted it because she flicks her head once, and it was easier to show the behaviour rather than trying to describe it. As I said in the OP, she does it a lot more since she's had the foal. I see her do it on my CCTV when following the foal across their field, so she does it even when there are no humans in sight.
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I am sorry I misunderstood your post.
 
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