Headshaking Surgery

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ck1lottykelly

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My horse has just been diagnosed with facial pain syndrome in the trigenial nerve which is the cause of her head shaking she does when hacked out or ridden on grass. One option given to me is the surgery using the colis in the nerve - does anyone have any experience with this. I know the success rate is quite poor and they have a good chance of side effects (facial rubbing etc). I have read all the publications on this but I was hoping someone out there had experienced it.

As she only does it when ridden out she isn't at the extreme point of doing it at rest yet but is that just a matter of time.
 
My mare is a headshaker - she went for a CT scan last week. There is a surgery which is being pioneered by Derek Knottenbelt at Liverpool vet hospital which my vet told me about. The vet said that it involves cauterising a branch of the trigeminal nerve so that the horse can't feel the pain. I don't know about success rates, but it might be worth looking into. I'm going to see how mine goes on for a while and if there is no improvement I'll be looking into it. Good luck.
 
There is a very interesting article about this condition in the Horse and Hound magazine from about 2 weeks ago. It details the operation and prognosis as well as case studies.
 
I presume you've had the nerve block done as part of your diagnosis? My daughter's pony is a headshaker - generally a photic headshaker but its the trigeminal nerve that is causing it. The nerve block was horrrible for him, and very distressing for us to watch. I had considered the coil surgery before the block but after watching him suffer for the block i decided against it. I had done my research and came up with the following:

The coils don't work for every horse.
They can migrate and the nerve can regenerate.
In general if it works its only for up to 6 months so at best you could find your horse 'cured' for all of 6 months having gone through a traumatic op and then what?
The vets don't like to do coils on both side of the face as it is too distressing for the horse, so your horse is going to have an op which at best can only ever hope to 'cure' 50% of the root cause.

I read the article in Horse & Hound, I think last week?, and it was interesting but obvious that the op is still in the early exploratory stages. I may be wrong but I think somewhere it said that it had only been done about 40 times so far? Also interesting for me was the block listing for main symptoms of head shaking - only one was anywhere near relevant to our pony.

We've tried various drugs, allergy jabs, nose nets, eye drops, face masks, changed diet, changed location, riding different times of the day, all physio, exploratory techniques etc. The best we found for our pony was Periactin tablets but these are now not manufactured. Now we get away with a full face mask over a nose net, and some antihistamines but I am doubtful these are actually helping bar giving us an extra 10 mins before the shaking starts. He doesn't do it at rest - it only kicks in after about 15 mins of riding, more so when sunny, and when doing faster work.

Having said all this his problem doesn't stop my daughter doing anything on him at all - she isn't trying to be a dressage rider or a showing superstar. She showjumps him with the mask on (he seems to headshake less when he has something to concentrate on), does all pony club stuff, hunts all winter with just a nose net, he hacks out well etc. If it had been an easier op, with a better prognosis I may have tried it, but overall I couldn't see enough potential gain to put him through it.

I hope you find a solution to your problem, and if you do opt for the op, please report back, many people on here would be very interested to hear your verdict.

Good luck :)
 
Hi, my 4 yr old mare went through surgery in April 2011 at Rossdales in Newmarket, after extensive testing including blocks. She had the nerve cut and lazered on both sides through sinus flaps. The surgeon decided for this approach over coils. It probably has better prognosis but its more invasive.

She was in hospital for 2 weeks. I took two weeks off so I could travel to see her everyday. I found it very hard seeing her going through the recovery, but I feel it gave her a reason to keep going!

We had some difficult stages and the recovery is still ongoing. I'm still have moments when I feel so relieved and can't believe she made it home.

When she came home, for the first month her symptoms were worse from the surgery trauma, but over the last few weeks I've noticed a definite lack of twitching, snorting and rubbing. We've been out for a few walks in hand with no symptoms. I would say at this stage there is improvement. Before the op she would have twitching and rubbing whilst standing still, head tossing and snorting when moving quickly. Her behaviour changed completely, to near on unmanageable, in the summer. Now, she is as chilled and as loving as she normally would be in the winter.

I definitely would have appreciated hearing other people's experience before the operation and during as I had no idea what to expect other than the clinical procedure itself. If anyone wants further info, feel free to private message me.
Good Luck xxx
 
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Well she had the surgery at the end of October and the surgery went well. She came home the day after and was turned out for two weeks. No facial trauma or bad reactions. Not sure if it has worked yet but the vets at Bristol Vet School were amazing and they are experts in the field as the main vet came down from Liverpool.

She had colis put in both sides.

I did try everything else but nothing worked. I will update when I know more.
 
Sadly the first operation didn't work so she has had the second attempt in February. They put another 5 coils in each side. Again no terrible side effects but again it look like there is no improvement. Totally gutted.:(
 
Just wanted to say my mare is a headshaker too, she only started last year and it came on over night, she quickly became unrideable, she shakes so violently and kicks herself in face and will stumble and fall over, she is ok out in the field, it is only when ridden (at the moment) i tried everything suggested to me by vet and friends, various masks, ear veils, nose net, different bits, bitless, nothing made any difference and so resigned to the fact that she would have to retired, untill a friend told me to try an equilibrium (not sure if spelt correctly) face mask/nose net, as i'd already tried all types of masks i couldn't see that it would make any difference but amazingly it stopped the shaking COMPLETELY and i was able to ride her all summer, it has now started again this year, i rode one day and she was absolutely fine, rode the next day and was violently shaking, i put her face mask/nose net on the next day and no shaking again, we're now riding again every day with no problems what so ever!!
 
So sorry to hear that your mare has shown no sign of improvement since the second op. So difficult with all these pioneering procedures. It must be soul-destroying for you.

Best wishes to you and your horse.

Sarah
 
I'm sorry to read that despite everything you've tried, your horse is still suffering :( I totally empathise with you - I've never felt so low as when I realised that yet again whatever I tried would not help my pony.

However, and this is a big however, I just wanted to tell you that after 5 years of trying everything bar the operation on my pony, I started acupuncture on him a few weeks ago. I was skeptical at best and knew I would probably be throwing good money after bad. We've had amazing, if not astounding, results. After 2 days he stopped shaking and he hasn't done for 3 weeks. Today the vet came for his second treatment. Its really interesting stuff and I learned heaps from the vet about it, and if your horse headshakes because of the trigeminal nerve (obviously this isn't always the case) then the likelihood of acupuncture working is very much increased. At present my vet has had a 30% success rate - complete cessation of shaking - and several other horses had shown some relief in their headshaking leading to being able to be ridden again. The outlook for us is that the pony will have another treatment in another 3 weeks then we guage when he will need another one (hoped to be about 6-8 weeks) and carry on like that for here onwards.

Please do think about having it done for your horse, or at least look into it further. It may the best thing you ever did, or it may not, but at this point perhaps its worth a try? It may also be covered under some insurance policies.

Best of luck :)
 
My horse started headshaking last summer :( and is only turned out with a full face mask and ridden with nose net. The mask in the field seems to make a a little bit of a difference.

Has anyone had blood tests done? Normal ones and for allergies? Did anything come up?

Thanks
 
ck1lottykelly said:
Hi Angelbones, Is this a specific type of acupuncture? of just general?
What type of vet is able to administer this? Some more info would be good as I haven't been offered this by my vet? :confused:
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Hi, I didn't know my vet did this until someone else told me - nobody at the vets had suggested it. My vet is trained (and they have to be a vet trained in acupuncture to work on your horse as it is considered an invasive procedure I believe?). It was simple needle only acupuncture. Ask at your vet practice, or get on the internet and find someone who will take your horse on, and ask your vet for a referral. I paid approx £70-100 per visit depending on time, and more if sedation is required, which it was on yesterday's visit. Sorry I don't have any more info than that but hope it helps.
 
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