Headshaking

[Eventerchick]

Any ideas much appreciated!
I have an Intermediate event horse that I have had for the past two years. He has always been a headshaker. I have had him allergy tested and the primary cause seems to be UV light intolerance. This seems to be influenced also by flies/midges and heat. As he gets warmer he twitches more and more.
On the whole it is managable and is greatly improved by wearing a nosenet. This is fine at BE events where a vet letter will allow me to wear one. Unfortunately at FEI events there is no discretion. After a disaster at Gatcombe this weekend once I removed the net where the conditions were obviously insufferable for the poor boy, we did the most horrific test and I need to try and find another way of managing this. He is amazingly talented and capable of being up there with the best but I hate being at the fate of the weather on the day.
I know some people use chinese herbs, Ice, anti-histamines ... just curious as to what other people esxperiences are and if anyone has any pearls of wisdom.
It's a tricky one I know as haedshaking is so complex, there don't seem to be any black and white answers and every horse seems to be unique in what triggers them and how to manage it.
Someone at the weekend mentioned contact lenses as a filter, does anyone have any knowledge of this?

 

[sykokat]

Our mare is a seasonal headshaker. Flies, sunlight and pollen drive her dippy and she is unrideable. W use a nosenet but have been using NAF shake relief for the 2nd half of the summer. Plus Marmite Tea, it helps keep the flies and midges away. I know how frustrating it is and this has really improved her symptoms. If I were you I would give the NAF helpline a call. They are really helpful.

 

[Resupgirl]

This marmite thing keeps cropping up so there must be something in it. I do feel for you we had rape fields all round this year caused my mare no end of problems.

Whats the matter with these people if your horse has an allergy or illness why can't you use the appropriate remedy. Its about time we stopped being so anal about nets etc. If they can find a cure then I am sure we would all go hungry to buy it!

 

[Three]

My cob is a light intolerant shaker - like yours made worse by heat, flies, midges, cobwebs (strung between trees etc) but a nosenet has never helped.

When I first backed him we hacked out in a flymask - got some very odd looks but it did help.

NAF Shake Relief certainly has helped significantly.

Also lavender seems to help when he competes. I use Badger Balm sleep help rubbed on nose and chest.

Loose noseband - a flash is out of the question.

Big browband too.

Lots of fly spray on shoulders, neck, chest and face.

He has improved as he's got older and found his balance better too.

Finding the right saddle was the biggest help - I found he needed to be able to use his shoulder.

So many little things but he now competes fairly successfully at affiliated dressage (only Novice but moving steadily up!). When he was first backed it was touch and go as to whether I could ever ride him in the summer.

 

[whatawizard]

mine doesn't shake until he starts trotting or cantering, has been on a large variety of supplements/herbs etc to no avail, nose net makes him sneeze constantly till his nosebleeds, the only thing the vet has tried that made a slight difference was gabapeptin not sure whether its BE or FEI legal though. At my wits end, he's 12 and had never done it before this summer.

 

[Angelbones]

My daughter's pony is very sensitive to bright light when ridden (fine unridden) and absolutely hates bugs around his nose etc. He wears a nosenet which helps with the bug twitching. After an awful lot of research, and after trying every supplement on the market, I found a Canadian research paper which described my pony's symptons and talked about two drugs. I asked my vet to look into it which he did and said he was happy to try the drugs. It turned out that over here the drug is just a generic antihistamine called Periactin which I now get over the net without a prescription. The pony has completely stopped his headshaking (still twitches from the bugs but nothing bad with nosenet on). I've posted about it on here before and other people have tried Periactin without the same success but for us it worked. We were seriously worried about pony's future - he had become dangerous to ride, not seeing jumps as he was chucking his head around etc - so we are obviously over the moon. What the vet has said is that he cannot be labelled a headshaker as his symptons went when taking the antihistamines so it must be his pollen allergy etc (he did test positive to various pollens). Sorry you are having problems, hope this may help you. x