Headshaking

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LadyRascasse

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Had the vet out to examine my mare and he has diagnosed this, treating it as inflammation of the nasal passage to start with. we are on day 4 of 500mg of Prednisolone tablets and steriod cream for her nose where she has rubbed it raw. So far she seems worse but this could be because its progressive rather than the medication causing it. I am at a loss to what is causing it, she seems just as bad regardless of the weather, she is worse in the box but in the field she spends alot of her time standing by the gate. We have tried her on long and short grass neither make a difference to the amount of time spend standing around. Fly mask/nose nets makes her worse. She doesn't like to eat out of a bucket and if you feed her with a bucket she leaves alot in the bottom. She stopped eating hay and chaff so now have her on AP Fast fibre and from the floor she is eating this well.

I have owned her 4 years and this is the first time it has presented itself. It is very sad to see and if we can't manage her problem then I will have her PTS and she seems quite distressed by it all. for example farrier came last week, normal she is an angel for him, we were going to remove all shoes as she is in no work but she wasn't comfortable in front so had no choice but to put fronts back on. she was rearing and pushing through use in the end we had to resort to feeding her treats handful at a time. normally she falls asleep.

Does anyone have any ideas or experiences similar to this? I will never ride her again, I just want to see her comfortable. :(
 
I have known several headshakers, they all presented as classic cases but all were found to have different causes in all cases they were improved or cured.

1 was due to pressure in the wither area, physio sorted him and with regular treatment is was completely resolved.

2 was found to have a small piece of broken tooth causing ulcerated areas around it, dentist fixed that, he was on the verge of being pts as very stressed at all times, vet was sure it was trigeminal neuralgia and that he would not be treatable.

3 had fairly serious area of damage to his poll , probably from pulling back at some time, again physio.

4 had a sinus infection, easily resolved.

If your mare has only just started and it is this bad something has triggered it it could be TN and I think the treatment is an op which is not guaranteed to be successful, I would get a physio to have a look if you have not yet done so as there may be some muscle damage that the vet will not pick up on, as in the cases of 1 and 3, the horse 1 was written off by the owners vet as unrideable he went on to do BE once treated.
A dentist may also be worth getting out, horse 2 was sedated and examined with a camera to really see what was going on.

None of mine have been as bad as yours sounds, I hope you can find the cause and be able to treat her.
 
Thanks for your reply, Her back has been done several times in the past months and although each time she is a little tight (we suspect from constant HS) they were happy with her generally, Vet rules out teeth said they were brilliant and praised my dentist! and Sinus were also ok. I personally feel that it could be a tumour but I am not sure if a tumour would cause HS, the other thing I didn't mention was last time I rode her (before being diagnosed as HS) we were walking round the school only did one lap and she reared up vertically and bucked several times having me off. Even once I was off she was very distressed still. This is unlike her, she has been known to rear in the past but usually small bunny hops to say she is confused with what is being asked. and at the time we were walking on a loose rein as we had literally just gone into the school
 
Have you done a bute trial, we did one with horse 2 it was pressure on nerves that caused some of his problems as well as the ulcers so he was not much better while on it but it would be worth trying to rule out pain to some extent.
She certainly seems very distressed, poor girl:(
 
I attended the headshaking lecture at the Royal Veterinary College last year.

As well as the "normal" causes of head shaking, they also showed some more unusual. This included horses that had suddenly become headshakers for the first time and were found to have fungal infections within the nooks and crannies in the head. These horses were successfully treated and headshaking abatted.
 
It all sounds awful for both of you :(

It doesn't sound like 'just headshaking' to me - I think there is something else going on. My first thoughts were tumour but I know nothing about them so wouldn't know where to go with that.

If it is trigeminal neuralgia (you can temporarily nerve block to assess this) you could try acupuncture. We have a pony with (amongst pollen allergies etc) bad photic headshaking and after 5 years of trying everything under the sun (bad pun I know ;) ) we tried acupuncture and it has totally stopped the headshaking. Our vet said that it works much more successfully if the cause is TN although he has had success with other types of HS. If you are prepared to try just one thing before seriously considering pts, look into acupuncture.

Good luck with it all, I empathise with you. x
 
I had a horse similar, jerky head rather than shaking but rubbed her nose raw, literally walked round the box rubbing her nose could barely eat hay would jerk all over the place vet said hs pts after not finding anything on scope, she was only young so stuck it for few weeks settled down turned out to be an allergy to catkins pollen treated herbally that year no problem since as far as I know as in new home :) stay positive x
 
Also my elderly cob went into acute liver failure 2 months ago he rubbed his nose raw vet said this can be a sign of pain if coupled with constant yawning and head pressing (he pulled through bless him) have you heard of thermal imaging? This is relatively low cost and can be effective in showing a source of pain and can show cancer cells :)
 
Use a nose net with a flash strap over. Doesn't have to be done up tight but the flash stops it flapping around
 
Henry, My mare has been retired and will never be ridden again. Thank you for all the advice, Steriods haven't worked and looking at her today we think she may be reacting to the wind. I will look into those patches and have another chat with the vet (spoke to him on wednesday but asked me to finish the course of steroids before making an assessment which is tomorrow) I am not holding much hold for her as she as very lethargic despite being on NAF EnerG at competitions levels. When I win the lottery I will fund research into this horrid syndrome :(
 
Thank you I have had another think about it tonight and I am going to get my vet out to do a full blood count next week and if that all comes back clear then I will give those strips ago :)
 
Hi!

Just thought I'd let you know about a new drug I am trying. Tried all the steriod inhalers, bute tests, antibiotics, anti histamies etc. last summer and nothing worked. Went away over winter and has started again this summer.

I have been trying Gabapentin, which is a neurological pain killer (given to amputees with pain in their absent limbs apparently!!) - and so far am having positive results. Not cured by any means, but can happily hack out for an hour before she starts getting irritated at the moment.

Don't want to speak too soon and say it's definately working, but I missed a dose and she was horrendous the next day, so think it may be doing something.

You have to start it gradually and stop it gradually to stop any side effects, but may be something to suggest to your vet? Dr Knottenbelt is currently trialing for HS and has had some positive results. Check with your vet re. doseage, but I'm currently on 1 1/2 800mg tabs twice a day.

Hope you get it sorted!
 
Not much on headshaking but wanted to add to try adding plenty of salt to the diet to offset potassium in the grass.
It won't do any harm either way.
 
Without trying to cause panic I thought I would warn users to this forum that whilst on the subject of head shaking I'd like to add that if any horses suddenly start head shaking and if this is accompanied by frenzied vocalisation, lethargy, stiffness or recurrent choke like retching neck spasms this is now a clear indication of the possibility of atypical myopathy as five horses that were suspected of having this prior to admittance to Liphook Hospital all developed the same symptoms, these were symptoms that until then presumably hadn't been heard of, or thought relevant as the data hadn't be collected.

http://www.horseandcountry.tv/news/...fter-several-atypical-myopathy-cases-reported
 
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Hi there
I had something similar with a TB x mare. She started headshaking, progressed to tripping and was slightly lame behind. Vet diagnosed compressed spine and horse had steroid injections. Meanwhile behaviour deteriorated and she got really grumpy especially if groomed, feet handled etc. She finally was put down as condition worsened rapidly but vet felt it was probably a tumour that was behind the main symptoms and the compression was a red herring. She also bucked mainly in one rein when she was still being ridden and before she started tripping. Sorry - probably not what you want to hear.:(
 
Have spoken to my vet today and he doesn't feel there is anything more he can do without sending her to the RVC or Liverpool, both of which are financially out of the question. So I have brought a box of those equiwinner patches and if that doesn't work then I will have her PTS. Thank you for all your advice :)
 
I know next to nothing about headshaking, but if you go along the lines of it being an allergy, then I have an idea as a last ditch effort.

Some of the others will know I'm trying to prove that my gang have muscle problems brought on by a chronic selenium deficiency (selenium is deficient in soils and grass/hay across much of the UK), so I'm a bit of a "selenophile" at the moment. It's an amazingly powerful anti-oxidant and can help the body in all sorts of ways, but my focus has been on finding out about its role in muscular problems.

You say your mare stopped eating hay and is therefore on Fast Fibre. What was it about the hay that she had a problem with. Did she look like she had a problem chewing or swallowing? This can be associated with selenium deficiency affecting the masticatory muscles in horses. One of my mares has been producing xs saliva and slobbering, but this has disappeared within weeks of starting a high level selenium supplement.

You say your mare was tight in her back, and has reared and bucked. Again my gang have had tight muscles. One who retired 2 years ago with a variety of lamenesses had taken to bucking into canter, and rearing when told to go forward on long lines. She bronc'd off the vet hospital rider - that was her last ride. Subequent looks at her blood results then and now show high muscle enzymes, indicating chronic muscle damage...... again can be associated with low selenium.

Now the headshaking I don't know about. I can't find a recognised link for selenium and headshaking. However, it is known that selenium helps with the body's immune system and there have been studies in humans looking at the role of selenium in preventing/reducing allergies.

Interestingly, one of my boys really throws his head around when I put his grazing muzzle on. I've wondered for a while whether he may become a head shaker. I must video what he does, in the hope that he'll stop doing it when he's been on a selenium a bit longer!

Anyway, all I'd say, because you are just about at the end of your options for your mare, is why not have a comprehensive blood test including muscle enzymes (and possibly vitamin E and selenium in GSH-px, done by the AHVLA) as that might give you a clue.

Even if you choose not to blood test, you could always start giving a good selenium supplement (Forageplus's winter balancer would be a good one, fed at full rate; if you discovered that GSH-px was low you could always add more selenium yeast, but at an appropriate rate as it can easily be toxic if fed too much). Beware of selenium supplements that contain sodium selenite - it's not as bioavailable as selenium yeast.

Yes, it's a long shot, but it's a relatively cheap longshot. The balancer has really good levels of other minerals - much higher copper and zinc than other balancers on the market. And a good level of well-balanced minerals isn't going to do any harm. And the selenium within the balancer may just start to make a difference.

I believe I've seen improvements in my gang within 3.5 weeks of starting to supplement at a higher level than just the balancer. And by 6 weeks I was convinced there was an improvement. It'll probably be a few more months before I can be sure.

Like I say, my experience is of selenium deficiency presenting in a different way, but when you are at the end of your tether you may well be willing to try something a little different, which should at the very least help your mare's immune system.

I wish you luck however you proceed.

Sarah
 
Just a quick update, She is just starting the Equiwinner patches today (money back if it doesn't work guaranteed so worth a risk) My vet is speaking to a holistic vet to see if there is anything we can try that way and she had the dentist to check her mouth properly and he said she is perfect in that respect.

With regards the vit e and selenium she is eating (soaked) stud cubes at present and pink powder both of which contain the above. The not wanted to eat is to do with the pain in the face, she will eat both to a certain extent just finds it uncomfortable.

Thank you again for all the suggestions, I really appreciate it :)
 
10 days as she has only started shaking this year, if i feel it is starting to help i'll buy another 10days, I didn't see the thing about warming her up and hosing down etc. Would it be ok to just was a massage pad on high to warm the muscles up? she isn't up for working atm
 
I have trigeminal neuralgia so I probably understand this more than most.if your horse was worse on a windy day then that was probably a trigger for her pain.another trigger is bright sunlight so you could try a uv protection mask.
 
Happy hooves, I read you pm the first time you sent it and looked into it. I didn't feel it was relevant to my mare situation. Sorry you feel the way you do about what I am considering with my horse but trust me I have her best interests at heart.
 
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I have recently been involved with a horse that developed head shaking this year and detiorated quite rapidly until it was even unhappy in its stable. The owners decided that it was dangerous and had it PTS. The post mortem found a large tumour on the sinus.

I doubt anyone would have cured that.
 
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