Headshaking

From your latest update, it does sound like it must be trigeminal neuralgia. What I'd suggest as a next step is to keep a diary so you know the dates - continue riding as you would but note down the following:

- Lunge beforehand for 15 minutes - one a scale of 1-10 (10 being utterly unrideable), how much does she shake?
- Note weather conditions - wind speed, sunny/cloudy, pollen count, rainfall (should be easy enough to google all this for where you are)
- Note if your horse is in heat here too
- Note the time when you start and the time when you stop lunging
- Then note what kind of riding/where you are doing it (e.g. hack for x amount of time, indoor school for x amount of time) and again give a score from 1-10 at the end of the ride.

Try to use the same tack/equipment (so if you're going to use the nosenet, make sure you always do so, including when lunging at the start).

You might not see any pattern at all but if you're lucky, you'll see what specific conditions trigger the worst shaking. I would at that point go to your vet as they'll be able to prescribe appropriate medications.

It's worth mentioning that often headshaking will almost completely disappear over winter. If the horse is one of those, you'll find out in a few months and often melatonin will help as it tricks the horse's brain into thinking it's a different time of day/year and that can be enough to solve the problem.

Magnesium can help in some cases but not others and it can have quite a few side-effects. If you go this route, it's a good idea to get your vet to monitor levels so you can see if any changes actually correlate with this at all. Magnesium is involved in nerve signalling, which is why it can help - but if the horse wasn't deficient to start with, it's not going to. It may also be antagonistic to other substances that the horse needs for nerve function (like potassium) so a balance is more important - but it's all guesswork if you don't have a baseline test first.

Something else they can do is give you medicines that are intended to manage neuropathic pain so that even if you can't figure out the trigger, you can deal with the pain itself.

It definitely could be related to hormonal cycles and it's normal for it to be linked to pressured situations. The main idea is that situations like that (and exercise itself) cause physiological changes that are triggered via the autonomic nervous system - for example the dilation of blood vessels or stimulation of the vagal nerve to increase heart rate. So a horse with a malfunctioning trigeminal nerve simply "misinterprets" these things and instead perceives pain.
 
Hi everyone (my first post) I live within forestry commission land in Ireland, my last horse was a headshaker, I sold her to someone who lived near the coast and she stopped almost straight away.....I am now riding a horse that started headshaking in spring this year (age 5) I tried piriton, mask, Vaseline, fresh and easy......no joy. The tree pollen this year is horrendous here, we live halfway up a mountain and the higher I climb with her the thinner the air and the more open the area and the less she shakes......I must be the only person who actually gets excited at the thought of hacking out in the pouring rain (no headshaking) definitely pollen for my baby as when I come back into the tree line near home it's like being on a bad fairground ride.....
she rides in a loose contact with a French link and no noseband....she's a push start button and go type of a horse...someone advised bitless but didn't try that as it would mean a headhugging feel so thought that might irritate more.....
anyhow all this waffling hasn't really solved anyones problems other than I think in my case definitely pollen.......if you're still awake thanks for reading ;0)
 
Thanks everyone. Appreciate all the input. I can confirm that when she has her nosenet on she's much better - rode her again tonight and there was a 'flick' of the head here and there but when I put my leg on and asked her to do something different she worked through it. She's not unrideable at any stage but definitely kills our flatwork - she's much better when she's jumping as she enjoys it!

I have found her to go well in a Micklem (borrowed a friend's) so I've bought one to see if it helps her at all - this makes me think that it is trigeminal neuralgia as you said, Barnacle.

Further to my post about runny eyes, I've realised that the flys are getting into her eyes during the day causing the runny eyes so I've bought her a fly mask. I also coated her in fly spray this evening to make sure they weren't swarming around her as today was a particularly hot fly-filled day.

Given today was so warm she was a pleasure to ride for a change! I think the nosenet is a winner here.

Barnacle, I can confirm she doesn't headshake in winter - she was headshaking mildly last year in Summer but I mostly rode indoors, and in winter it was non-existent (except for the rubbing face on leg after riding which she has always done) regardless of where we rode. Her previous owner has confirmed with me that this pattern has been the same since she was a 4 year old.

To Ruggly's point - my yard is based beside a forest, with my arena looking right onto it - maybe that is playing a part!

I plan to get the vet out for my peace of mind and I'll update you all from there. Hopefully it can help others in the same position as me :)
 
No answers yet unfortunately :( Vet cannot find any obvious reasons for her headshaking (checked eyes, ears nose mouth etc and took temp and did all over check) so wants to refer her for further tests (scoping, MRI). Unfortunately her owners are not bought into getting these tests done so in the meantime I was wondering if I could try a supplement to see if it narrows it down?

has anyone had success with NAF Shake Relief, Global Herbs Shakefree, or Equine America Shakergard? At this stage anything is worth a shot as the nosenet only helps sometimes. When she is stressed it definitely gets worse and when she is focused or relaxed it's not as bad. I really want to make sure it's not medical before 'deciding' it's behavioural as she's got such a lovely temperament and a willing attitude to work that I don't believe this is her evading work - I really feel like she's trying to tell me something.
 
Don't know if any help but one of our R&D mares has headshake in the summer when ridden out or lunged/ridden in arena, also on bright winter days, is fine driven. I have just bought her a eye shade and so far she is fine. It looks a bit line a baseball cap for horses.
 
nato said:
No answers yet unfortunately :( Vet cannot find any obvious reasons for her headshaking (checked eyes, ears nose mouth etc and took temp and did all over check) so wants to refer her for further tests (scoping, MRI). Unfortunately her owners are not bought into getting these tests done so in the meantime I was wondering if I could try a supplement to see if it narrows it down?

has anyone had success with NAF Shake Relief, Global Herbs Shakefree, or Equine America Shakergard? At this stage anything is worth a shot as the nosenet only helps sometimes. When she is stressed it definitely gets worse and when she is focused or relaxed it's not as bad. I really want to make sure it's not medical before 'deciding' it's behavioural as she's got such a lovely temperament and a willing attitude to work that I don't believe this is her evading work - I really feel like she's trying to tell me something.
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I don't think headshaking of this type is behavioural, by it's very nature it is involuntary and usually difficult to find a cause, tension tends to make it worse, it is something that can rarely be helped medically it tends to be down to the rider to find something that works for the individual, because it is so individual you have to try numerous "treatments"/ supplements until one works, have you tried giving salt every day as that can help.
 
be positive said:
I don't think headshaking of this type is behavioural, by it's very nature it is involuntary and usually difficult to find a cause, tension tends to make it worse, it is something that can rarely be helped medically it tends to be down to the rider to find something that works for the individual, because it is so individual you have to try numerous "treatments"/ supplements until one works, have you tried giving salt every day as that can help.
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Thanks for this - I genuinely don't think it's behavioural either but it can make you insecure about your riding abilities! It's worse when I ask her to work in a shape or do lateral work for example as she naturally finds it hard , but it makes me worry I've got harsh hands when I genuinely don't feel I do and would hate to hurt her!

I haven't tried salt, I've been adding magnesium to her diet for the past two weeks (5g per day) with no luck. Is salt the same? How long does it take to have an effect? Are there any risks associated with feeding it, similiar to the issue with magnesium if the horse has too much in its bloodstream?

I am stuck in a tough position at the moment if her owners won't allow me to get her scoped or scanned as I can't really rule out much else otherwise. With only 4-6 weeks of summer weather left I want to try to get to the bottom of it if possible.
 
Also anyone that can suggest best headshaking supplement out of NAF Shake Relief, Global Herbs Shakefree, or Equine America Shakergard would be much appreciated :)
 
Unfortunately, it's unlikely any herbs/supplements would help - unless you know she is actually deficient in something.

Is there any chance you can get a vet to prescribe meds for neuropathic pain? It may be a bit of a struggle to convince the vet if you are unable to take her for further tests but that would be one way to confirm trigeminal neuralgia (though it won't rule it out). If she stops headshaking on them, you know it's neuropathic. If not, you don't know anything new as the pain might just be too great for the meds to overcome... But it's worth a shot to narrow down possibilities. Plus, if that works, you'll have more evidence to confront the owners with.

Vets will also often prescribe antihistamines, anti-inflammatories and/or steroids to try. It seems your vet has jumped ahead and wants to do tests - rightly, I'd add, as this is such a tricky condition to diagnose. But if you can make it clear to them that this isn't currently an option, perhaps they'll offer you easier alternatives to rule some more things out.

I also want to echo what's already been said. This is not behavioural... For a start, why would it stop in the winter and show a cyclical pattern if it was? And it's obviously not a ridden issue as she does it in other contexts too as I recall (on the lunge, free schooling). Sadly a lot of owners are dismissive of headshaking... They just don't want to have to deal with either the immediate cost or long term consequences.
 
Thanks Barnacle. It's nice to hear from someone else that it's genuinely not behavioural... Vet has prescribed anti-inflamattories - so she had an injection two days ago and is on bute twice a day. It hasn't made much of a difference and her owners don't want her on bute and have asked she come off it if she's no better by the end of the week. While I agree it's not good long term or as a way to 'mask' the problem, I feel it's needed to identify if it's neuropathic.

She had her injection three days ago and was on bute for 2 days when I rode her yesterday evening and it was no better. I put her nosenet back on and just rode her forward with a gentle contact and she was much better but there was still headshaking. It's hard to know if I should keep the nosenet on or leave it off to see if she is improving with those anti-inflammatories. I would imagine it would be an immediate improvement? Or could she continue to shake for a few days due to muscle memory?

I was actually paying for the tests, however they still don't want them done...
 
Hi Nato,
you answered your own question about behaviour....if you say you want to get it sorted before summers out....then it's seasonal not behavioural??? ;0)
My vet offered my pone steroids but I'm afraid I balked at these as apparently they can trigger laminitis, and as I'm paranoid enough I thought it best to steer clear....the antihystamines probably would have helped more but I wasn't prepared to put ten or more a day through her.
I'm lucky enough to have another pone to ride, but my girl is bearable if I leave her with virtually no contact and so no head pressure.
my one piece of advice for what it's worth is try not to spend your whole summer obsessing about something you may never be able to sort as you will just find yourself really fed up and a lot lighter in your pocket.
Good luck in your quest ;0)
 
nato said:
My mare has a tendency to headshake in Summer - last year she'd chuck her head the odd time when outside in warm weather, but nothing that couldn't be managed.

Now that the warm weather is coming, it's back again, and today it was worse as it was a headshake every few strides rather than every few minutes which was the case last year.

Some things I observed that I made note of are:

- It happens in warm weather only (no headshaking in winter)
- Doesn't happen in an indoor even if it's warm and dusty
- Doesn't happen on hacks (so far but this may change)
- It starts well into our schooling, usually doesn't happen at the start when we're warming up
- Happens in arena or field, but only when ridden (that I've seen)
- Less frequent in walk, most frequent in trot, happens less if I soften the contact and push her on.

Her teeth were done recently, as were her back. She's always hated flies, I'm wondering is this it, or could it be allergies?

I'm going to try a fly veil and fly spray to see if that improves things. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Here I saved most previous advise on this but no one seems to see my link :( >> http://horse-care-and-advice.weebly.com/h.html
 
HGA-12 - thank you for posting the link :) I had actually already stumbled upon it in another thread, lots of really helpful advice but was just looking for 'live' advice from posters based on my current situation :)

Thanks ruggly - my vet actually talked to me about steroids but advised strongly against them himself, it is reassuring to know that he is on top of things. I think I'll just keep going as we are and hope that the nose net combined with the Micklem can improve things somewhat. And also hope that it really does die down in Winter and I can just start to enjoy my dressage again!

I really was hoping I'd have some kind of solution for next year - would be a dream to be in a situation that some owners of headshakers are where they know that a nosenet or certain supplement works.
 
Really useful link thanks HGA-12. Mine is head shaking a bit along with signs of facial pain so I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.
 
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