Help - 'curing' a headshaker??

[JanetGeorge]

Do I have one?? I've never had one - or even seen one to the best of my knowledge and in the last 2 weeks I've read more than I ever wanted to read about it and I'm still clueless!

Three weeks ago I sold a home-bred, 6 year old mare - 3/4 ID/1/4TB. Within a week the buyer was claiming she was head-shaking badly. Location was Hertfordshire, in an area with a lot of rape. (We have quite a bit of the ruddy, ugly stuff too - the nearest about 200 yards from my manege!)

I ended up taking her back - the buyer was determined SHE wasn't going to keep her. She arrived - next day, no head-shaking. And no sign of head-shaking since. Can it start up so quickly in a new envionment - and disappear so quickly?? I try very hard to do the right thing by people who buy my horses - I would have to reveal this incident to any potential buyer and I'd guess it would put people off (just in case!) Should I put her in the bargain basement (she's a lovely quality mare) - or offer a written guarantee that she WON'T head-shake - or keep her for breeding?

Any similar experiences?

 

[EllenJay]

Could you get her tested fir allergies, then you will know what you are dealing with, and then you can sell her with fully diagnosed allowing a potential buyer to make an informed decision.

 

[ycbm]

Janet if you are going to sell her with a guarantee you may need to do it very quick. Buyers more clued up about hay fever may be put off by the fact that it could be one specific pollen at the moment, but she could develop an allergy to more later.

I think it's a possibility that the woman has some kind of plant or tree that you don't have near you and it could happen again. Is she close enough for you to take the mare and see what happens?

Is it possible she cranked her mouth shut with straps and upset her, or did she say she did it when not ridden too?

 

[JanetGeorge]

She's more than 100 miles away (in Hertfordshire) - although very close to another I've just sold (so I'm worrying about him too!) Allegedly the yard has a lot of head-shakers. I thought about ill-fitting bit (or browband) but buyer did seem pretty sensible. And apparently when she moved mare away from area VERY close to rape there was an improvement. But allegedly she was rubbing her nose in the fied and appearing agitated.

 

[ycbm]

She's more than 100 miles away (in Hertfordshire) - although very close to another I've just sold (so I'm worrying about him too!) Allegedly the yard has a lot of head-shakers. I thought about ill-fitting bit (or browband) but buyer did seem pretty sensible. And apparently when she moved mare away from area VERY close to rape there was an improvement. But allegedly she was rubbing her nose in the fied and appearing agitated.

Damn it, it does sound like a rape allergy if the woman is genuine. Can you take her and stand her right in the stuff near you and check? Or sell her to hill country!

Janet, I'd buy a horse from you any time, you are such a good seller.

 

[Goldenstar]

Change of environment brings up,all sort of weird things and I have seen and heard of lots of stories like this over the years .
I am always slightly cautious when buying a homebred horse it's my experience they do find that first move stressful and all sorts of things from sarcoids to head shaking appear at this time .
I would consider if I where you sending her to a friend for a while and see what happens if she shows symptoms you know you have a big problem if not perhaps not
I think it's likely it was an allergy because she is unused to coming into contact with lots of different stuff.
Rape may be a red herring there lots of stuff producing pollen ATM .
Very hard choice to decide what to do , horses eh you never know what's coming next.

 

[be positive]

I would suspect it is the environment to have a yard with several headshakers would be unusual, to have her stop as soon as she comes home, assuming she really was doing it and not something else going on causing her to want to return the mare, I don't think there is any reason to give up trying to sell her, declare the potential for an issue and try to find a home well away from crops.

I have dealt with several headshakers over the years and most have had nothing to do with pollen, different causes with all of them, living in dairy country means very few fields of anything but grass or maize, my own horse is slightly sensitive to general pollen but is not bad, I suspect he would be far worse living in an area with fields of rape.

 

[Spottyappy]

I am on the bucks/herts border and this year my own mare, whom I've owned 4 years, has developed a wheezy hay fever type allergy. There is rape about, and it's late in flower compared with normal, so is it possible the pollen from it is far worse than it would normally be?
Interestingly, myself and daughter have also had to have an inhaler and take antihistamines and we don not normally get hayfever, so maybe there is something In the atmosphere this year?

 

[Myloubylou]

I am in Northants and the head shakers in the yard seem to be triggered most by the hedges round us that I believe is hawthorn. There is lots of rape seed around which is so bad you can taste rather than smell but doesn't seem to affect so much. Riding without noseband helps.

Eta had heard that rape pollen levels are higher every 2nd year, not sure why??

 

[MurphysMinder]

I'm no vet but would think possibly a rape allergy My daughters 22 year old ID x started showing very strange signs in the field last spring, head tossing, rubbing his nose and sometimes just running and hiding in the field shelter looking very miserable. I got a fly mask with muzzle net and it made a huge difference to him. I didn't even think we had rape near to us until walking up a hill near to us, looking across I could see fields of rape that weren't visible from home. He settled down later in the summer and was fine until a couple of weeks ago then started showing first signs, so the net has gone straight back on and currently he is showing few signs.

 

[cappucino]

I had a very similar experience with the pony I used to share. He moved yards to one less than 5 miles away. All was fine until the Spring when he began headshaking, the vet recommended a nose net and we would have looked into meds, but it improved with the nose net. It actually stopped completely a few weeks later. He moved again later that year and has never shown any symptoms of headshaking since. It seemed to be specifically that yard - and only when the hedgerow was in bloom. I suspect it was an allergy to Hawthorn, but this was never confirmed.

So, yes, in my experience it can start up so quickly in a new environment (even just for a short period of time whilst the particular pollen is present) and stop just as quickly.

 

[EventingMum]

Unfortunately I think allergies can be very specific and a different area can suddenly trigger a reaction. My friend bred a horse that I rode, who never displayed any issues either at her home or mine which were 60 miles apart. He was sold to someone in a different area and again was fine but then moved to the North East of England. There he was fine for several years until he moved to an area with a lot of rape and had all sorts of problems. He was scoped and had horrific ulcerations in his windpipe and coughed dreadfully. He was moved to a different yard with less rape and improved a little but still displayed some symptoms. He eventually came home to me and didn't have any symptoms at all and competed successfully. We have no rape in our area and I firmly believe that this was the cause. Rape seems to cause huge problems in some people too and it really sounds like your mare is allergic OP.

 

[Follysmum]

After 5 years of owning my youngster and never having a problem last year started head shaking around May time really bad. Farmer had put rape two fields away, he was awful, scraping his head along the floor, head tossing all the time in the field. Vet came out and said it was probably pollen related. I started him with global herbs pollen x and slowly it started to de crease. By December it had almost stopped. This year we have rape 3 fields away and he is head flicking slightly, Im sure the Pollen X has helped.

 

[splashgirl45]

I had owned my mare for 3 years and didn't have any headshaking at all, the yard I was on was sold and I moved to another, I was there for 11 months with no problem, I then had to move as this yard didn't offer as much grazing as I needed so I moved to a yard a mile away. she started headshaking in the spring...the only difference was that this yard was surrounded by rape..i used a nose net and it made it more controllable, although she was still uncomfortable.....8 years on this yard was sold for building so I had to move again. have been at current yard for 20 months and she has not been headshaking at all....I am sure with her it is the rape as nothing else in her management has changed. the yard where she headshaked was on the Essex/Suffolk border..

 

[alainax]

I have known and couple of "head shakers" who are using it as an evasion, usually against a firmer contact. Could be the horse disagreed with the rider. Just another possibility rather than the medical route.

 

[JanetGeorge]

I have known and couple of "head shakers" who are using it as an evasion, usually against a firmer contact. Could be the horse disagreed with the rider. Just another possibility rather than the medical route.

There IS a problem of sorts - she's been a bit evasive of the bit since she came home. I suspect it was the 'wrong' sort of bit - or possibly too small a browband. Although she has quite an elegant head, we have her in an exra full browband (and I told the buyer that!) I don't believe it's rape - we have a HUGE field of it barely 200 yards from the manege. Once she's settled, we'll hack her right through the middle of it (there is a bridlepath to suit.)

 

[Mooseontheloose]

There's shaking the head - and head shaking! Yes, ill fitting tack or teeth can cause a certain type of discomfort, but real headshaking is one of those mysterious things, it can come on very quickly and when there's been no previous sign of it at all. We had a really serious one who would stand and head shake in the shade in her stable, she had no relief anywhere or with anything and sadly we had her put down. Heart breaking.