How does twitching work?

[HashRouge]

Very interesting point about the dominance, but one which IME has not been the case. The 'twitch junky' of a cob that I described above, was one of the most dominant horses I have ever met. However, my TB gelding who hated the twitch, was also very dominant. I have found heavier breeds more receptive to it, but others have mentioned finer breeds that responded very well.

FBurton, I would guess at around 20% of horses not responding well to the twitch. This is in my experience only, and others may feel different. Half of that 20% I would say respond very negatively indeed, the other half may be reluctant to have it put on and it may not work well for them at all.

Ah well, bang goes that theory

I think your percentage is about what I would say too. I wonder if there has been any research done into this? It would make an interesting dissertation topic for someone with the right skill set.

 

[mytwofriends]

Sorry can't vote on my phone, but at the vet practice where I used to work, a nose twitch was often used to great effect and worked with 90% of the horses. They'd also use a neck twitch on occasion, which was ok as long as the horse has sufficient flesh to grab hold of! I agree with the endorphin releasing theory.

I used to live in the States years ago, and I encountered ear twitching, which seemed horrific. Maybe it wasn't, but it never sat well with me.

 

[Tyssandi]

Question should read: How do you think a twitch works?

When I first encountered twitching a horse (on the top lip) I was completely horrified. However, in my many years with horses I have come to view it as a rarely used but effective tool which I personally believe is very humane. I'll come to why I believe this after a few respondents have voted. Please also comment on whether you think it is cruel and or how you think that it works. And why it doesn't work at all on a small percentage of horses. In fact, it can make things worse.

I don't see the problem with it in certain circumstances like clipping, just like a skin twitch, done correctly the horse suffers no long term damage.

 

[GirlFriday]

I want to tick two boxes...both the releases endorphins (because that is the most plausible expansion I've heard) one and also the wouldn't do it one. Having seen the dangerous scared behaviour of a horse who had previously been nose/ear/neck twitched on various occasions when he thought it might happen again I'm convinced it hurts at least until the endorphins circulate and almost certainly afterwards too. Horrible practice when done for anything non-emergency.

With regard to 'no long term damage', well, beating them might not (always) cause any either but most of us try to avoid that...

 

[planete]

I have on occasion suffered bouts of pain so intense that after a while, my whole body started 'buzzing' and I became light-headed. My explanation for this is release of endorphins. I would certainly not wish to inflict this kind of pain on any other living being. I have also witnessed in horses the fear paralysis induced by being trapped in a seemingly hopeless situation, again not something I would bring about on purpose. I have never twitched a horse and never will.

 

[fburton]

I think twitching can be useful (maybe even a life saver) in an emergency, although I would also like to know whether an individual horse was a responder or not before the situation arose.

However, I too am against its use for routine procedures, like clipping. Has the alternative of teaching the horse to accept the procedure been properly attempted? In many cases, I suspect not.

 

[BlueSkye]

I think twitching can be useful (maybe even a life saver) in an emergency, although I would also like to know whether an individual horse was a responder or not before the situation arose.

However, I too am against its use for routine procedures, like clipping. Has the alternative of teaching the horse to accept the procedure been properly attempted? In many cases, I suspect not.

Agree. My normally safe, happy horse becomes angry and dangerous (to the point where I would describe it as rage) if twitched, which I am glad I know. Personally would always explore other options for routine stuff for any horse.

 

[pennyturner]

I'm a horrible owner - my boy loves having his lip played with as if I am twitching him. If I stop he nudges me until I carry on.

I do this as a matter of routine with the colts (and the colts who have now grown up!) - it gives them an outlet for their natural 'mouthy' behaviour, whilst teaching them not to nip. They absolutely love it.

 

[HashRouge]

I think twitching can be useful (maybe even a life saver) in an emergency, although I would also like to know whether an individual horse was a responder or not before the situation arose.

However, I too am against its use for routine procedures, like clipping. Has the alternative of teaching the horse to accept the procedure been properly attempted? In many cases, I suspect not.

I personally would prefer not to twitch a horse unless, as you say, it is an emergency. However, I used to have to twitch for clipping ears when I worked as an SJ groom. Some of our horses could be clipped without it, no problem. The ones who had to be twitched we did try to desensitize them as best we could first and there are certainly some who learnt to accept the clippers round their ears without too much trouble. The biggest problem though when you're a professional groom is that there isn't enough time in the day to spend desensitizing each horse - you just have to hope with regular clipping they will get used to it. But at the same time they need to be fully clipped out - it's a business, the horses are for sale or ridden for owners and need to look smart. And fully clipped is the "thing". I do think it's a shame, but there you go. Although we did cheat sometimes and leave difficult horses with a little hairy hat (crown of head and ears) and then put them in a set of ears for jumping so no-one could tell

 

[Merlod]

I think twitching can be useful (maybe even a life saver) in an emergency, although I would also like to know whether an individual horse was a responder or not before the situation arose.

However, I too am against its use for routine procedures, like clipping. Has the alternative of teaching the horse to accept the procedure been properly attempted? In many cases, I suspect not.

Totally agree. I have worked with horses almost 7 years and I am only 25 now. I’ve only used a twitch once, years ago and only because it was a unit in my intermediate horse care I needed to pass. I was assessed twitching a bolshy cob who always needed to be twitched for leg stuff – washing feather mites etc or in this case to be tubbed and poulticed. Funny thing is in the next year when I was completing my advanced he needed tubbing and poulticing again but because it was not for assessment it was just a job I had to get on with, the girl who I had holding his head couldn’t believe it when I did I just did it sans twitch. Patience and reward is highly underrated imho, and often I find horses are tarred for life from one (perhaps incompetent) handlers experience and people just accept that this horse “needs” a twitch.

I don’t even own a twitch myself, even in case of emergencies, and I have a very tricky stressy welsh cob who is scared of clipping, loading and even having his mane raked (not even pulled!) but we overcome everything with gentle desensitization and I could do anything to him. Personally I view twitches like overbitting – it quickly removes the symptom and makes the handlers life easier but doesn’t resolve the problem/fear/negative behaviour a horse is displaying.

 

[Wagtail]

The biggest problem though when you're a professional groom is that there isn't enough time in the day to spend desensitizing each horse - you just have to hope with regular clipping they will get used to it. But at the same time they need to be fully clipped out - it's a business, the horses are for sale or ridden for owners and need to look smart.

That's the thing; as a livery owner who has to clip out my livery horses, I charge a flat rate. The cob I describe above that I had to twitch would take over two hours to do because I needed to remove the twitch regularly. Had he been my own horse I would have spent hours desensitizing him to the clippers. But the owner was not prepared to do that, or to pay me an hourly rate for doing it for them. As it so happened, he responded so well to the twitch and actually seemed to like it, that there really was no incentive for the owners in any case. My own mare is highly sensitive around her back legs. You can touch and groom them, but not spray them, hose them or let a lunge line touch them. She totally freaks out. I am just starting clicker training with her and that will be one of the first problem areas I tackle. She has never seen clippers yet, but I expect she will be a nightmare to do around the hind legs if I don't desensitize her. I would not consider twitching her as actually, my gut instinct tells me she will be a non-responder. Sometimes you just know.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Agree that ear-twitching is a horrible practice capable of inflicting lasting damage, both physical and behavioural.

It is.

My chap is not dominant (for those that are debating if that has any effect on twitching), he's the bottom of the herd and is generally very willing to please. However he was ear twitched as a foal (by the Vet when he was microchipped) and this has had a long lasting negative effect on him. I wouldn't let anyone try to twitch any part of his body (ear, skin or nose) as he just reacts so fast and runs/tries to get away from you with every ounce of strength that he has.

If you need to do anything unpleasant to him (eg when he had photosensitivity and I needed to apply cream to his legs) the only way was to not restrict him at all. So he was loose in the field (a stable is too restrictive), no headcollar (too restrictive), just completely loose which meant that he could walk off if he wanted. I made a fuss of him and would apply one glob of cream. Then make a fuss immediately telling him what a good boy he was. Then repeat. Yes it took a while, but that's what he could cope with.

It should be noted that he doesn't mind me using him as a support when the ground is slippy.

 

[Feival]

I use it to clip heads and legs, Far kinder than letting my horses get upset, Both react well and don't fight it, they both stand and get the job done quickly, it comes off and they get treats.

 

[Pigeon]

I don't know if anyone actually knows how they work... 'Endorphins' tends to be a bit of a catch-all answer for all types of stuff. .. Endorphins don't tend to make you freeze to the spot...

Here is an interesting article?

http://www.doctorramey.com/the-twitch-or-youre-going-to-do-what-to-my-horse/

 

[EQUIDAE]

I don't know if anyone actually knows how they work... 'Endorphins' tends to be a bit of a catch-all answer for all types of stuff. .. Endorphins don't tend to make you freeze to the spot...

But neither does twitching - it just calms them

 

[TheSylv007]

Thing is, pain releases endorphins so...

Saying that I only have to lightly grab F's nose for him to shut up and chill a bit. Usually just when I want to snap him out of him being a welsh nonsense.

This works for mine too, don't have to hold on to her top lip very tightly but it instantly seems to calm her down.

 

[fburton]

This works for mine too, don't have to hold on to her top lip very tightly but it instantly seems to calm her down.

Yes, at the other end of the responding spectrum there are some horses that show the classic sleepy response to mere 'finger twitching' which can't produce anything like as much pressure (or pain) as a rope twitch.

 

[fburton]

I use it to clip heads and legs, Far kinder than letting my horses get upset, Both react well and don't fight it, they both stand and get the job done quickly, it comes off and they get treats.

Without wishing to cause offence, may I ask what you do/did in the way of desensitization to the clipper with your horses? That seems to me to be the kindest option of all, although I completely accept that not everyone will have time to do this properly (even if they know how to do it).

 

[fburton]

I don't know if anyone actually knows how they work... 'Endorphins' tends to be a bit of a catch-all answer for all types of stuff. .. Endorphins don't tend to make you freeze to the spot...

I agree that it is perhaps too easy just to say "it's endorphins" when the mechanism in the case of twitching really isn't well understood.

Here's what Prof. Paul McGreevy (who knows a bit about endorphins through measuring them in a study of crib biters) wrote about it in his book Equitation Science:

"It is simple, effective, easy to apply, and comparatively safe for both horse and operator. For brief, mildly painful procedures, a twitch may help to immobilise the horse but this is certainly not so in all cases. Some experienced horses see the twitch coming and begin to flee immediately. This response seems to confirm that pain is involved.

[...]

Current veterinary thinking suggests that twitching a horse’s lip should be undertaken only when chemical restraint is not available (McGreevy, 2004). Twitching should be regarded as a last resort of restraint justified only as a means by which to inject a psychotropic drug.

[...]

In very difficult horses, the ear is sometimes grasped to briefly control the horse while a twitch is put on the upper lip. However, this technique should be avoided since it is far more likely to create head-shyness in the long-term than compliance in the short term. Twitching the ear is not appropriate since it may make the animal head-shy, scar the skin or paralyse the ear. The twitch is believed to work through the mediation of beta-endorphins, but there is little doubt that it works because it involves pain (Webster, 1994). The heart rate of horses when twitched undergoes a transient increase (Morris, 1988) before returning to baseline values. This return to baseline is quicker in the crib-biters than in normal horses (Minero et al., 1999). Although it is unclear why, crib-biters are also reported to be less reactive to being twitched than non-crib-biters, and are more likely to remain calm (Minero et al., 1999). These findings may reflect altered dopamine activity in the brains of crib-biters and its consequences for pleasure and rewards."

I also found a paper which said:

"donkeys responded less to painful stimuli under influence of the twitch compared to the control group. Mean HR was significantly increased during the twitch procedure after applying the twitch. Administration of painful stimuli in the twitch procedure did not further increase mean HR. Mean HR during the procedure without the twitch significantly increased after applying painful stimuli. The use of the twitch resulted in a significant increase in mean plasma ACTH concentration. The use of the twitch did not result in significant differences in mean plasma ß-endorphin concentrations."

Appearing to contradict the appealingly simple beta-endorphin story. However, in my opinion it is hard to rule out a role for endorphins (endogenous opioids) if the response to the twitch is indeed blocked by naloxone - a drug that blocks the effect of opioids.

 

[catroo]

I'm not sure what exactly causes it but I do use a nose twitch to great effect.

My stallion absolutely loves having his nose twitched so I can't see how he finds it painful. When he was having daily treatment he would hold his nose out as soon as the vet arrived, wouldn't have needed a headcollar even! The effect is instant, he's very drowsy and very relaxed with it on.

As with horses, what works for one won't necessarily work with another. If I had one that reacted badly or seemed to fear it then I wouldn't use a twitch unless an emergency.

 

[dominobrown]

I think if you want videos of lions bringing down zeberas etc i have actually seen a lion nose and ear twitch a zebera. Dont think humans where the firdt to come up with it!
Often i finding rubbing your finger on the inside of the top lip or playing with the ears and muzzle can calm a horse.
It must effect the brain in some way, has anyone seen a horse snap 'OUT OF IT'. Be calm one moment and then launching into space the next!
At the end of the day twitching is a useful tool. Yes you can desensitize to clipping etc but i use it more for trying to clean cuts, sort mudfever etc etc.

 

[Pigeon]

I agree that it is useful, but I do also think that if well respected vets only use it as a last resort, I would probably treat it that way too. We've done so many horrible things to horses as a species in the past, due solely to ignorance, that I would always tread carefully when using a technique I don't personally know the process behind.

 

[Pedantic]

Bitch fest time coming up then