Hypersensitive to touch

[LisaJM]

A bit of a long story I'm afraid, but my horse Lily has been on box rest for a few months while having treatment for navicular. She is now back out in her field and I am slowly bringing her back into work. Since being on box rest she has become very sensitive to being touched on her neck and if I raise my hand too quickly to give her a pat or stroke her she tosses her head away violently. This has been going on for a couple of months now, so when the vet came to give her, her annual vacc a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned this to her... she immediately said "xray the neck" which I thought was a bit drastic, but then she said wait until she's built up a bit of muscle on her neck with work and see how we get on. So that's what I'm doing.

Now, a very odd thing happened to Lily last night... we'd had a lovely hack out (although she is a headshaker and was a little shaky even with her nose net on that usually stops it completely), I got her back, hosed her down a little as she was a bit sweaty under her girth, scraped her off and sprayed her with her usual flyspray and turned her out again. She trotted off happily and a couple of minutes later had a lovely roll.

Next thing I know she's standing there looking very sorry for herself with her head and neck held low and on a scew to the right, she remained like this but then started shaking her head occasionally. Anyway, I brought her in again and checked her over, and all I could find was a little ruffled area of hair halfway down her neck that looked like a reaction to "something"!!!! I went back to the field and all I could see where she had rolled was the tiniest cluster of stinging nettles - no ants or other biting/stinging animals or plants.

So, I smothered this in aloe vera and a couple of hours later it had gone right down and she wasn't standing quite so strangly but she was still shaking her head occasionally - which just for the record she doesn't normally do in the stable even though she is a "headshaker".

This morning she seems back to normal apart from being EXTREMELY hypersensitive to the touch all along both sides of her neck. She was slightly hypersensitve before, but nothing like she is today.

If anyone has any experience of any of this I would love to hear your stories.

Thank you

 

[AmyMay]

Could the headshaking just be getting worse - with the sudden influx of pollen?

 

[fatpiggy]

I find that if I get stung by nettles, the area is still throbbing at least 24 hours later. Young nettles sting the worst.

 

[LisaJM]

I find that if I get stung by nettles, the area is still throbbing at least 24 hours later. Young nettles sting the worst.

Having done a bit of research on t'internet today, it looks like it's the nettles fatpiggy... and funny you should metion, because the nettles Lily rolled in were teeny tiny young nettles. One reference I found described exactly what Lily did, ie try and get away from the pain of the nettle stings, in her case bending her neck away from the side the nettle stings were on - fascinating!!!

After years of owning horses, I never knew how badly horses can react to nettle stings, so be warned everyone

 

[jenni999]

can you tell me what these electrolyte patches are called (brand name) and where can I get them from? I want to try them on my sensitive-skinned horse. Thanks

 

[Oberon]

I can only suggest that you see if the vet will allow a body worker to have a look at her.

Hoof pain will cause body issues and it will go around in a circle.

She is hurting somewhere - horses can be a bit random when it comes to pain though...so it's a case of digging until you find the culprit.