Please count your horse's blink rate.

[cptrayes]

I am very worried about how much my horse (who has had two head fractures this year) is blinking.

Could you please count how many times a minute your horse is blinking and let me know? And also what type of horse they are. My cob is hardly blinking at all. My injured horse is over fifty a minute. Please count when you aren't paying him/her too much attention, because they seem to stop anyway when they have something to focus their attention on.

Thanks.

 

[el_Snowflakes]

50 a min seems like a lot but it's not something I've ever given much thought to! Maybe you could ring your vet & ask what the normal range is?

 

[Annagain]

I'll have a go with my two and report back tonight. To be honest I've never really noticed them blinking at all, so 50bpm (blinks per minute!) does sound excessive. I'll also ask one of the girls at the yard, whose horse is known to have eye problems to do it.

Hope you work out his problems soon. Is there some sort of scan he could have?

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Found this while looking up things. Not sure if it's if it's useless but I thought it was quite interesting.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/external/EBF/uhcc7.html

 

[smellsofhorse]

I'd say the was excesses.
That's almost 1 a second, a human, horse ir anything would only blink that much to clear their eyes.
Sounds likes some irritation.
I'd call for advice and even a visit

 

[Wagtail]

Cptrayes, has his bashing of his head only occurred since he had the KS operaiton? Or has he done it before? I am going down the field in a mo to do some poo picking and will check on the horses blinking. I have two WB youngsters, two WB adults and two TBs here.

 

[magicmoose]

From one of my old textbooks, 5 to 25 blinks per minute is considered the normal range.

 

[cptrayes]

I have a vet involved, Snowflakes but I want to know what is normal for other horses.

 

[cptrayes]

Magicmoose, Very useful, thank you.

 

[cptrayes]

Cptrayes, has his bashing of his head only occurred since he had the KS operaiton? Or has he done it before? I am going down the field in a mo to do some poo picking and will check on the horses blinking. I have two WB youngsters, two WB adults and two TBs here.

Not only has he always done it, but the vet has told me that he did the left eye brow before I got him more than three years ago.

 

[cptrayes]

I'd say the was excesses.
That's almost 1 a second, a human, horse ir anything would only blink that much to clear their eyes.
Sounds likes some irritation.
I'd call for advice and even a visit

It's not irritation from anything external, but it is looking horribly like it's much worse after a day of sunshine

 

[cptrayes]

I'll have a go with my two and report back tonight. To be honest I've never really noticed them blinking at all, so 50bpm (blinks per minute!) does sound excessive. I'll also ask one of the girls at the yard, whose horse is known to have eye problems to do it.

Hope you work out his problems soon. Is there some sort of scan he could have?

It's all on other threads scans are pointless, I'm afraid.

 

[cptrayes]

Found this while looking up things. Not sure if it's if it's useless but I thought it was quite interesting.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/external/EBF/uhcc7.html

It was an interesting read, thanks.

 

[Wagtail]

Okay, did all 6 horses. Average of 18 times a minute. Range from 11 to 28 times a minute. With youngsters blinking more often than adults.

 

[cptrayes]

Okay, did all 6 horses. Average of 18 times a minute. Range from 11 to 28 times a minute. With youngsters blinking more often than adults.

I've got a problem, haven't I? Very useful, Wagtail, thank you. He also has a permanent frown whenever his blink rate is high and I am so worried for him that he is living with a migraine

More counts, please people, I'd like to be absolutely sure he's totally abnormal, so I know I'm not fussing about nothing.

 

[Supertrooper]

Has he been checked for uveitis?

 

[cptrayes]

There's nothing wrong with his eyes physically, this seems to be being caused by multiple blows to the trigeminal nerve junctions around his eyes.

 

[Supertrooper]

Bless him, I wonder if a UV fly mask would help?

 

[cptrayes]

Bless him, I wonder if a UV fly mask would help?

I am keeping a detailed diary of his depth of frown and his blink rate and the amount of sun and wind (wind is a trigger for humans with trigeminal neuralgia). Once I have proved what I think is going on, a UV mask will be a good idea in principle, but it worries me that reducing his vision will make him even more likely to hit his head I can't win with this horse at the moment!

 

[YorksG]

Will count ours when we go out. We have an adult draught horse, an adult appaloosa, a rising 4 Appaloosa and a rising 3 cobx. Is the length of each blink the same, is it a normal bllink or a more exagerated one?

 

[palterwell]

I have got Trigeminal Neuralgia and I have also had a pony who was a photic head shaker. If I were you I would try a UV protection mask.I haven't been able to log in so I couldn't comment before,if wind is causing your horse pain then the mask that you have bought will help but it won't be instant.I can control my pain by using glasses/sunglasses at the moment but it has taken me a long time to get to this stage.My pony wore a UV protection mask whenever she was in the field and was fine when stabled.

 

[cptrayes]

Will count ours when we go out. We have an adult draught horse, an adult appaloosa, a rising 4 Appaloosa and a rising 3 cobx. Is the length of each blink the same, is it a normal bllink or a more exagerated one?

YG they are solid blinks, not exaggerated but eye closed at least 3/4 most times. I'd say probably more of a blink than my cob is doing.

 

[cptrayes]

I have got Trigeminal Neuralgia and I have also had a pony who was a photic head shaker. If I were you I would try a UV protection mask.I haven't been able to log in so I couldn't comment before,if wind is causing your horse pain then the mask that you have bought will help but it won't be instant.I can control my pain by using glasses/sunglasses at the moment but it has taken me a long time to get to this stage.My pony wore a UV protection mask whenever she was in the field and was fine when stabled.

Ah, my next thread was going to be to ask people with trigeminal neuralgia how much pain they were in and what helps.

I live in the worst possible place for this - high up with sky high UV levels. All my carpets have a bleached rectangle on them where the light comes in. My red sofa in the lounge went yellow!

 

[palterwell]

The pain is like the feeling you get when you cut yourself on paper,Doctors describe it as a searing pain. I'm trying to think what helps the most and I think the main thing is warmth and staying out of bright light. I also use magnets,although I know that not everyone would do this.If the pain is very bad I use those wheat bags that you put in the microwave.

 

[Coblover63]

Forgive me if I'm repeating someone else's suggestion as I have to go to work shortly so I'm in a rush but has he had any cranial osteopathy? I know that sometimes newborn babies suffer migraines and headaches as their skull bones get more squashed than they are supposed to during birth or don't "reset" as they should and I know several cases where cranial osteopathy has been something of an instant-cure for all the crying and restlessness..... I just wondered whether it might help your boy if he's in pain. x

 

[DuckToller]

Did blink rate for mine - aged shetland type was 18, warmbloods all between 20-24, Irish bog pony 16.

Interesting to watch - all blinked several times at once then paused, then a few single blinks with long gaps, then another group of 2-4 blinks. None of them blinked at a regular rate of say 1 blink per 2 secs.

Not got trigeminal neuralgia (although am now slightly boss-eyed after watching horses blink ) but get migraines - would agree with some sort of light protection as I can't function without sunglasses if my head is bad.

 

[doriangrey]

I have just counted Lucy's blinks as she was eating her tea ... 17 blinks (very relaxed half-eyed ones even though she was keeping an eye on my other horse) and like someone mentioned above they were irregularly spaced. Poor Ace, also sounds like a 'tic' like an involuntary neuro response.

 

[Greylegs]

My highland ... About 20 times per minute, if that helps ...

 

[Amicus]

Ah, my next thread was going to be to ask people with trigeminal neuralgia how much pain they were in and what helps.

I live in the worst possible place for this - high up with sky high UV levels. All my carpets have a bleached rectangle on them where the light comes in. My red sofa in the lounge went yellow!

Might it be worth trying a trigeminal nerve block, to see if he's much happier? (Have met head shakers that having improved after nerve blocking have had the nerve semi-permanently knocked out by laser) Although maybe considering the main issue it would just be asking for more trouble - might give you some idea of how much discomfort he's in though.

My Welsh blinked about 16 times a minute.

 

[Holly Hocks]

CPT - my horse went to Glasgow as we believed she had damaged the trigeminal nerve after extensive sinus and tooth surgery. As it was, there was no sign of damage, but the scans were useful to have if you can have them.