Please Help!

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LauraB123

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My ex rachorse is giving me some hassle! She has been out of racing just over a year, but for the majority of that she was with some people who she was too much for. She got into some v bad habits (rearing badly and napping) But now she is much much better. The only thing I cannot for the life of me understand is she constantly twitches her head when we're schooling. After 20mins or so she stops doing it so much but for the first 20mins its awful! She doesn't just twitch her head, some of the time her front legs will fly about aswell. It's like something is annoying her nose. I've tried changing bits, she's now in an eggbutt snaffle which she seems happy with. Her teeth and back are fine. I barely touch her mouth so its not because I'm being rough with her or fiddling with her mouth too much. We school in a grass arena so i don't think its dust or anything. She does it in the field when there are a lot of midges about, but there isn't really many flies around the school and none of the others are bothered by any flies when they're in there? Any one have any ideas?
 
It is possibly just tension but I would try a nosenet to see if it is allergy related.
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Is she worse in bright sunlight? Or worse when she's hot? Sounds like she might have some sort of allergy to either the midges or flies causing head shaking symptoms?

A nosenet wouild be a good start
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Is she worse in spring time or hot summer days and better in the winter, could she have a pollen allergy? Have you tried her with a nose net to see if this helps her, they are pretty cheap and attach to the noseband of your bridle. Might be worth a go.
 
Sounds like headshaking to me. I would definately try her in a nosenet as these often help. I would also get her teeth looked at incase something wrong in there. And it may be worth consulting with your vet in case it is a medical thing.
 
Well the nose net made no difference. I have noticed though that she seems to stop doing it when she is actually concentrating on something. When we were warming up she did it as usual, but as soon as we started jumping and she was concentrating she was fine. Has anyone ever heard of horses doing things like that as a habit? I used to exercise her when she was racing and she didn't do it then, so maybe she picked it up in the year she had off? I know in the stable etc they have little habits like that but when riding?
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It sounds like stress/boredom. TBs, racers in particular have very fast thinking brains and they need constant stimulation.

Kind of the horse equivalent of the collie - they will get very wound up and difficult if not given enough exercise/things to think about.

With my laddie I put lots of poles/3-5trotting poles around the school and do various circles over them to really get him thinking. You can walk over these when warming up.
 
I do things like that already though, I even change where the poles are every time I school. I've tried taking her for little walking hacks before I school to make it not so boring. I've tried bringing my other horse in and getting my mum to ride her round see if that settles any nerves or anything. It's totally baffled me. I do something with her 6days a week and make sure its something different for her and try to make it fun. I'm hoping she will just grow out of it maybe as she is still a baby really.
 
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