Poor sweet little mare head shaking

[kobi]

Hello I bought a 7 year old mare 5 months ago who I now think was probably showing very mild headshaking symptoms at the time, but so mild that it could have been lots of other things and wasn't picked up in a 5 stage vetting. I have had a seasonal head shaker before and I didn't pick it up (a very occasional flick which could have been down to flies, or attitude). She is a really sweet mare who hasn't put a foot wrong, always tried her best and has happily hacked, schooled, gone to clinics, done a mini ODE. The only thing she wouldn't do is hunt - I went on a few hunt rides at the start of the season and she got very stressed to the point of having sweat literally pouring off her and threw her head around nearly knocking my teeth out (a head shaking attack in hindsight). She has always done this strange thing of wanting to turn her head and neck and look behind her a lot - I though it was insecurity at first but now wonder if it was actually horizontal head shaking. She has got progressively worse over the last month and is now chronic headshaking (horizontally and vertically) and dangerous to ride - when I rode at the weekend after 10 minutes it felt like she suddenly got stabbed in the face, staggered sideways and panicked, trying to bolt home - definitely pain behaviour as she is normally one of the safest horses I've sat on. Nothing in her management has changed since the start of November when my horses came off the grass onto my all weather turn out. She is out 24/7 with free access to a fully bedded down shelter with ad lib hay and a small daily feed of speedibeet and fibre nuts to mix her salt and multivits into. I haven't ridden her since the weekend and had the vet out today who agreed with my diagnosis of head shaking. He did a general examination and double checked her teeth and back (teeth done recently by a very good dentist, saddle fitted by a pro) and couldn't find any obvious issues. She is worse in the day than at night but still pretty bad at night. She is worse in the wind, worse the longer you ride her and awful if she is stressed. Nose nets make her worse (I've tried equilibrium and shakeze) and she can't bear a UV mask on her face. Having had a headshaker before I feed salt and a decent amount of magnesium as standard to all of my horses, so she has had this for the last 5 months. I am going to take her in for the full work up with head xrays and scope up her nose but I am at a loss as to what to do if this doesn't show up any other reason for her head shaking. It can't be seasonal or pollen linked as it is the wrong time of year. The vet has suggested a new electric shock treatment called EquiPENS but the stats don't look great (1st study horses improved for an average of 15 weeks and 2nd study only 39% returned to ridden work). I've heard that the nerve pain associated with head shaking can be horredous so I want to strike the right balance between giving her every chance and not making her suffer. What are other peoples experiences and what would you do? Is there anything else I can do for her?

 

[Pinkvboots]

I have a mild head shaker he basically rubs his nose and face on thing's but it is classed as head shaking, vet think it's nerve damage in his face caused by re occurring gutteral pouch infections, I don't know if you are aware but there is a huge nerve in the face and various different things can cause pain there like bridle pressure or damage, I was advised to use a sacro cranial therapist and he has improved so maybe worth looking into, there was a poster on here who's horse had tens a while back hopefully they will see your thread.

just wanted to add my cranial lady treated a friends pony who was head flipping quite badly and after 6 months of treatment has improved so much he hardly ever does it now.

 

[ester]

If you want to read a personal account of the equipens I think Buddy had it, I don't know how bad he was before, but I think he has been ok after, just not with a contact, I am sure she would talk to you about it (you'd have to scroll back to last July I think for the posts)
https://www.facebook.com/buddysbarefootadventure/

when you say 'She is worse in the day than at night but still pretty bad at night'

I presume you mean she is shaking when not ridden too? or not?

Only because if she is I can imagine she is making herself pretty sore too.

I'd certainly get her in for the work up, and hope and pray it was something obvious that could be sorted.

 

[kobi]

She is mild when not ridden, although you don't have to watch for long to see her flick or look like she has had a mild electric shock. When I spoke about night vs day I lunged her with no tack on to see if the tack or time of day made a difference

 

[ester]

I thought you might have done that, hence wanting to clarify as they would be two quite different situations. but she doesn't sound great doing nothing either.

 

[JDH01]

I bought a known headshaker (trigeminal nerve diagnosis) and he is well managed with a combination of nose net on bright potentially midgey days, hack up bespoke 'breath easy' on similar days and an infrared poll pad which has really helped him to relax. He has also responded really well to a light connection and sympathetic schooling where we ignore the head shaking but move forward. If he had a rider who fought him it would have been really difficult. He is a lovely chap who I felt deserved a chance.

 

[rextherobber]

Depending on where you live, it could be tree pollen, Hazel is flowering in the south. Have you tried antihistamines, see KatTP's posts. Would definitely try that before PENS. Good luck

 

[Clava]

My TB headshaker , is completely controlled by feeding salt when necessary.