Severe headshaking

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purplehorserocks

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Hi
My share horse was diagnosed about a month ago with head shaking syndrome. I have done some research and from what i understand it is a rare condition which affects the trigeminal nerve that runs from the side of the horses head and branches off to the nose, eyes and mouth. It basically causes pain in his head and face. According to the vet it is a seasonal disorder and there are lots of possible triggers (pollen, sinlight, wind/breeze, rain, dustetc...) He has been on complete box rest until the beginning of this week when he has been allowed out in the paddock at night. We changed his bedding to dust free shavings and are soaking his hay.

The vet put him on a course of tablets (i think they were steroids but i could be wrong) for 2 weeks but they made no difference. The medication was changed 2 weeks ago and he seems to have improved a bit although he is still having more bad days than good. His owner has now been told by the vet that she has to decide wether to put him through an operation with only a 20% success rate (and usually the success cases are mild cases which scars most definitely isnt) or to PTS. Its a horrible decision to have to make, he is such a gentle horse who has behaved amazingly considering the pain he must be in.

My question is this... Have any of you had experience with this? and if so did you come accross any other options that worked? Apparently it is often a manageable condition if you can find a solution but at the moment nothing we have tried has helped much and we are running out of ideas.

Thanks
PHRx

P.S. He is a 16.3hh (at least) polish warmblood.

ETA he is 7 yrs
 
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Headshaking is not that rare and seems to becoming more common or we are becoming more aware of the problem. There are loads of posts on this forum with some useful advice.

In my experience I have found that a full face nosenet when turned out in the field, piriton tablets, hayfever nasal spray has given my mare the most relief from the symptoms. I first knew of a headshaker 20 yrs ago and the veterinary world has not been able to come up with many answers in this time as research is poorly funded. Think carefully before going down the surgical route Derek Knottenbelt who operates on headshakers calls them a living experiment..
 
Hi thanks for your reply.
I have no idea what his owner will decide to do in terms of the operation but we had pretty much worked out it isnt great. I will suggest the piriton, hayfever tablets and net and see what his owner says.

Thanks again

PHRx
 
Equilibrium also do a nose net which is dressage legal, this helps some suffers. I had a previous horse on loan who had this condition, the owners advised that they had undertaken various allergy tests in the past and nothing can be found, its a case of trying lots of things to see what will work. Someone also advised anti-histamines to me as well, supplements etc. but they didnt work with this particular horse.

Some scientists believe it may be linked into sunlight somehow as well, but I am not so sure, I think we just have more rubbish in our atmosphere nowadays.

There is an awful lot on the net about it, lots of theorys and not many answers. Good luck, hope you find something that works :-)
 
Hi
Thanks for your replies. I had a text from the owner this afternoon. She turned up on the yard and he was laying on the stable floor struggling to breathe so she called the vet to come out and PTS. It is a shame and very sad but he has been suffering alot with this so I think it was the right decision.

Thanks everyone

PHRx
 
I am really sorry to hear this, we lost our horse last year so I know what you must be going through. At least he is not suffering anymore. Big hugs to you xxx
 
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