She's a headshaker - gutted

A

atot

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 October 2007
Messages
3,966
Visit site
Spoke to the vet, who has decided that the symptoms are just too typical to be anything else other than headshaking. She suspects a herpes virus attacked the nerves in her face, making them hypersensitive (This is converting what she said into my own slightly less medically words, so sorry if I get it a bit wrong!)

She does it in the field, in the stable, under sedation etc...She's had lots of tests, antihistamine, a steriod inhaler, nothing is helping. We are going to try a nose net and mask to rule out sunlight and airflow being the cause of it.
We've got few other paths to go down, other than a bioenergetics analysis which might bring something up that the vet missed.

Has anyone got any other suggestions for possibly finding a cause/treatment/management of this? I know it could be worse but she is unrideable and I don't know what to do right now. Even some success stories would help. ANY ideas grateful. I've been reading up on articles that the vet sent me on headshaking, and everything to try and get clued up.

Thank you x
 
Join the club! Try not to get too down about things until you have exhausted every possible avenue. I have a section B gelding that has been headshaking now for 10 or 11 years - if you can control it it really isn't the end of the world - you just need to try and find out what works best for the horse.

Give the net a go, thats what I use very successfully, also maybe worth asking vet about antihistimines - thats what mine recommended trying and it did help to a certain extent although not sure i was giving enough tablets for bodyweight! There are lots of supplements out now, i have never tried them as had no need, but i have heard mixed reports - it could work though for your horse. Good luck, feel free to pm if you have any questions/ want to vent! xx
 
Touch wood I've never had a horse who is a headshaker, but from what I've read and also from your post about nerves in the face, it reminds me of when I was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia (sp?). Pain originating from nerves in the face. It was the most agonising thing ever and I was at the end of my tether, the doctor said all they could do to help would be to cut the nerves which could result in facial parayisis and the pain was so bad I was actually considering it. Anyway - friend suggested acupuncture and after two sessions the pain had completely gone - so I would suggest acupuncture - it's got to be worth a try. I think you'd need a real expert horse acupuncturist though - I'm sure they must exist.
 
My horse was headshaking badly so that even walking was unpleasant and not very safe going down hill. I used a nose net but then went bitless and she hasnt done it since. This year we have gone back to a bit but using a William Micklem bridle as it has the wide head piece and so far so good
 
Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate it!!!

alsxx will deffo give the nose net a go and see how that goes, thanks for the suggestion

MoyraL - very interesting, thank you. that's amazing how much the acupuncture helped! I will deffo investigate that!

Selkie - I read an article on how going bitless might help actually, and am considering going down that route too, thanks! Only thing is she does it in the field/stable too, which makes me think it isn't bit related? But shall deffo keep it in mind, thank you!
 
Ferds is a headshaker.. various investigations by the vets couldn't find a cause, but there are some triggers in certain foods which can definitely make him worse.

his headshaking is completely under control now - it just needs a little bit of management. at his worst he was unrideable, but he carried on eventing and dressage to affiliated level with his nose-net on. Feeding him global herbs 'shake free' seems to help him a lot (he gets worse when it runs out!) and they do summer and winter formulas which help with the specific factors going on in the season.

it also made ferd hypersensitive to flys, so he was turned out in a full face and nose mask all the time, and on particularly bad days I would hack him out in this too.
 
We have a little cob at our yard who head shakes too. He is ridden in a nose net and wears a full face mask in the field which seems to help. Last summer he was also on a herbal mix (can't remember what though, sorry) and that really made a difference to his well being. Try the net and just make sure it's nice and clean each time you use it! Good luck...
 
Agree with all above, don't give up just yet. My sister's boy started badly headshaking at 5, shortly after we moved to a yard with rape in the field next door (although interestingly he did have at a similar time a bad eye infection that was diagnosed as herpes virus!?).

Anyway, he's 11 now and does EVERYTHING a "normal" horse does - PC/competes/hacks/schools/jumps all year round. This was a horse that had become too dangerous to ride at 5 and we thought would have to be retired.

Vets to be honest were useless in his case - just said "yes he's a headshaker sorry" and that was it!

Would agree with just being systematic and trying everything and anything, as different things help different horses.

Things that have helped our boy are :

Nosenet (he wore this solidly for riding all year for years, now he is able to be ridden say for shows without it on good days)

Global Herbs - these also worked for him when he was at his worst

Poll relief bridle

Cutting as much sugar out of the diet as possible

When he went through a stage of being completely phobic about flies, as well as the allergy head shaking, he was ridden in a full face mask

Feedmark Steady up - he was on this for years (isn't now), but it definitely helped keep his brain from going crazy with the physical symptoms of the headshaking

We also took a stance that whilst we did everything possible to alleviate the physical causes and symptoms of the headshaking, he was not allowed to scratch/rub on anything ever whilst being ridden, thus if he had mild symptoms he was not allowed to aggrevate them further by rubbing (think hayfever in a person, I know from personal experience that with the onset of an attack, if I rub my eyes/nose etc, the symptoms get much worse very quickly. If I can make myself ignore them, they tend to stay the same or get less)

This rather firm stance on our part appear to mark the time when he started to improve. It was hard, as its a very distressful condition and if he was really bad, we didn't work him, just led him round in hand, without letting him rub, till he calmed down again (he originally used to get so upset he would rear and plunge).

Over time, whilst some physical symptoms remained, they were not so bad and he did esculate into a full blown manic attack - its like the physical symptoms would make his brain blow and he would go a bit nuts, so a large part of it was psycological.

It took several years for it to calm down completely - in that time, we just worked round it a bit - rode him at times when it was better, never in the rain, always with a nose net etc.

Nowadays, he rarely exhibits symptoms with the nosenet on - the odd flick, but he doesn't get distressed at all about it. He is on no herbal remedies - occasionally maybe in the worst part of the season and in the winter he can now be ridden in the wind/rain whatever - at one point he was unrideable in these conditions.

Not saying all horses can get over it so well as he has, but it is possible. Its such a heartbreaking condition and each horse seems to be very very different.
 
Just to add 1 suggestion in addition to all of the above great advice. My friend has a cob that suffers terribly, gets so distressed ends up rearing etc etc, had ventapulmin from the vet and everything else they could throw at it. The one thing she swore helped was a chinese herbal biscuit by a company called Horsewise. They do 2 or 3 versions and I am pretty sure the one that helped was the upper respiratory one, it is about £25 for a month's supply, you never know it may just work on your ned and is just fed in Summer months when the pollen is at it's worst. Also when she moved yards to a slightly different area there was also an improvement so it may be a very specific allergy.
 
My other horse was a headshake, it got worse as he got older, he started with it when he was around 7 years old, I found a pattern in the months when he suffered worse, and the months when it did not effect him, so it really depends on the severity of it. Some years he was worse than others, also I found on sunny days during certain months...he was at his worst, also depending on where he was ridden, certain tree and bushes/brambles would set him off, yet he would be fine away from the field and ridden in village where the houses and gardens were.

I could even show him, because soon as he went into trot, air flow increased, he'd be so agitated with it, shaking, pawing, wanting to rub his nose on anything and blowing/sneezing etc.

I tried a few nose nets, one that goes over the whole of the face with a finer mesh, also covers the mouth, but it did nothing but prevent him breathing fresh air in, the mesh was so thick that he was breathing back in his own breath (so to speak) so that was no good.

Then tried the equilibrium nose net, this worked, along with Vaseline up the nose, also I have never don't this myself but I know a lot of people that give there horses the tesco hay fever tablets, one in morning feed and one in an evening feed and they swear by them....having said that, I would not do this without your vets approval.

Lastly, don't think that it is the end of the world, because its not, my other horse who is still stabled on the same livery yard has not suffered half as bad this year, he's even been ridden mostly without his net, it depends on the pollen count, area you live etc.

I was told that it runs in seven year cycles...each year gets worse before getting better again, not sure if this is true.

However I do know some that have had to be PTS because of it, but they were extreme cases.
 
I was only speaking to a friend the other day who is an equine vet. He has had some really good success cases using a drug called 'Modecate'. This is an anti-scizophrenic drug used in people. It isn't licensed for use in horses yet but it is good stuff...poss worth speaking to your vet about it?
 
I put a post on a previous thread in this forum about headshaking a couple of months ago (but quicker to write a new post than look for the old thread!). We've got a headshaker - fine until he was 5, then started in the spring of his 5th year. The next 18months were awful as we tried everything and watched him get progressively worse - reading other people's accounts of their horse's symptoms just mirrored all the symptoms that we saw in our horse. By last autumn he was unrideable and clearly distressed on some occasions when just out in the field. We decided that the only humane option was to put him down, particularly as he'd been diagnosed as an idiopathic headshaker, cause of which was most likely to be facial neuralgia, and human equivalent of which is reckoned to be one of the most painful conditions known. However, he'd already been up to Leahurst for a pioneering surgical treatment (insertion of platinum coils around the main facial nerve, which acts as a physical nerve block). That hadn't worked (not for our horse, although it had been totally or partially successful in some of the others that they had treated), but Derek Knottenbelt's team had since made some adjustments to the technique and were having more success. They suggested we send him back for a second operation using the newer, slightly modified procedure He had his second operation last autumn, came back into work in January and has been doing affiliated dressage this summer. He's not 100%, and still headshakes in certain conditions (pollen, dust for example), but is so much better than he was. NAF Shake Relief has also helped, and I'd agree with others' comments that keeping him calm is important. Once his head starts to bother him he can get himself into a right old tizz, but he's so much calmer than he used to be. He'll always be a headshaker, and there is no long-term prognosis for the condition, or the long-term efficacy of the surgery......but for now we've got a horse who's happy and healthy and who I can enjoy riding. It's really encouraging to hear other people talk about their headshakers who they manage perfectly well, and I'd echo that - it is a distressing condition, but it is manageable, so don't despair!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top