Sudden onset of head shaking

[spotty_pony2]

Having a very frustrating time at the moment with one of my horses who has never head shaken in his life to suddenly starting to do it. Seems very odd that it's beginning at the beginning of winter. Have had my Vet out to look yesterday and his mouth, trachea and breathing are all fine, so she thinks it is nasal/upper airway related. I have been instructed to closely monitor him over the next few days and keep a diary of what I notice and then see where we go from there.

The only change to his routine recently has been that we have started keeping him in again at night and out during the day since last Friday which is his normal winter routine every year around this time. Saturday afternoon he made a funny almost whistling sound in his throat and we thought he was choking for a minute as it was just after eating a carrot, but then he was fine again. Sunday, he was fine all day but when finishing him off for the evening I noticed he was sneezing quite a bit and head shaking up and down which I thought was a bit odd but thought maybe he had got a bit of a cold or something.

Monday morning he was head shaking and sneezing still, hadn't eaten a great deal of hay overnight either. I turned him out and he trotted across the field doing it before settling down to graze and stopping occasionally to head shake. Brought him back in at lunchtime and he carried on doing it in the stable, head shaking quite violently which was when we decided to call the Vet. Vet came Monday evening by which time I think he was quite worn out from head shaking so much as typically he hardly did it when the Vet was there!

This morning, I got to the yard and he seemed fine at first sight but a couple of minutes later he started head shaking and sneezing again. I left him in while I rode my other horse and when I came back he was still doing it, I turned them out and a few hours later when I went to go and fetch them in I watched them for about half an hour in the field and there was no sneezing or head shaking at all. Brought him back in and within 15 mins of being in, as soon as he had eaten his feed he started head shaking again. The sneezing seems slightly less but the head shaking is the same as before. I have videoed it and sent it to my Vet. The strange thing is, we gave him some of his aniseed lick which he loves and he ate this normally for about 10 mins but once it was taken away he started again!

So a bit confused really, is it possible he could have developed a straw allergy? Even though he has been kept on stare for a few years and always been fine and has been coming in in the day to his stable during the day all summer most days and he's been fine.

Any ideas? I am going to ring my Vet again on Thursday after one more day of observation and most probably have to go down the investigation route. But I just wondered if anyone on here had any more ideas?

 

[Dazed'n'confused]

Apologies, I have no helpful advice but I just wanted to sympathise with you - I too have a horse who started head shaking at the end of September for reasons that I haven't yet been able to pin point.... It's THE most frustrating thing & I feel so sorry for my horse!
I advise keeping a diary of weather conditions & how it does (or doesn't) affect him & anything else you think of that's changed in his environment (they cut lots of trees down on the estate where my horse is & I did wonder if that was what set him off...) - it might help piece together the reason that he's started it.
Mine went in for head X-Ray's, scoping & guttural pouch check, teeth check, eye check & facial nerve block - nothing showed up apart from a slight improvement after nerve block...
We are now doing a bute trial - so far no difference. The only time he hasn't head shaken at all for the last 5 weeks was yesterday when it was very foggy & I managed a 'normal ride' in the school....
The trouble is there's no hard & fast answer for each case - extremely frustrating...

I really hope you have success in finding out what's started your boy off...
Blummin horses eh!!

 

[vmac66]

Could be a seasonal allergy. My boy has pollen allergies most of the year. I also get sneezy about now. Could be mould spores in the leaves as everything is dying off. Have you tried antihi
stamines. I use over the counter ceterizine for Zac x

Just to add, Zac has had runny eyes this last couple of weeks so there is still something in the air x

 

[Zuzzie]

My 17hh gelding (now sadly passed) had seasonal head shaking. Only saw it in the autumn. His head would suddenly jerk up as if he had got an electric shock. I continued hacking him out during this time which was fine except that sometimes he would react so violently that he almost stumbled as it seems the shock ran up through a front leg to his head. I think it has something to do with sunlight as on grey cloudy days he was a lot better.