Any Spanish speakers?

[Malda]

How do I say “Head Shaking Syndrome” in Spanish? I want to explain to the barn’s feeder/cleaner that my horse has Head Shaking Syndrome.

The head shaking has stopped since I switched her feed from alfalfa to timothy a year ago. Up until the last month boarder’s hay was kept separately from the barn hay . Now that it’s been moved to the same shelter it looks like my timothy might be mixed up a bit with regular feed (seems to be a pile of loose hay next to my timothy).

The last couple of days I think I’ve seen a head toss when I rode. I want to explain to the feeder to be very careful and only give her the timothy. BO doesn’t know any Spanish so she can’t help.

I had a couple of years of Spanish in college and can speak okay (he’s used to my Spanish ), I just don’t know what to call “Head Shaking” or explain it.

Thanks in advance!

[wsmoak]

Do you happen to have an iPhone? there is a pretty good translator app included. (it will even speak the translation!). It says “síndrome de temblor de la cabeza” which makes sense to me.

But I’m not sure the barn worker really needs to know the details… can you keep it simple and say “this horse must only get the Timothy hay because of health reasons” ?

(And then make sure they really know the difference…)

[Tha_Ridge]

Saying “head-shaking syndrome” has no meaning at all, except to the most educated horse person. I think you just need to emphasize that Dobbin only gets timothy for health reasons, not just a preference. There’s no need for any greater detail.

[Bluey]

@Malda

How do I say “Head Shaking Syndrome” in Spanish? I want to explain to the barn’s feeder/cleaner that my horse has Head Shaking Syndrome.

The head shaking has stopped since I switched her feed from alfalfa to timothy a year ago. Up until the last month boarder’s hay was kept separately from the barn hay . Now that it’s been moved to the same shelter it looks like my timothy might be mixed up a bit with regular feed (seems to be a pile of loose hay next to my timothy).

The last couple of days I think I’ve seen a head toss when I rode. I want to explain to the feeder to be very careful and only give her the timothy. BO doesn’t know any Spanish so she can’t help.

I had a couple of years of Spanish in college and can speak okay (he’s used to my Spanish ), I just don’t know what to call “Head Shaking” or explain it.

Thanks in advance!

Maybe this could help?

—“My caballo tiene alergias de alfalfa, solo puede comer la hierba/heno de timothy.
Por favor, no darle ninguna alfalfa, el empezara a sacudir su cabeza violentamente y eso es peligroso.”—

[rockymouse]

Or maybe…

Ella tiene una alergia muy serio de alfalfa. Ella nunca puede comer heno de alfalfa. Solo puede comer heno de Timothy. Si no es Timothy, se enfermará. Nada, nada, nada alfalfa - solo Timothy. Por favor!

(She has a very serious allergy to alfalfa. She can never eat alfalfa hay. She can only eat Timothy hay. If it’s not Timothy, she will get sick. No, no, no alfalfa - only Timothy! Thank you!)

[Bluey]

@rockymouse

Or maybe…

Ella tiene una alergia muy serio de alfalfa. Ella nunca puede comer heno de alfalfa. Solo puede comer heno de Timothy. Si no es Timothy, se enfermará. Nada, nada, nada alfalfa - solo Timothy. Por favor!

(She has a very serious allergy to alfalfa. She can never eat alfalfa hay. She can only eat Timothy hay. If it’s not Timothy, she will get sick. No, no, no alfalfa - only Timothy! Thank you!)

That is better.
Mentioning head shaking may make some feed alfalfa to watch if horse will shake it’s head, just for fun.
Better not to give them those kinds of ideas.

[js]

Perhaps post a sign on the stall saying Timothy Hay Only, in Spanish and English

[Bluey]

I think the barn manager is who should be taking care of that, supervising and making clear how important this is for this horse?

[endlessclimb]

YES. How is the BO or BM managing these guys if they can’t communicate with them?

[TheDBYC]

@endlessclimb

YES. How is the BO or BM managing these guys if they can’t communicate with them?

Sounds like they aren’t, unfortunately.

IME, many Spanish-speaking barn workers can understand English better than they can speak it though. I’m the same way with Spanish. I was once the only native English speaker in my immediate group of coworkers. They addressed me in Spanish, I answered in English, & vice versa. The day that my brain finally caught up & I suddenly answered in Spanish, we were all surprised. Lol.

OP, be cognizant that literacy can be an issue depending on what country/circumstances they grew up in. And they are not always going to let on that’s the case out of fear of losing their job. If you end up posting a sign, just be sure to point it out & summarize in a neutral way: “Fluffy is very allergic to alfalfa & must never have it or she will get very sick. I posted that sign to remind all of us. Could you pass the message along to everyone, please?”

[endlessclimb]

I’m the same way with understanding way more than speaking. Has served me well over the years. There are guys on site now that still don’t know I understand what they’re saying.

[Ajierene]

HA, man…I’m trying to learn Spanish and practice with the barn workers so I would have said, while pointing at the respective hay - “Es (alfalfa) malo por mi caballo, Es (timothy) bueno por mi caballo, por favor es ‘only’,” Yeah, I don’t know only in Spanish and when I don’t know a word in Spanish, I toss in English. Somehow we all figure it out - I took a semester of Spanish in college, specifically because I know there is a large native Spanish speaking population (though dialects differ) in the US.

So far, I can count up to 20 and am OK from 20-30. I can talk about some color horses, and say some things like “Caballos in el campo necessito agua” and can make some small talk about weather “frio hoy! caliente mañana”. It’s a work in progress.

[JustTheTicket]

@Bluey

That is better.
Mentioning head shaking may make some feed alfalfa to watch if horse will shake it’s head, just for fun.
Better not to give them those kinds of ideas.

Lol, what? That’s quite a stretch to assume the guy is doing it on purpose. She doesn’t need to get into Head Shaking Syndrome if he’s not a horse person, but it’s totally valid to say the horse can’t have alfalfa because the horse could have a bad reaction. That’s usually all it takes to get people to take stuff like that seriously. Just because this guy doesn’t speak English, it doesn’t mean he’s a total dirtbag out to wreak havoc. Jesus, Bluey.

[Bluey]

@JustTheTicket

Lol, what? That’s quite a stretch to assume the guy is doing it on purpose. She doesn’t need to get into Head Shaking Syndrome if he’s not a horse person, but it’s totally valid to say the horse can’t have alfalfa because the horse could have a bad reaction. That’s usually all it takes to get people to take stuff like that seriously. Just because this guy doesn’t speak English, it doesn’t mean he’s a total dirtbag out to wreak havoc. Jesus, Bluey.

Good workers would never disregard the request of an owner, much less one that may harm a horse.
Then, someone may not understand how serious allergies can be, if they speak English or not.
Been in enough barns of all kinds, for decades now, to know about some such incidents.
That came to mind right then, an idle thought.
That is why I suggested, don’t mention the head shaking offhand, if not necessary.
Sorry it offended. Don’t know how you went from that to “dirtbag”?

[Malda]

Thanks to you and Bluey! I didn’t think of using allergy as an explanation. The feed guy knows that she gets only timothy because he’s been feeding it to her for the past year. There is also a sign on her stall door that says timothy am/pm.

I think that since the hay is all in one spot now there might be some mixing and he’s picking up some alfalfa by accident. I’ll stand next to my Timothy and gesture while I’m explaining.

He understands enough English along with hand gestures to do his job. Having someone who barely speaks English to clean and feed is common in So. California. I guess we’re just used to it.

I’ll go to the BO if the problem isn’t fixed. If I can deal with just him that’s fine.

[OTTBs]

@Ajierene

HA, man…I’m trying to learn Spanish and practice with the barn workers so I would have said, while pointing at the respective hay - “Es (alfalfa) malo por mi caballo, Es (timothy) bueno por mi caballo, por favor es ‘only’,” Yeah, I don’t know only in Spanish and when I don’t know a word in Spanish, I toss in English. Somehow we all figure it out - I took a semester of Spanish in college, specifically because I know there is a large native Spanish speaking population (though dialects differ) in the US

Solamente = only. I had to use Google to double check, I had the word right but the spelling wrong! I almost made it through 2 volumes of Rosetta Stone Spanish, but now I get almost no practice.

[EmilyM]

I would say that I’m not
Fluent but pretty darn proficient in Spanish

Por favor es importante que no mezcle la Alfalfa con el zacate porque mi caballo tiene una enfermedad. El bate su cabeza cuando come alfalfa.

That’s not 100 perfect Spanish but more or less makes sense. I just wrote: please it’s important that you don’t mix the alfalfa and the hay (my groom distinguishes alfalfa from zacate(hay).This could be colloquial). My horse has an illness. He shakes his head when he eats alfalfa

ETA : I’m sure this will make someone w perfect Spanish cringe a little but it should help communicating with the person who feeds your horse.

[Malda]

So I talked with the BW. At first I said she was allergic and he gave me a weird look, so I said she has problems with alfalfa and can’t eat it and he seemed to understand that. He’s from Guadalajara so who knows, maybe there’s another word for “allergic”, or maybe I said it wrong, I do have a pretty strong accent. When I visit my father who retired in Texas, only a few miles from the Mexican boarder, people just give me a blank look when I speak Spanish. Sometimes it helps when I repeat myself, saying the same thing very, very fast.

So we swept away all the other loose hays and now her stuff is moved to a different spot. I’ll keep an eye on it. Her head shaking has been gone for over a year and I don’t want it to come back. Poor girl.

[Bluey]

@Malda

So I talked with the BW. At first I said she was allergic and he gave me a weird look, so I said she has problems with alfalfa and can’t eat it and he seemed to understand that. He’s from Guadalajara so who knows, maybe there’s another word for “allergic”, or maybe I said it wrong, I do have a pretty strong accent. When I visit my father who retired in Texas, only a few miles from the Mexican boarder, people just give me a blank look when I speak Spanish. Sometimes it helps when I repeat myself, saying the same thing very, very fast.

So we swept away all the other loose hays and now her stuff is moved to a different spot. I’ll keep an eye on it. Her head shaking has been gone for over a year and I don’t want it to come back. Poor girl.

Good for you, got thru and your horse is safe now.

Interesting that alfalfa was the trigger for her head shaking, finding that out must have been some kind of wild ride.
The only horse I knew that was truly allergic to alfalfa was a TB that used to get big hives all over him if he had any.
We were worried that some time he may have a fatal reaction, his were so bad.
We had to keep him in a corner stall where other horses eating could not dribble any alfalfa anywhere close to him.
You can’t be careful enough with allergies.

[Malda]

Head shaking is a mystery condition, no one really knows what causes it (you could be right, it might be an allergy for her) and horses have responded to a variety of treatments. She developed when she was ten years old, about a year after I bought her, so maybe we’ve had it under control for two years now. She’s also on Quiessence, suggested by my vet and wears a nose net that completely covers her nose when I ride. Any one of those could be the cure but since the head shaking has stopped I don’t want to stop any of it.

Nice thing about nose nets is that horses can’t eat on the trail. She rarely tried to eat, but I’m still glad she’s wearing one.