Your first video looks much like one of my mare’s headshaking “expressions”, I’m sorry to say. The elevated head with some flipping looks awfully familiar.
The other “expression” is an almost spasmodic flip of the head to the side at a normal head height. It almost looks as if she’d been stung by a bee or hit an electric fence, but it’s repetitive.
Darkness, even in an indoor, seems to help.
[QUOTE=frugalannie;8764185]
Darkness, even in an indoor, seems to help.[/QUOTE]
The indoor really did help, she still did the high head flip once to the canter but that was it. And I’m wondering if she expects the pain so it’s become a “habit” this quickly.
Geez sorry to keep coming back. Another symptom we saw yesterday! Whilst she had one of her really bad episodes your could see her roll her tongue around in her mouth. like flip it in out and upside down. I"m guessing that when she gets her tongue over the bit that why.
I haven’t seen much of that as a symptom of the syndrome, but I could see her trying to alleviate some pain by doing that.
Phoenixrises, head shaking/ flipping is such a strange group of symptoms aggregated under just a name with so many potential causes, most of which are still a mystery. Welcome to this world. A dubious distinction at best.
To me your mare sounds like she’s trying to self-adjust a TMJ problem, but I freely admit I could be wrong. If that’s what it is, some chiro should set it right. Or it could be that and something else as well.
Best of luck.
One of my horses has HS and we treat it with cyproheptadine. We start him on it in March and he stays on it until November. This helped more than anything else we tried.
Good luck.
The pantyhose is not only the diagnostic tool, it’s also the “cure”, unfortunately. Like I said in my earlier post, I now use a nose net held down with a flexible tie, but it doesn’t work quite as well as the pantyhose. I also use a standing martingale because I think part of his headshaking is behavioral. But if your mare only headshakes when she’s going into the canter, I don’t think it’s headshaker syndome. I’d think it was a reaction to pain somewhere.
after seeing the video… i’d be checking her hind end, her LH especially. have you had the saddle reflocked recently? at minimum, she is very tight and crooked. hopefully it is just something that maybe needs an adjustment over actual HS…
it doesn’t really look like HS to me. she may have just gone better in the indoor because it was after she was warmed up.
in my experience, HS never really ‘ramped’ up - you said it was first only at the canter, but then later on developed at the trot. to me that is typical of a progressive discomfort/lameness - especially if the flipping starts at the canter.
in the HS horses i dealt with, it started like an allergy and wasn’t confined to only undersaddle or in work. IME at least the first symptoms were during stall time - runny noses, rubbing their nose on things, head-shaking, eyes weeping – it gradually turned into tossing their heads during turnout, etc. it always manifested whether or not they were U/S and the fact you are seeing it exclusively U/S would make me think it’s a soreness somewhere over HS.
has her front hooves ever been x-rayed?
i think sometimes you also have to look at the smoking gun - why is she able to get her tongue over the bit? i’d be putting up the bit or switching to something else while you investigate if there are any other causes. does she root or is she extra fussy with her mouth otherwisE? those can both be symptoms of SI soreness and hock issues.
At least it was the cure for my horse. The most frustrating thing about headshaking is that no two cases are alike, and a med that works wonders for one horse won’t have any effect on another. My horse didn’t respond to any of the meds. Only the very unbecoming pantyhose. : /
tooth issues
guttural pouch issues
ear foreign body, including ticks
nasal foreign body
hidden wolf teeth
tongue lesion
That doesn’t look like head shaking that looks like a mouth or hind end issue. I could be completely wrong, but, I’d be looking at mouth/allergy/sinus issue or perhaps sore hocks. If you’ve upped her dressage work I wouldn’t be surprised to find the hind end a bit sore. My horse has some TMJ issues, you can palpate them pretty easily and just a mini message before riding makes a huge difference. The mare loves it. Licks & chews. Front feet could also be a problem but I wouldn’t go on a fishing expedition (but I do X-rays of the front feet at the beginning of every season for anyways so perhaps easy for me to say).
I don’t think I saw this suggested, so I’ll add: check her poll and jaw for tightness/misalignment as well. Involving a massage therapist could be a great idea!
I’m still trying to get an appointment with a vet as I have to trailer to either Saratoga springs or Cornell. While I’m not saying it can’t be her hocks (her left hind has always been weaker but has xrayed clean)the nose net works. It has made her rideable again. If it was hocks you wouldn’t think that was the case. But I still think there’s something going on in her head somewhere whether it’s a foreign body or tooth infection.
As for the tongue over the bit she rolls her tongue even with just the halter on, so I’m guessing that’s where it’s coming from.
Mine started head flipping this spring when we were able to start riding outside… Long story short- he has Lyme. Since treating with minocycline the head flipping has gone away. Granted it has taken some time for him to start acting normal (started treating mid-May and now it is the end of July) but I rode today for 20 mins and not a single head flip that wasn’t bug related.
My horse was presenting with other neuro type symptoms but at the time I didn’t realize that was what the were. He was new to me this fall.
[QUOTE=phoenixrises;8767108]
I’m still trying to get an appointment with a vet as I have to trailer to either Saratoga springs or Cornell. While I’m not saying it can’t be her hocks (her left hind has always been weaker but has xrayed clean)the nose net works. It has made her rideable again. If it was hocks you wouldn’t think that was the case. But I still think there’s something going on in her head somewhere whether it’s a foreign body or tooth infection.
As for the tongue over the bit she rolls her tongue even with just the halter on, so I’m guessing that’s where it’s coming from.[/QUOTE]
Well that’s great news on the nosenet! I thought I read it made it worse, if it made it better, that’s fantastic.
The nose net on the fly mask made her lose her mind but the pantyhose, while not her favorite thing got rid of 99% of the shaking. I longed her in tack today and she only shook her head three times, all were in that damned upward canter transition.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
