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 Mouhahaha
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Location: British Columbia | I have a now 5 year old mare that I boarded away from home this time last year. She had never had any vices prior and was always turned out on pasture, easy to catch, load, tie, etc.
After 1 month at th boarding facility I noticed massive weight loss (she had free choice hay, was penned alone with a neighbour and was grained 2x day), she began shaking her head (up and down) with alot of force on a regular basis. She began refusing a rider at the mounting block, crow hopping on occasion and sweating profusely just tacked up.
I brought her home, turned her out and gave her 2months to "get her head back". She seemed great, nearly back to herself after her time off, then fall came and she was penned at home due to an injury and all of those bad habits have come back. She has become highly reactive to everything.
She is fed free choice 50/50 hay (barely touches it), hoffman's Elite, 2tbl spoons magnesium and equine choice probiotics daily.
Everything I read about head shaking suggests a neurological disorder, however it does not happen when turned out on pasture.??
She is Royal Shake Em x Check Him Out, so very running bred. ??
Edited by TMEquine 2019-01-06 11:06 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
| I would start with getting her teeth done by a professional and chiro work done. Have her teeth ever been done?
Edited by veintiocho 2019-01-06 12:00 PM
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Sounds like a TMJ issue.. Have her checked for it. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 705
Location: Weatherford, TX | There is head shaking syndrome as well. It's a cranial nerve condition. They call it Trigeminal-Mediated Headshaking Syndrome. It has something to do with the Trigeminal nerve in the face.
My friend's Eventer has it. Super nice Eventer. He developed it at about 12-13YO. Just out of the blue! Drove her nuts trying to figure it out! His head shaking was violent and looked almost involuntary. The head shaking was up/down....in the stall, pasture, trailer...didn't matter. He was unridable. He dropped quite a bit of weight too. Her vet explained it as like the horse is having a migraine feeling. Very painful. His was most likely triggered by allergies as it happened to him in the Spring. There are all kinds of reasons/triggers for it though.
If you Google 'horse head shaking syndrome' there is an article by Practical Horseman about 3 down, just under the videos.
Hope that helps some. I had never heard of it until my friend had to deal with it. His is way worse in the Spring, but he has it year-round. And as I said, came on out of nowhere and can have several reasons/triggers.
Edited by Gator Bug 2019-01-06 3:16 PM
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| Sort of sounds like someone slapped the horse to make them get back while feeding or cleaning the stall. |
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SHOOT IT
Posts: 1170
Location: TEXAS | Gator Bug - 2019-01-06 2:36 PM There is head shaking syndrome as well. It's a cranial nerve condition. They call it Trigeminal-Mediated Headshaking Syndrome. It has something to do with the Trigeminal nerve in the face.
My friend's Eventer has it. Super nice Eventer. He developed it at about 12-13YO. Just out of the blue! Drove her nuts trying to figure it out! His head shaking was violent and looked almost involuntary. The head shaking was up/down....in the stall, pasture, trailer...didn't matter. He was unridable. He dropped quite a bit of weight too. Her vet explained it as like the horse is having a migraine feeling. Very painful. His was most likely triggered by allergies as it happened to him in the Spring. There are all kinds of reasons/triggers for it though.
If you Google 'horse head shaking syndrome' there is an article by Practical Horseman about 3 down, just under the videos.
Hope that helps some. I had never heard of it until my friend had to deal with it. His is way worse in the Spring, but he has it year-round. And as I said, came on out of nowhere and can have several reasons/triggers.
My horse has 'head shaking syndrome' as well. I've owned this horse since he was 2 years old and he is now 26. He started shaking his head 3 years ago, just out of the blue. Took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with 'head shaking syndrome'. Not a whole lot of information on it; there is no cure. I've tried several different things. I tried the sun blocking mask because head shaking syndrome was originally thought to be an allergy to the sunlight (I think), but the mask didn't help him at all (It made sense though because he NEVER shakes his head at night). I tried a few other things (options I learned about through researching on the internet). After dealing with it for 3 years, I have found that feeding magnesium has helped him the best and made him rideable again. Some days are better than others, but it does seem like the spring and summer are worse than the fall and winter. I did find one website on the internet where some lady has done a lot of reserch on the disease and she recommends giving them dexamethasone (orally) and magnesium. I did try it and it did work, but the dex had to be given quite frequently and I wasn't real crazy about that. That's when I switched to just the magnesium and it seems to be a tremendous help. |
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Regular
Posts: 82
Location: The Great White North | There is a very informative page on Facebook called Equine Headshaking Syndrome. There are a ton of people on there with a lot of experience with all types of headshakers.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 585
Location: Texas | You can try feeding Lysine. I had a horse that it helped a lot. Google it there is probably some information out there. |
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Location: in the ozone | TMEquine - 2019-01-06 10:02 AM
I have a now 5 year old mare that I boarded away from home this time last year. She had never had any vices prior and was always turned out on pasture, easy to catch, load, tie, etc.
After 1 month at th boarding facility I noticed massive weight loss (she had free choice hay, was penned alone with a neighbour and was grained 2x day), she began shaking her head (up and down) with alot of force on a regular basis. She began refusing a rider at the mounting block, crow hopping on occasion and sweating profusely just tacked up.
I brought her home, turned her out and gave her 2months to "get her head back". She seemed great, nearly back to herself after her time off, then fall came and she was penned at home due to an injury and all of those bad habits have come back. She has become highly reactive to everything.
She is fed free choice 50/50 hay (barely touches it), hoffman's Elite, 2tbl spoons magnesium and equine choice probiotics daily.
Everything I read about head shaking suggests a neurological disorder, however it does not happen when turned out on pasture.??
She is Royal Shake Em x Check Him Out, so very running bred. ??
Yes, head shaking can be neurological. It can be from a few things. BUT with the other things you are describing, I would check into PSSM2. What were the "graining" her with? She is at the ripe age for the symptoms to start appearing & if she was being fed an diet that is bad for them, it would have triggered it more. Now with an injury, it puts them into negative nitrogen balance & the symptoms get worse. When she was turned out on pasture, were you trying to ride her at all? Thinking the way you worded it, you hadn't so it's still very possible that she would have been shaking her head & all the other bad reactive symptoms if you'd tried riding her. My one gelding also had the head shaking along with the other symptoms (became symptomatic at age 6) and even though I have him managed & he's doing pretty well, he still has that "thing" with his head. |
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 The best bad guy on the internet
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Location: Arizona | Have you checked his ears for ticks? |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Just bumping this up to mention an informative headshaking article in the winter 2019 Equus magazine. A good read. . . .
Edited by Chandler's Mom 2019-11-23 1:47 AM
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Head Shaking & Other Bad Habits