Just curious. 

I bought my mare last year in May, and I have had a suspicion that her TMJ joint bugs her. The previous owners had a tie down on her, and she would shake her head all.the.time. Well when I got her, I took it off and put a lighter bit on her.. and walla, no more shaking her head. I did have the vet check her TMJ during the PPE, and he said he does not suspect it's bothering her. 

But whenever we get done riding, whether I ride her in a snaffle or a hackamore, she will spending multiple minutes opening and stretching her jaw. I have since had a 2 vets look at her, one is also a "chiro" but I don't really like her that much, tbh. Last time she told me that her TMJ was a "little tight" and I should inject her, but she only did it by touch and did not offer to do any xrays. The other vets did not think it was an issue, but when you try to "unlock" the joint, even just a tiny bit of pressure she is trying to get away from your touch. I have not had xrays..the big facility here in my city is super expensive. 

When you ask my mare to flex her neck to the right, she seriously "rolls" her head sideways instead of flexing all the way to the side, if that makes sense. This last week I have noticed her being a little off and acting a bit weird, as if something was bugging her.  She has been tilting her head to the outside when trotting, tossing her head when in the round pen going to the right, and she seems to have a pressure point right behind her ears on her left side of her neck. I am going to have a massage therapist come out for her on Sunday, and the state Chiro (different lady, haven't used her yet but she is the only actual licensed equine chiro in Idaho) on Monday to have her looked at. 

Curious if anyone has dealt with it, what were the symptoms? What did you do for it? Did you inject and if you did, did they help?

Dentals. Get a really good equine dentist out there, check her incisor length. She might be out of occlusion on her 3 point balance in her mouth. The other thing to do, is xrays of TMJ and possibly inject, but if it was mine, I'd get a dentist out. Check for even spacing in her TMJ joints, also see if you can move her jaw laterally both ways, she is most likely stiffer to one side. I'd forget the chiro right now, waste of money until you actually find the problem. JMO

My mare is tmj is completely trashed from a complication of guttural pouch mycosis last year. She had X-rays of her entire head and none of them showed any damage. A ct was how we found out how bad it truly was.they can't do anything for my mare. Her nerves were destroyed and her cheek muscle on that side is completely atrophied. Her jaw is crooked, too. She's able to live a normal life eating sr feed as of now but we take it day by day. 

As far as I know, I don't have an equine dentist available in my area. She got her teeth done in June of last year, she had some sharp points and ulcers on her mouth.. but they healed.  She hasn't really had any issues with that,  she hates bits really. She will tolerate my copper wrapped 3 piece snaffle when I do some fine tuning,but its only a few days at a time then I go back to her Little S. I will also point out she has been shaking her head last week when I was riding her bridleless too..And it was only going to the right. So something is bugging her. 

My gelding has had issues for many years.  The person I have do bodywork on him has made the comment about it since day one.  He feels much better after she works on him.  He will stretch his neck out & turn his head and stretch his jaw when it's bothering him.  His jaw gets lines in it when it's tight too.  (and before it gets mentioned, YES I have a top equine dentist that DOES have all our horses' mouths balanced perfectly).    He had other areas in his body that would get tight too.  And then he  started having muscle spasms in other areas of his body so I had him tested - he is n/P2.  I also have him entered in the PSSM2 study that the University of MN is now doing so will get that verified too.  NOT saying that is what is going on with your horse, just my own personal experience.

I'm confident to say that my mare does not have this issue. We were having saddle fit problems in the beginning (I have posted in the past to get recommendations on saddle fit). She was getting sore in her back due to the saddle bridging, but I went to a treeless and that all went away. We did recently go back to a treed saddle because my treeless kept rolling.. but I am getting a saddle pad custom made for her to fill in the area where the saddle bridges. 

I went to a chrio that also specialized in craniel. My vet did not recommend injecting my horse's TMJ either. Have you tried a joint supplement? I also soak alfalfa cubes and mix wth his grain to make a mash. 

I injected a horse with bad TMJ - made a WORLD of difference!! We only had to inject him once, and he has been good for years now. We also went back to an o ring snaffle, aside from races. He is healthy and much happier now :)