| ............... | Until two years ago I knew very
little about headshaking in horses. I have owned ponies for 25 years.
I bought a ten-year- old pony in September 1999, called, Leo. He was a lovely, easygoing, New Forest pony; I fell for him totally.
He was an excellent all-round family/ competition pony. Too good to be true? |
| ............... |
At times he fretted with his head. We suspected an ear problem, so we called the vet in to investigate.
We started to treat Leo with steroid eardrops. This seemed to work at first, but every month or
so it came back, so we used more and more ear-drops. He was very sensitive about the ears so we assumed
that that was there the problem lay.
The following summer Leo became more and more lethargic; all the sparkle had gone.
He started snorting excessively, rubbing his nose along the ground, through water,
on gates etc. His muzzle twitched all the time and he tried to clamp his nostrils shut. He became difficult to lead; he began
to bash us in the back whilst being led.
The vet was called again. Headshaking was diagnosed. This is a list of the management methods tried and their success. |
| 1. Nose nets, including the one from Equilibrium. This was the most helpful aid as it enabled me to carry on riding and driving. |  |
| 2. Herbs and garlic for breathing and clear the airway. These may have helped a little, but there was no dramatic change. |
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3. Head covering. I tried the Guardian face-mask and the Equilibrium full face.
These helped the symptoms in the field and made leading easier. |
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4. Riding early or late in the day to avoid pollen, traffic fumes etc. This relieved the
symptoms whilst he was being ridden. This made the owner very tired! 5. Bitless bridle. The Hackamore made no difference to his condition. I was able to hang a fly-fringe over his nostrils. This would help a little. It stopped people asking questions about the nose-net. A fly fringe is so much more socially acceptable. 6. American bitless bridle. We were lucky enough to be included on the De-Montfort University trials into headshaking. Leo enjoyed being ridden in this bridle and showed fewer signs during its use. It works using different pressure points on the poll. 7. (a)Feeding soaked hay or haylage. (b) Change of bedding. We were not sure if the problem was allergy based or due to a nerve disorder. Thus we tried to reduce Leo's exposure to dust, pollen etc. We kept him in during the day and during times of high pollen counts. We kept his stable free of dust, kept him on rubber matting and replaced shavings and straw with shredded cardboard. Initially we soaked his hay, but later on, replaced this with a pre-packed substitute, haylage.We found that exposure to pollen and dust made him worse, but that exclusion from them, unfortunately, did not make him any better.
8. Antihistamines. The vet tried various drug types and brands. Initially these seemed to help but the effect was not long term.
We would be often changing to a different type. It was an expensive treatment due to the quantity of tablets required.
9. Steroid inhaler. During the spring of 2001 Leo's breathing deteriorated. I had to use
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People are generally wary of things they do not understand. Headshaking is a difficult concept. There was some resistance to Leo's appearance at shows wearing a nose-net. It is reassuring to learn that nose-nets are now officially acceptable in dressage competitions. During the summer of 2001 we were only able to ride Leo for short spells due to the combination of headshaking and breathing difficulties. He was still keen to work so we introduced a little driving. He was an excellent schoolmaster whilst leading out our youngster. On a good day Leo could still amaze the judges at shows. My eleven year old daughter was delighted to win a family pony competition, in good company. There were still glimpses of the old sparkle at times. There was, however, a huge amount of stress for myself and the family. And there was no doubt about the eventual outcome for Leo. Sure enough things started to deteriorate. Later that summer he began to show the classic signs of navicular disease. It became apparent that Leo had been soldiering on, jumping for my daughter, whilst in a great deal of discomfort: he wouldn't jump for anyone else, but he would for her. Leo's behaviour began to reflect his increasing distress. After careful consultation with two vets from the practice I decided to end his suffering on 5th September 2001. Leo was a lovely pony, my absolute pride and joy. Headshaking is a devastating disease. It causes an immense deal of anguish and heartache. In Leo's case the additional problems of COPD and navicular were just too much to cope with. My aim is for people to have a greater knowledge of headshaking and for the use of nose-nets to be universally accepted, especially during competitions. Owning a headshaker is a stressful thing. We were immensely proud of Leo. He achieved things that many healthy ponies never do. Added to that he was versatile, an eager competitor, family pony and a gentleman to the end. |
Sue Fairway. First posted 2001.
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heartbreaking stories from all over the world. There seems to be many types of headshaking caused by all sorts of things. The only common denominator seems to be the sense of helplessness when caring for a cherished animal. I hope that one day the research will find a solution.
Please keep sending the
e-mails.
If I'll try to be of help if I can!
Sue Fairway October 2004.
A long time has passed for me and it is true to say that time is a great healer.
Please keep sending the
e-mails. |
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Katy Taylor's work at De Montfort University is now being continued at Lincoln University.
Lisa Jadwin's page from the USA Run by Sid Eby in California; useful, worth trying.
Probably the most useful gismo I tried. |
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Copyright © Sue Fairway 2001 to 2007 all images, text & photographs. |
(* Last updated May 2007.* *{gf}*).
