Photic Headshaking

[harleydales]

I've decided that Apollo's headshaking is related to the brightness of the sun. It's been bright here yesterdayand today and he has been flipping his nose like mad and standing with his head away from the sun.

My question is - which part of the head is affected? Is it the eyes? Or is it the skin? Or the ears?

Apollo has a wonky white blaze, so one nostril is white and one is black. When he head flips he always flips to the white side,and stands with the white side out of the sun. Which leads me to think it is the white hair/skin that has the problem.

Wonder if I could paint his nose black LOL! He has a full face mask and he's got it on today - a job to get on as he kept flipping when I'd just got it over his ears and it came off - he's a tall lad with a LO N G neck!!

Unfortunately it seems to be getting worse year by year. Any supplements etc that might help? Antihistamine? brewer's yeast (wondering if it feels itchy/tingly to him?)?

[harleydales]

I've seen the sunglasses - I think getting them on might be more tricky than the 'Zorro' mask he sports at the moment LOL! That's interesting re massage and cheek presses, I'll look into that.

So you think it is his eyes that get the stimulus, not the white nostril?

[harveydales]

I know of 2 horses whose headshaking was helped by wearing those "equine sunglasses". Does Appollo do much nose itching, sneezing and upper lip flipping too? Quest does this more in bright sunlight but in his case it is due to the minute flies/midges which tend to come out in the sun. It's soooo hard to pinpoint the trigger. Poor Appollo.

[wdf]

Global Herbs have a new formula out for headshakers "Shakefree", it supposed to be very good
I've had Sian on Clarity for over 5yrs now which alongside waring a nose net whilst riding has made her's manageable; I'm tempted to try this new one tho

[harleydales]

He doesn't rub or scratch, sometimes a bit of a snort and lots of lip curling!!! The MINUTE I put the full face mask on he's happy though.

[nars]

Lyle has equine sunglasses to ptotect the eye that has no pigment in- so he doesn't get an ulcer again.

He loves them and much prefers wearing them to a face mask.

They come from the USA but there are now a couple of stockists in the UK- one in cornwall. They block out 85% of the UVA rays. Well worth the investment.

[southerner]

www.horsemask.com/Main.html

Well worth getting his eyes checked as our pony was similar and had uveitis. These glasses really helped loads and they have ridden ones as well!