Having such a beautiful character as Bloomfield Vision – aka “Jeremy” – around me has really brought a whole new enthusiasm to my days. Not only is Jeremy beautiful to look at, he’s also very beautiful on the inside.
“Jeremy is a beautiful character
with a very willing
and charming demeanour.”
I simply love the coaching and watching horses work, which I do every week. I love seeing the horses’ attitudes towards their work and their riders, and towards themselves in relation to the way they work and respond to their trainers.
Being a physiotherapist, my interest in movement is a very high priority. Also, my interest in abnormalities in gait, balance and positioning is also extremely interesting, especially in relation to the way the horse reacts mentally. Horses are trained and encouraged to maintain shapes and collection, and perform movements that are seen in the paddock on cue under saddle.
Jeremy is a beautiful character with a very willing and charming demeanour, and I had several weeks of fabulous rides after first acquiring him. He was working well and with the most wonderful, calm attitude, and I was simply riding him forward to an even contact on long lines and big circles to improve his balance and understanding of the basic aids. He is green as he is a four-year-old, but he accepted the work so well.
After several weeks there was a training day at DNSW Clarendon, so I thought I would take him simply to see his attitude. I packed the lungeing gear in case he needed some work, but I wanted him to have a good time and to assess his attitude. He loaded on my little truck perfectly and travelled with not a murmur. On arrival, he unloaded and posed as if he owned the place before I took him in hand and wandered around the arenas and work areas. There were horses being wild on the lunge and even a loose pony. He never once showed any lack of confidence. He was truly a gem. He never pushed or walked around me or was in the slightest bit agitated. I couldn’t believe my luck.
I stayed a few hours and decided there was no need to lunge and loaded straight back on the truck and headed home. When I pulled up at his home, of course all the horses in the yards and paddocks thought it was a great time to play the fool. I decided to pretend it was a show and tied him to the truck as if at a show and tack him up. He stood so confidently despite the excitement of the other horses. It was starting to drizzle but I thought I would just take him to the arena and have a brief ride and see how he coped. To my complete delight he was just fabulous without any distraction by the excitement around him. The ride was brief and after a groom he was back in the paddock as if it was just another day! It could not have been better!
I was excited, to say the least. His work continued lightly and consistently and I felt 50 again – well, parts of me felt the reality of ageing, but all in all I was very happy to be back in the saddle on such a wonderful horse. As if training and horses is always this good…
THE NOSE RUBBING BEGINS
On lungeing him in long side reins, I noticed that he would occasionally stop and rub his nose on his knee. I thought nothing of it. This nose rubbing started to become more frequent, and he would even do it when I was leading him. He would push his nose against my back, but again I thought nothing of it. His attitude towards his work started to become a little anxious, which concerned me as we had done nothing but very simple walk, trot, and canter and small transitions within the pace, encouraging him to be confident and to wait as he was a very keen and forward mover. His receptiveness to training and learning about moving off an inside and outside leg, and a little bit of control with the outside rein to control the shoulders, was good. He picked these exercises up extremely quickly and was only too willing and confident to give it a go. Our understanding of each other was very acceptable and I enjoyed every moment with him.
During some of the riding, I noticed him starting to snort. He had to blow his nose quite a lot, and a couple of times he stopped next to the fence and rubbed his nose vigorously on the railing. It became quite an issue and something that was really affecting his attitude and ability to concentrate on the work he was previously happy to do. It was like as if someone says to you “no matter what happens you’re not allowed to cough”, the more you think about that the more you just want to cough. Jeremy became obsessed about rubbing his nose. He was so obsessed he ignored my indication to turn onto a circle and stopped at the fence to rub his nose.
I’m telling him that this wasn’t acceptable and moved him off the rail so he wouldn’t go near it again, and he proceeded to then flick his head. My heart sunk as I had a headshaker. I knew the feeling that I never wanted to feel again; I had a grey gelding about 40 years ago, and there was nothing that I could do to alleviate his symptoms. Despite being very talented, he was no longer a super dressage horse due to his inability to keep a steady frame and contact. It was also very disconcerting when he would start flicking his head in front of an oxer on a cross-country course. He was retired to the paddock.
I have to say my heart sunk when I realised Jeremy could be the same. I had no expectations or thoughts of producing Jeremy to being a Grand Prix horse for competition, but simply for me to ride and enjoy and be able to use all my knowledge gained over the years to do the very best in training him. His obsession about his nose made training no longer possible.
Of course, it was plenty of Google research. I read and read and read, and as a friend said to me, “That’s one rabbit burrow and you don’t want to go down it”. That could not be any further from the truth. I realised, firstly, this headshaking developed during a very cold and windy period where he lives near Windsor, NSW. I decided to get all the important things ticked: teeth, his nose and throat and trachea scoped, his eyes and neck checked. Agnes Banks Equine Clinic were amazingly helpful, and he spent an afternoon there being scoped and looked at. Luckily for us there was a positive. The scope revealed both nostrils showed inflammation. It was thought that this was probably from an allergic reaction!
So then, down the rabbit burrow we continued. He was put on anti-inflammatories, nebulisers with corticosteroids and an antihistamine. This well-planned treatment after 10 days made little difference. I didn’t ride him as he was anxious and too worried about the feeling in his nose to concentrate on training, so there was no point. For the next few weeks, we decided to see if we could work out what the allergy may be. It is not an easy thing to find out. Number one, we took him out of the paddock in case it was an allergy to some winter grasses… no difference; number two, we took the lucerne hay away and he spent the nights in a stable and days in a bare yard… no difference. Next, all his hard feed was ceased, and he only lived on teff hay for 10 days.
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
None of these things seemed to make a difference. I would lunge him occasionally simply to see his reactions and if the headshaking was diminishing. I put a nose net on him and it definitely helped and decreased the agitation a little. I felt that it was perhaps the cold air when he was working that crossed his nostrils and created the strange feeling in his nose that caused him to flick his head, as if an insect had flown into his face.
“None of these things
seemed to make a difference.”
We were basically back to square one. He hadn’t been in the paddock because we decided that it could possibly be from the winter grass or some such thing. He’d been living in a stable and a small yard, and I’d been lungeing every second or third day gently, but when his anxiety levels rose and he started to flick his head, I would stop. He returned to the vet to be re-scoped to see if there was any improvement in the inflammation in his nostrils. There was a moderate change, but there was still inflammation and some mucus. He unfortunately had been seen to do it in the yard, especially if he was late being brought in for feed time and had been trotting and a cantering around the yard, taking deep breaths through his nostrils. He was more irritated and flicking his head a lot. It seemed that no matter how much we tried to work out what was creating the trigger that inflamed the membranes in his nose, I believed one could go down the line trying to find the allergen forever.
After several weeks of eliminating factors, we hadn’t made a lot of progress. My only thought was that it was from the cold air, and that sensation of the air rushing through his nostrils and irritating nerves was creating the reactions. The most upsetting thing for me was that he was very anxious about a feeling that he couldn’t control, and he was a little panicked by that. I decided after much consultation with top vets at Agnes Banks Equine Clinic, that I would give him a small amount of the sedative acetylpromazine – 0.4ml each time before I gave him any work.
I started riding him with a nose net at home and with a small amount of the tranquiliser given intramuscularly before he was worked. I cannot tell you the excitement that went through me when I felt Jeremy being able to cope much better. It was very minimal sedation. He was still very bright and alert and very willing to work, but what it did was it took away the feeling of him panicking about flicking the head. The unsteadiness was still there but diminished.
Slowly but surely, with the amount of sedation each time becoming less and less, he’s learning to live with that sensation, and he’s not flicking his head anywhere near like he used to. It’s still very ingrained in his memory, and as soon as he feels some minor sensation of course he has a flashback to when it was bad. I am very aware of his mental state in regards to this headshaking. It isn’t a voluntary movement, and you can’t stop him from doing it. It’s a nervous trigger, and it’s not really under his control. It’s like saying “don’t you dare flinch when I pull out a nasal hair!” You know that as the tweezers grab the hair, the next thing is “twang” and a huge wince. The irritant in the nose, whatever it is, is as if the tweezers have grabbed that hair and he’s now ready for the twang. Jeremy knew the feeling was coming and then the involuntary flick! This is my attitude towards his head flicking. With sedation it slows the anxiety about the approaching stimulus and as a consequence the reaction is less violent and he is able to cope better. The reaction is becoming less and less, and the thrill of again being able to ride enthuses me. He is now not having any sedation and is coping better.
NO GIVING UP
We haven’t given up working out why he has the headshaking and what he could be allergic to. We have ruled out the paddock, so now he lives out again and it’s certainly no worse; he is happier and he isn’t doing it so much! The product that I have used that coincides with his improvement is Exocough Red, a natural product formulated for decreasing mucous and drying the membranes, and which claims to have an effect in decreasing allergies like an antihistamine. It certainly has decreased Jeremy’s urge to snort and to rub his nose.
I simply adore this horse, and I understand his angst in regard to something he has no control over. If ever I wished horses could talk, it would be now. Several days after the treatment started there were a few extremely anxious and worrying days when I couldn’t do any riding. Then… his eyes started to exude a lot of brownish jelly-like gunk – and I mean a lot! He was again calm but this exudate continued to flow from both eyes for several days. The vets think that he could have had a blocked tear duct and something cleared it out (perhaps the Exocough Red). The anxious days could well have been from the pressure of the blockage. He has now had a few days of Chlorsig, which contains an antibiotic, for conjunctivitis, and as with everything he is the perfect patient and accepts the ointment in his eye with thanks for helping. He is again better relaxed and is being ridden again, and the more he gets into the ride and I can start to school him, the more he focuses on the work and the shaking is minimised.
Already it has taught me there is no point becoming emotional over something that you can’t control. All you can do is try and find ways around it. In conjunction with the most knowledgeable people in respect to this, we continue down the rabbit borrow until we find the rabbit. I can only pray that it may be seasonal. We’ve been through… is it a light sensitivity? No! Is there anything wrong with his teeth? No! Ears? No! Eyesight problems? No! Whatever triggered his inflammatory changes, his nose has triggered a hypersensitivity, and I believe the air going through his nostrils is triggering off a hypersensitive nerve to create Jeremy’s twitch.
Life teaches you many things when you deal with horses. Jeremy is very special to me and I will make certain that I find the best way around this problem, one that is a worldwide issue with little known cure. It’s a matter of trial and error. I can assure you for my horse’s sake I’ll be trialling everything that is possible – not for the fact that I want to ride or compete him, but that I want him to be comfortable and to want to be ridden. If I had him 30 years ago when my entire mindset was towards competition and hopefully getting to state and national championships and to be successful, my feeling towards dealing with this problem would’ve probably been somewhat different, and the anxiety levels in my mind would’ve been skyrocketing!
But there is no point being emotional over something you can’t immediately fix. I feel I just have to remain logical and be very ordered. I have to tick as many boxes as I can and take time to make certain that each of the steps taken can be analysed to honestly see if they make a difference; of which as much as there has been a slight improvement, I have no concrete idea why! So down to earth and logical have I been, and keen and interested to see if my experience may be able to help others in respect to headshaking. Every day I write down my experiences and my feelings towards the symptoms. With this timeline, I’m interested in piecing this puzzle together to achieve a great outcome. By the same token, I am praying for a miracle really and my prayers are pointed towards that this is seasonal, perhaps a winter air and condition problem for him. Whether it be the change of season, a time when he changes coat and hormone balances are altered… I wish I knew. No matter what, he is now part of my life, and I will do all I can to try and help alleviate him from this problem that clearly upsets him.
HOPE IN THE AIR
I get to ride him when he’s in a good way, and at the moment I attribute the good rides to days when the weather has been warmer. Let’s hope as the days get longer his coat changes and whatever has irritated his nose and airways will settle down as well as his anxiety and his headshaking syndrome.
It is with relief that I can say that I have had a few rides on Jeremy with much less anxiety. He is becoming better acclimatised to the weird sensation and is settling a little. He is now relaxed enough at times to start to encourage him to stay to the bridle, and there are a few circles and times now that are feeling better balanced and confident. He is such a beautiful horse and I so am enjoying the journey, as convoluted as it is. What can you do but pull all stops out to logically and unemotionally try and alleviate the sensation and the headshaking. Frustrating for me, for sure, but even more for Jeremy.
I can only take his training slowly and step by step when he is feeling not anxious, and it makes the better times so worthwhile. He is starting leg-yield and a little shoulder-in and transitions within the pace, backwards and forwards, which is the start of the half-halts and the collection, to a minor degree. What is the most interesting is that I have to really ride him off my leg and with little rein so when he is anxious it’s not the rein and contact that interferes with his freedom, but it’s about my leg directing him. The outside leg is so, so important to keep him turning the forehand and the contact light. I find that the voice is also vitally important as he really responds to this reassurance that all is okay.
He is back in a plain snaffle and happy with it. I tend not to lunge him as this can worry him when the air rushes in and he runs away from the feeling, so if I do it’s very quiet and steady. Where he is at the moment is at Caroline Hooper Dressage, which is such a positive and great facility. Caroline and the others at the barn are so helpful and positive that it makes the situation easier and there is no fuss or carry-on about it. I have to say, when times get a little tough it’s always so good to surround yourself with positive people and that’s what it’s all about.
There is no doubt that I’m aware of many other influences in regards to this problem, ranging from nutrition, to nosebands and the way nosebands fit, where they sit with what affect; the trigeminal nerve, whether the bridle is too tight near his ears, etc. There are many, many factors that need to be considered in respect to this. If only Jeremy could tell me! Hopefully we’ll get to the end of it, and as I write this article, it is actually the best it’s been for the last several weeks. We just have to remain logical. Don’t overthink the problem and continue on to the best remedies. My enjoyment with coaching and training other riders with their horses is an absolute delight in my life. I just can’t wait now to be able to put all these fabulous things I see, feelings and understanding of training, to put in to practice with my beautiful Versace gelding… Bloomfield Vision. I look forward to keeping you guys posted. EQ
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Roger Smitten by a Vision – Equestrian Life, June 2023
