Sneezing and Headshaking - Please help!

[Jul]

Hi - I am relatively new to this board although I have been lurking for a while! I am desperate and would really appreciate any help anyone can give:

My horse has started to sneeze and headshake whilst she is eating. This seems to be very unusual as most of the info I can find refers to horses who display these symptoms during riding. She is fine (ish) when ridden - it is brought on by eating any forage. (Hay/grass/hi-fi).

The poor mare sometimes reacts as if someone has hit her in the face when all she's trying to do is eat a mouthful of hay. I just can't bear to watch her. Often she will just give up on eating as its clearly so painful for her.

The vet has been and given her steroids - he suspects trigeminal neuralgia (affects the facial nerves) but so far they don't seem to have had an effect.

I wondered if anyone out there knew of a similar problem - in particular this eating thing, and if anything works to ease this horrible condition. I'll give anything a go - I've just GOT to help my poor poor girl.

[scillywoman]

Could it be an allergy does she do the same when she eats hard feed.

[Still Falling]

I knew a mare who headshook and coughed whilst eating hay. The only thing we could think to do was soak the hay. This seemed to work but then the headshaking came back - so she went on to haylage as it is not as dusty and i haven't heard of any problems recently.

It may just be dust getting up her nose from the hay as hay can be quite dusty! Just try soaking you haynet for 20 minutes and see what happens

[Jul]

SW - No, it is only when she's eating forage and yes, it could be an allergy. It could be allergic rhinitis (horsy hayfever) which can cause these symptoms. It could also be trigeminal neuralgia which produces similar symptoms.

I do soak the hay but I don't think it can be dust related as she does it when eating grass in the field too. Haylage is definitely worth a try though -thanks SF.

[galadriel]

Poor baby! How unusual.

If this is an allergy to the hay/grass itself, perhaps a different type of fiber/forage might let her avoid the grass and hay. What kind of hay is it? Can you try other hays? I'm not sure what hi-fi is; I seem to recall that it's chopped hay. Is it made from the same kind of grass or hay that you currently feed?

Perhaps a different hay might do it: alfalfa, timothy, clover, peanut instead of hay made from a common grass (Peanut is probably not all that common where you are--I've never seen it outside Florida--but it's maybe something you could plant in the field or grow yourself).

If you don't have access to other types of hay, perhaps alflalfa cubes or beet pulp might allow her to take in her needed fiber without grass allergy reactions.