Shadow's Story

I received the following email from Harriet E. in July, 2006:

My beloved horse “In the Shadow of the Creator” (“Shadow”) is a 24 year old, registered black Quarter horse with a white star on his forehead. We have been loving partners in and out of the saddle for 17 years. He has always been in perfect health and very sound. We ride over low jumps, in dressage and on trails four times a week year-round, and have done so for close to two decades.

Last year (May 2005) Shadow began sporadic headshaking - by summer his headshaking became severe, he would violently shake his head and he looked like he was being electrocuted!! He’d fling his nose ground to sky with no relief. He went through complete blood work, X-rays, CT scan etc. at our excellent university vet clinic but all the tests were negative. He acted as if he was in another world – spaced out and not wanting to be touched. I could no longer ride him.

Shadow is also a long time cribber. He had worn a crib collar forever and has white hairs (scar marks) on his brow from the collar. I also notice that his lower left lip droops. Perhaps the collar had been on too tight and there was some nerve damage that contributed to the headshaking. Interestingly enough, when he began head shaking he couldn’t crib. He has not worn a collar since last year and he will never wear one again. He is now turned out on gorgeous huge pastures with a large herd. However, as soon as we got the first frost Shadow’s head shaking suddenly stopped and he began to crib again. Then in June 2006, like clockwork he began to head shake and also continued to crib after riding and after eating. He also tends to lick the walls of the barn and my hands a lot during grooming.

Thank you for any help that you can give me and my beloved Shadow.

- Harriet E – St. Louis, Missouri

This case of cribbing was more complicated than most due to the added condition of idiopathic (ie. no known cause) head shaking (IHS). After evaluating Shadow’s clinical symptoms, nutrition, diet, and energy field I knew that Shadow was having difficulty digesting due to low stomach acid which was causing him gastric discomfort and likely heartburn, as indicated by his behaviour of licking “cool” objects in an effort to seek relief. I was also fairly certain that I was dealing with two separate health problems and that the only connection between the two was that Shadow couldn’t physically crib the way he wanted to while his head was shaking.

Shadow’s diet consisted of free choice timothy/orchard grass hay,crimped oats with molasses, and a vitamin and mineral supplement. At age 24 Shadow would be a lot more sensitive to smaller amounts of grain than a younger horse. We immediately discontinued feeding the oats to alleviate gastric digestion and added a magnesium  supplement to reduce acidity, relax the stomach wall, and improve digestion. (I usually don’t like to recommend too many digestive aids until warranted by a poor response to the diet changes).

Shadow’s cribbing was immediately relieved. He continued to do well until mid-winter 2007 when he began some cribbing again and had some new digestive symptoms. At this point I approached Shadow with a deeper treatment of digestive imbalance using homeopathic remedies and a new combination of nutritional support including potassium. Shadow still cribs sporadically (often when he’s hungry), but the intensity and duration is much diminished. We believe the cribbing will continue to diminish and resolve as his digestive system heals completely.”

As for the IHS, Shadow was experiencing inhalant allergy reactions (which often improve in cold weather) giving him nasal sensations of tickling and itching which was “driving him nuts” and causing him to fling his head. Inhalant allergies are usually undetectable with conventional medical tests. I prescribed 3 different homeopathic remedies to neutralize the allergies, improve the immune system, and alleviate the symptoms of tickling and itching. As well, I added a little iron to his program to support the immune system since allergies often exacerbate in the presence of iron deficiencies. Shadow is no longer shaking his head although Harriet gives him a dose of homeopathic pollens in the warm weather.