Why is my horse shaking his head?

 and particularly where signs have shown to improve after infiltration of the nerve with local anaesthesia, blocking the pain (but not all horses respond).

What can be done for a headshaking horse?

The treatment of headshaking really relies on its underlying cause, this is why a thorough investigation is needed to try and get to the root of it. In many cases, identifiable conditions (such as dental disease or a nasal foreign body) are behind the headshaking, and appropriate treatment resolves the problem.

In idiopathic headshaking, treatment can be difficult. Although around a quarter of affected horses will improve just using a nose-net, there is no known effective treatment that works in all cases and further studies are needed to deepen our knowledge of the condition. Nerve stimulation is often recommended as a second-line treatment, however, severely affected horses who don’t respond to attempted treatment may, sadly, eventually need to be euthanised.