strange behaviour

[JSP]

I am looking after a horse at the moment and have noticed he has a very strange habit of swinging his head to the side and right back and his nose almost touching his sides - he does this whilst standing still, walking, trotting and hooning madly around the paddock. It looks as if he has a fly on his belly and he is swishing it away - only there is nothing there. The horse is unbroken.

I'm not really sure what the cause would be - he is wormed, there are no flys around and I checked his skin and hair and there is nothing there that seems to be causing any irritation. My main concern is that he might run into a fence whilst looking off behind himself.

It is just really odd and I was wondering if anyone had seen anything like it before or have any suggestions as to what might cause him to do this??

 

[Remaani]

Is it like playful head swishing?

Sounds like exactly what Jet, Sass, Tarah & Suga do..... whilst standing, walking or hooning they do a huge head twist/throw/shake thingy. Jet's nearly fallen over from doing it, when trotting, lol......

Yes they are all normal, lol.

 

[JSP]

yeh I know the head swish you are talking about - this is a bit different - he turns his head right around and looks behind himself - perhaps it is his version of the head swish.... will try capture it on video!

 

[Remaani]

yeh I know the head swish you are talking about - this is a bit different - he turns his head right around and looks behind himself - perhaps it is his version of the head swish.... will try capture it on video!

Maybe he likes looking at his backside when he runs???

 

[Faxie]

Check out the weaving thread, perhaps that is part of what he is doing but a bit odd as he is only a baby.

A friend's horse tosses his head a lot too (6yo gelding), i think it started as a dominance/boredom thing when she did stuff with him and is now unfortunately just a habit as he does it in the paddock on his own.

 

[hutchi]

If he isn't a weaver, then maybe it's some sort of pain related thing?
If not, I think it may just be an odd playful habbit! haha

 

[ShowMustGoOn]

mine does that too!!! is yours an arab? He never used to do it out riding but when he gets to a familiar area he does the head from side to side thing, sometimes he does it in slow motion sometimes fast, sometimes a mini one and sometimes an exaggerated thing.

My friend who has a stud, the only ones who do it are her stallions. Mine is a 7 yr old gelding, so I think it is an insecure/dominance thing. Who knows what it means ot him lol. I've got mine on video.

he'll go left to right, like a psychotic tick or somthing lol

 

[ShowMustGoOn]

oeah and he does it whenever, stnading or walking or playing.

His food bucket game is just an extension of it I think as he will pick up the bucket and move his head from side to side and actually hit his belly. such a crack up.

He never actually does a playful head shake like my other gelding does. I've never seen it before till I got him lol.

 

[robbing'charisma]

i have just finish reading an article saying that horses may swish their head from side to side from pollon irretation. i din't really believe it until i read the article and it does make some sense. If the pollon gets up their nose they make behave strange to get the pollon out. not sure if this is the cause but i thought it might help you.

 

[Stattik]

My arab does this. As soon as he sees me coming to the paddock he trots over flinging his head from side to side or when Im lunging him. When I ride him and he gets realllllly excited he'll do it whilst Im on him. I wouldnt be too worried, I think they do it when they get a little excited.

 

[realalvin]

mine does that too!!!