# Horse itchy face whilst being ridden? rubbing??



## cobface (28 February 2010)

When i ride my mare i notice she snatches down at the reins alot, i thought it maybe her teeth, shes had them done now (did post s few days back) but what i did let her do today is stop when she snatched her head down, she imidiatly threw her head down, stamped her leg out in front of her and rubbed her nose and head on her leg  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 she normally does this when i have dismounted after a ride but shes wanting to do it all the time during riding  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 am thinking the bridle maybe rubbing her or be too tight but it all seems to fit okay?? any ideas?


----------



## JenHunt (28 February 2010)

Moulting would be my guess. Tom is desperate to scratch his face on anything at the moment, as soon as he's a little bit warm he snatches until you give in and let him scratch.


----------



## Izzwizz (28 February 2010)

Is her bit bothering her?  My mare does this after riding and Ive put it down to the fact that shes had 11months off due to injury and is getting used to having a bit in again and the pressure it applies.  
Could be that its too small?  Just an idea as we have a horse we have just bought and his bit was half an inch too small, happier now he has the larger size.  Only thing I can think of if shes had her teeth done.  Would have suggested pollen later on the year but we are not in that season yet as far as Im aware anyway.


----------



## milliepops (28 February 2010)

I was going to ask about the bit too.  Have you changed it recently?  When I first put my mare in a full cheek bit it seemed to tickle her, and she was always wanting to rub her face. She got used to it quite quickly though


----------



## cobface (28 February 2010)

Jenhunt - yes she is moulting, never thought of that........

izzwizz - shes currently ridden in a 5.5 loose ring with lozenge, thought it maybe her bit so have ordered her a happy mouth straight bar (loose ring) as shes very fussy with bits anyway.......


----------



## m3gan (28 February 2010)

This sounds like the same thing my neddy does. He has got better recently, but he just does seem to have an itchy nose! Sometimes, like you say pulls the reins from my hands to itch. It isn't the bridle he definitely is a bit itchy in the nose department. I think he is starting to moult on his face ATM as when I rub his face for him lots of hair comes out, so maybe that is part of the trouble? 

Does your horse have a white blaze on his face? Cos I think that might be why my ned gets extra itchy on that part of his face , he also has a pink muzzle , not sure if that is correct horsey terminology, but he is also liable to get sunburn.....!


----------



## Grey_Showjumper (28 February 2010)

Mine does this badly when hes either moulting or when hes sweaty or when i have a lot of tack on him (hunting)...
I always find the white hair seems to be REALLY itchy on their face, could be just our horses though!


----------



## milliepops (28 February 2010)

[ QUOTE ]


Does your horse have a white blaze on his face? Cos I think that might be why my ned gets extra itchy on that part of his face , he also has a pink muzzle , not sure if that is correct horsey terminology, but he is also liable to get sunburn.....!






[/ QUOTE ]

Funny, my mare's blaze seems much more woolly than the rest of her face.  It takes ages to moult properly.  White hair seems so much thicker!  When I clip her head, it takes several goes over the blaze to get all of the hair off.


----------



## bushbaby28 (28 February 2010)

a horse I used to have that headshook used to do this and it was to do with the nerve in his nose being irritated by pollen/dust etc. Could it be that? How long have you had them and have they ever shown any headshaking behaviour? (usually sharp quick head nods, almost like a nervous twitch)


----------



## cobface (28 February 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
a horse I used to have that headshook used to do this and it was to do with the nerve in his nose being irritated by pollen/dust etc. Could it be that? How long have you had them and have they ever shown any headshaking behaviour? (usually sharp quick head nods, almost like a nervous twitch) 

[/ QUOTE ]

There more like lunges of the head downwards and she opens her mouth too.......it used to constantly go up but this has drastically improved after removal of her wolf teeth 
	
	
		
		
	


	




I bought my mare last summer and she was very very sensitive to flies around her face so i had to ride around dusk so there where fewer of the little buggers around! so could be all the hair that shes loosing at the moment.........i must invest in a fly net for her face that she can be ridden in this summer...... as well as full body protection!


----------



## HensPens (28 February 2010)

Henry does this too, there we are going nicely round the school and he starts to round and soft and... stick his head on his leg for an itch.

He's another one with a white nose.


----------



## eggs (28 February 2010)

A lot of ours are rubbing their noses on their legs when we dismount at the moment which we have put down to mouting/sweating.

As said though, I have previously had two headshakers who both started by constantly trying to rub their noses when being ridden.


----------



## cobface (28 February 2010)

She has a black nose and a little white star...........


----------



## Box_Of_Frogs (1 March 2010)

That sounds like a text book case of headshaking I'm afraid. Headshaking is a spectrum - at the very low end the horse may just need to occasionally stop to rub a sweaty nose on a foreleg - at the high end the horse may be dangerous/unrideable. If it was me, I'd do some reading up on headshaking and maybe try some of the low level solutions to controling it.


----------



## algy666 (1 March 2010)

Dylan does this, and always has done.  His bridle/bit all fits correctly, and he does it when he's not moulting as well, usually towards the end of a ride. He also itches his face like mad as soon as you dismount (usually on you lol) and when you take his bridle off.

I always thought he was just slightly peculiar.


----------

