Dysfunctional brain nuclei related to the cranial nerves, I am fast finding are not only a very common problem in horses but also one that has huge implications in the horse, handler and rider’s daily lives.
If the Central Nervous System (CNS) comes across something it cannot deal with - for example a tiny bit of mould in food or hay, allergens in straw or a whiteboard/permanent marker - it shuts down and enters what is called brain fog or mono tasking. When it is in this state it is very easy to pick up a dysfunction from an unexpected stimulus such as a loud noise, a clap on the neck or even the stimulus that is causing the brain fog to start with.
This stimulus then increases the signal to the CNS which reacts to the aberrant information and produces a behaviour that is undesired. The 12 pairs of cranial nerves that exist in mammals’ heads lead directly from the brain to the face, head, neck and trunk. Our smell, hearing and touch are senses that these nerves interpret as well as the movement or function of muscles and glands. Now why, I hear you asking do these nerves end up increasing the signal to the brain nuclei and why does it matter?
It is important to understand the mechanisms of the central nervous system to understand why we and our animals pick up dysfunction at some time and not others. The CNS is a finely tuned machine that copes with everything you deal with in everyday life. It takes information from receptors about the environment and feeds it back to our brain that then tells the horse how to act based on that information.
With this in mind it is then not unexpected that the brushing of the bridle or headcollar on their face when their central nervous system is low and they are in mono tasking or brain fog – this is a natural response when eating for example – is enough to spark a dysfunction of the nuclei of cranial nerves, as can a knock to the face or head following a fall or being cast in the stable. Anyone who has spent time around horses has received a clunk to the head by a horse, or when falling off - it maybe was not a concussion, but was it in the right place and hard enough to cause a dysfunction involving the cranial nerves and brain nuclei?
Horses can be so careless with their heads at times - we spend their lives putting equipment on and off their head, very often pulling down on bridles and headcollars and putting pressure over these sensitive areas; for example, the bridle of the poll or the noseband cranked tight over the where the nerves exit the skull to the periphery. The undesirable behaviours can show up as being head shy, head shaking, biting rugs, discomfort when being tacked up, spooking at corners of the arena amongst many more.
They will move their heads and necks both as an automatic response to some cranial nerves such as the Spinal Accessory nerve which can inhibit the trapezius muscle, or they will move (or not move) to try and avoid or relieve the aberrant stimulus they are receiving. The aberrant stimulus can be from breathing dust, light frequency or direction, sound, touch or motor functions like moving the eyes, shutting the eyes, scrunching the eyes, contracting/dilating pupils amongst many others. What then happens is that each time the horse senses the stimulus it makes all the muscles in the body weaken which in turn makes it hard for the horse to function at its best.
When I embarked upon the Proprioceptive Deep Tendon Reflex (P-DTR) course for months and months, as I ploughed through the intense learning curve, I heard about these mysterious nerves – whispered by advanced practitioners – and thought to myself – surely this cannot be that amazing! Yet I was intrigued, and when I reached the last module of the Advanced P-DTR course I finally got my answer – yes – they really are that amazing and can really change peoples and animals lives in incredible ways.
The first time I got to try treating a brain nuclei dysfunction on a horse was with a horse that disliked having a hand moved towards her head and had been notoriously head shy throughout her life. The discomfort and stress in her eyes was obvious as she flicked her eyes back in to her head and then showed the whites of her eyes while lifting her head up to avoid the hand. It was a look I have seen in many a horse’s eye – in stables, fields and at competitions – be it spooking at a specific filler or arena corners, refusing to jump into water or darkness and refusing to load, but to name a few.
I never took it as a sign that a horse may be stressed due to not processing the world around it properly and always assumed it was stubbornness or just a quirk – after all “All the top horses have quirks!”, they were just part of life. I always wondered what was behind the irrational fears our horses seemed to suffer, and it was now so apparent to me with the knowledge of the P-DTR courses under my belt. Going back to this first horse – I analysed the functionality of her eyes, linked it to a trauma she had incurred at her poll and treated it. On retesting the nerves showed optimal function and then the fun began.
The owner put her hand up to the mare’s face and she just stood there – she did not even bat an eyelid, never mind withdraw from the stimulus she was struggling with beforehand!! I work with this every day, but even I was shocked to see such a behaviour change and so immediately. The owner did it again, and again – this horse is 9 years old and she knows the history back many years which has always included this ‘head shy’ behaviour. Now a month later - the reflex has not returned. The horse is so much happier and the owner is just delighted that she can now groom and tack up her horse without a fight and stressing her horse. See the before and after videos of this mare are https://www.painlesssportstherapy.com/testimonials-videos
Signs that your horse may be living with a cranial nerve dysfunction are:
Prominent toe dragging
Prominent sinking with dorsal lumbar pressure
Intermittent & unusual lameness
Throwing to the ground when saddle applied
Shivering
Rearing violently when first ridden
Stringhalt-like movements
Extreme difficulty in rising
Hyper-reflexic movements
Localised hypertonia & tremor
Head shy
Head tilting,
Persistent horizontal or low head position
Jerky bobbing movements when eating
Mouth hanging open
Protruding tongue (ridden or unridden)
Uneven musculature
Uneven alignment of upper and lower jaw symphysis
Asymmetrical facial patterns – especially eyes, ears and muzzle
Facial paralysis
Different size/constricted/dilated pupils
They do not react to light with the dazzle reflex
Spooking at nothing/changes of light/corners or arenas
Vestibular disease
Food/water/saliva running through the nose – especially when eating or drinking
Tongue atrophy/curling/not retracting in to mouth after being pulled out.
CASE STUDIES
I treated a horse that was spooking at some corners of some arenas – looking at the corners as if there was an invisible gremlin there – ready to jump out and scare it. Even walking around in-hand, the horse was throwing its head and spooking making it both difficult and dangerous to handle him. After analysis using the P-DTR techniques it became apparent that this horse had both motor and sensory problems due to the cranial nerves misfiring. Upon completion of treatment he was then walking around in-hand relaxed, head down and going in to all the corners of the school no problem to handle and no risk to the handler.
I recently treated a lady for the sensory and motor nerves of the eyes – she was struggling driving in the dark at 40 years old and was almost at the stage of avoiding it when possible. She found the headlights coming towards her to be unbearable and very distracting until after treating the dysfunction being driven by the cranial nerves. She then found it much easier and less stressful to drive, and the next night let me know how much easier she found it driving.
My own cranial nerves were operating at an extremely high signal and causing me to suffer insane sneezing fits on sunny days. It became so obvious that the angle the light was hitting my eyes at certain times of the day were causing these sneezing fits and on treatment the sneezing just stopped. The relief I now feel is hard to describe – I would literally sneeze constantly until I found a place the light did not hit my eyes in a direction that stimulated the dysfunction, which is difficult when you live in a perpetually sunny place, and now I don’t have these sneezing fits ever – it reminded me of how some horses would react to certain bedding types or hay versus haylage.
I would love to hear from you about what you see with your horses. Please comment below and like and share my facebook page.. If you would be interested in more information or booking an appointment please email info@painlesssportstherapy.com, phone or whatsapp 07799078876.
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