Jennifer & her horse "Serendipity" - 04-10-2001

Dear Sid,

My 9 year-old, Thoroughbred mare Serendipity, who I enjoy doing combined training with, first started exhibiting the mysterious symptoms of headshaking in the middle of February 2001. I had her teeth floated but her symptoms remained. She would toss her head, snort and cough, and rub her nose on things, but only after I had been riding for at least 10 minutes. At first she would only do it occasionally, but soon she was doing it during every ride. We were not getting anything accomplished because she was clearly disturbed and in some type of pain.

I did an internet search and began learning more and more about idiopathic headshaking in horses and how hard and expensive it can be to diagnose and treat. I also learned about photic headshaking; however, my mare was not showing classic signs of photic problems- she tossed her head only when ridden not while standing in the pasture, she was the same when ridden during bright sunny days, cloudy days or in the indoor arena at night, she showed no signs of searching for shade while outside, etc. Because she wasn’t showing classic photic sensitivity,

I was skeptical that the Guardian mask could help my horse. However, a phone call to Sid informed me that any light, including the lights in the indoor arena, could be affecting my mare. Knowing that the next step in trying to treat my mare’s symptoms would include a costly (and potentially unproductive) trip to the university’s equine clinic to perform procedures such as endoscopy and x-rays, I decided that I would at least try the Guardian mask before starting to spend lots of money on veterinary bills.

I would never have dreamed how successful and immediate a solution the Guardian mask would be for my horse! Since I began riding with the mask on, my horse has NEVER ONCE tossed her head again- when before she was doing it every single ride!!

Two days after the mask arrived, I took Serendipity to a cross-country jumping schooling and Sid is correct.

You can jump in a Guardian mask!! To be honest, I was nervous about how well she would be able to see the jumps and rather self-conscious about what other people would think when they saw me jumping with this strange, dark mask on my horse.

However, Serendipity had absolutely no problems seeing or judging the size of any of the jumps and she never tossed her head- it was a success! Although we were quite a spectacle with complete strangers coming up to ask me- “What is THAT on your horse’s head?” One young boy even exclaimed- “Cool!” But I have to say, it doesn’t matter how ridiculous my horse looks because now we can finally get back to successful training.

I will be eternally grateful for learning about the Guardian mask so early on in the course of my horse’s headshaking problems- I could have easily spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars and many months, if not years, trying all sorts of unsuccessful remedies. Instead, because of the existence of Guardian’s website, within 4 weeks of my horse’s first head toss and for the cost of one mask, I had found a solution to this vexing problem. For this, my horse and I give a heartfelt thanks to Sid and Guardian for helping us to solve this typically stubborn and mysterious set of symptoms.

I am so glad I gave the Guardian mask a chance to work. To any owner whose horse suddenly begins to display the symptoms of headshaking, I would highly recommend trying the Guardian mask FIRST, before other more invasive and expensive diagnostics and treatments are begun. You may get as lucky as I did and find an easy solution to this very frustrating and mysterious problem!! 

All my thanks,

Jennifer Oikle

Lawrence, KS

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