Equine Headshaking Recruitment Survey

Headshaking is a poorly understood condition affecting horses. It is characterised by spontaneous, involuntary, violent flicking of the head, snorting, rubbing the face on legs or objects and striking at the nose with a forelimb. Where specific dental, orthopaedic, behavioural or other causes for headshaking have been ruled out following veterinary examination, involvement of the trigeminal nerve is assumed as the cause of neuropathic pain.

To date, treatments for trigeminally-mediated headshaking (TMHS) are limited and often poorly efficacious. This survey aims to identify suitable participants for a study investigating the effectiveness of a new non-invasive treatment for TMHS, confined to horses based in the UK and Ireland.

This is a collaborative research study involving the following researchers:

Dr Barbara Murphy, University College Dublin

Dr Clodagh Kearney, University College Dublin

Dr Veronica Roberts, University of Bristol

Dr Kirstie Pickles, equine internal medicine consultant and researcher

Dr David Marlin, equine consultant and researcher, AnimalWeb Ltd

Please answer each of the following questions as accurately as possible.

Point of contact for the research team: barbara.murphy@ucd.ie