Jill & her horse "Checkers" - 07-05-2002

Dear Sid,

We first saw Checkers a year ago this month.  He is a beautiful blue-eyed Paint with four white socks.  I originally bought him as a birthday present for my soon to be 16 year old daughter.  He was three years old at the time.  He did not have any headshaking symptoms at the time.  He was perfect.   He was gentle easy to get along with and would do just about anything asked.  My daughter was thrilled , and had grand plans to show, halter, jump etc.   This was in July.  The first show we took him to was in August.  We live in Atlanta so it is very very hot in the summer.

He was fine until the day of the show.  He began in the show ring to twitch his head as if he were bothered by bugs.  We just thought he had a sensitive nature when it came to bugs.  My daughter was still able to place in the class because it wasn't too bad yet.  So I had several reasons given.  The one we acted on, it must have been his teeth.

We had a special dentist float his teeth, they did find he had places in his mouth that had caused sharp grooves in his mouth and they pulled his wolf teeth. So they thought he is fine now.  Which he was because it was going into Fall and Winter months however as we progressed into warming months, March and even late February, he began to rear and shake his head.   I really thought it was because he is a young horse and my daughter was letting him get away with doing what he wanted.  One day I decided to check out the problem.  Several people had mentioned to me that Checkers was rearing on my daughter Jamie.  I saddled him up and got on and sure enough he began to rear and not to want to go forward.  This was in a small indoor arena where there is not a lot of light compared to outside.   I was able to finally work through the rearing some, and some of the problem was, he did not want to work because he was in pain, which I did not realize at the time.

I began to lounge him and after a few minutes he began to shake his head, the longer I worked him the worst it became.  I tried several days to try and ride him outside, it was a nightmare.   I became really nervous riding him as he would rub his nose and just become frantic.

Once again I had the vet check him out and guess what? He floated his teeth and could not see anything wrong with him.  But he was going to try what he called "Horsey Prozac".  I was willing to try anything at this point.  The vet was not my regular vet, so I began to think about this and I called my vet, he tried an herbal remedy for ten days... each day, I hoped it would be better.  I became more discouraged than ever.  I got on the internet then and looked up headshaking and became depressed.  There is no known cause or solution.

Guardian Mask did catch my eye so I began to read the stories, I did not relate to most until I got to the one with many of the same symptoms of Checkers even down to having the horses teeth floated.  So I sent off for the mask and talked to Sid.  I received the mask and could not wait to try it however to my disappointment he still shook his head.  This horse is now only four years old, what will I do with an un-rideable horse that is so young?

Someone at the barn suggested that I try knee-high nylons over his nose, it sounds crazy but with the two things together he has stopped completely.  He is calm and workable and just like he was before this all started.  Some days it is not always easy to put nylons over his nose but he eventually submits.   He is ok with the Guardian Mask, I hope this offers hope to anyone who struggles with this problem.  I was so excited to have Checkers back, I called Lou to tell him, without the Guardian Mask who knows what we would have done.

Thank you

Georgia

"This product really does work, I never would have thought of this problem being with his eyes and also allergies, but there are probably more of you out there struggling.  I hope this helps, what a blessing this has been." 

Thank you Jill for sharing your tried and proven method of using the Nylon hose.  We are very pleased to hear of your success with Checkers!

We've had many reports of horse owners trying this method while using the Guardian Mask in all daylight hours with great results.  Often times it appears ultra sensitive horses show a great range of improvement  as well.

The images you sent really show nicely how the combination is used. Thank you once again.

Guardian Mask

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