Comparison of the Current Situation of Equine Headshaking Syndrome in France and Switzerland Based on an Online Survey
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
There are a number of grammatical and other errors in the paper. Some sentences are confusing
EXAMPLE: Table 2 - the results are not clear! Are they percentages?
Line172: use BEING - not BEEN
Line 173: Rewrite the sentence since it is not clear.
TABLE3: BEHAVIOURAL NOT BEHAVIOUR
Line 195 start new paragraph relating to therapy
Line 202: Code on numbers incorrect?
What is TCM - (not clear what the acronym is for !
Line 206: Use trigeimal nerve (no capitals)
Line 270: GAITS not GATES
Line 305: Rewrite sentence - not clear.
Thee are no results shown for the benefit of the treatments that owners used. That would be a great addition if the survey could derive those data.
In the study there is no mention of the responses to the rider aids - this is a really common feature of true HS
The survey suffers from one major difficulty. Owners are not often truly able to differentiate true (idiopathic) HS from behavioral head movements. The latter may relate to back or other orthopedic pain An overall prevalence would be a good index of the importance of the condition- can you get this from your data (i assume there was a question on whether the horse had been vaccinated for herpes virus in particular) and whether it was in a solitary or communal management system. . Similarly, the owners responding to the survey do not seem to have been asked whether their therapy measures were helpful or not? I suppose it all comes down to a definition of the HS syndrome. It is usually regarded as an involuntary persistent or intermittent mild or severe up / down movement of the head. Rotatory movements are not always associated with the true idiopathic or trigeminal-related HS syndrome. The issue of seasonality is of great interest where different geographical areas are explored since it might provide keys to the trigger factors.
I was disappointed that there was no survey outcome in terms of onset (sudden / insidious) and progression of the condition (slow / fast or none)
It just seems that the survey was a bit limited and therefore missed out on a lot of aspects of the condition.
There are lots of other grammar errors that can be sorted out easily of course but the discussion is quite limited and that makes the paper less useful in a difficult condition like this.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
thank you for your helpful comments and ideas on the article. Please see the attachment for our response to your comments.
Kind regards,
L. Stange
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear authors,
This study complements knowledge on EHS. Since there is a lack of data in this field, publication of this study is generally recommended and will attract a wide range of reader. Thank you for your work.
The following comments need to be adressed.
In general
Relevant reference is missing:
Ross SE et al. Equine Vet J. 2018 Jan;50(1):73-78. Prevalence of headshaking within the equine population in the UK.
In detail
line 31 replace „within European conutries“ with „in France and Switzerland“
line 75 add reference Ross et al. Equine Vet J. 2018. Ross et al. performed an owner survey on EHS in the UK using a similiar questionnaire. This needs to be adressed.
Line 77-79 The aim of the study needs to be rewritten. This study does not provide an overview on EHS in different European countries. It provides data on horses in Switzerland and France only.
Material and Methods
2.1 Please delete redundant information in this pragraph, e.g. line 94/95: The term „closed questions“ implies that there are set answer options to chose from. Therefore delete sentence „Predetermined answers … questions.“ The same applies to the redundant information on open question format (line 98/99).
2.2 replace headline „Selection of Sample“ with „Distribution of online survey“
Line 159/160 delete Sentence. This information does not belong to the result chapter, but to material and methods
Line 341 Clarify status of funding/support in detail please.
Authors state that there is nor funding in line 341, but in line 346 the H.W. Schaumann Foundation and „Stiftung Pferd Pro“ are mentioned as supporters. Since both foundations generally provide financial support, please provide details.
Comments on the Questionnaire
Group 3 (1)
Skin diseases as an extra answer option is missing.
Dental disease as an extra answer option is missing. Owners will probably not understand dental diseases as included in gastrointestinal diseases. But dental diseases are crucial to be identified as they may be a primary cause of EHS
Group 4 (4) choose one answer is not appropriate as multiple answer options may apply
(9) Relevant triggers are missing: dust, pollen, exercise, heat an cannt be added here by the respondants
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
please see the attachement for our response to your comments.
Kind regards,
L. Stange
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear Authors,
Please include the questions asked in the manuscript.
Evaluation of the answers need the specific questions asked.
Regards.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you very much for revision on our article. The manuscript has been revised in view of your comments and the ones by reviewer 1 and 2. The questionnaire was uploaded as Supplementary Material. Due to your comment, we inserted it directly into the materials and methods section for the sake of better understanding in line 105. We hope that we have answered all questions and comments to your satisfaction and look forward to further remarks.
Kind regards
L. Stange
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Still a few spelling and grammar errors - generally looks better
Check MILLS REFERENCE please
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
I uploaded the responses as a WORD file. Please see attachement.
Kind regards,
Laura Stange
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Thank you for including the questionnaire.
Just small edits:
Line 142, please explain what open stable and active stable means.
Line2019, and, not und.
Thank you
Author Response
Dear reviewer 2,
Many thanks to your comments on the article. We fixed the grammar and made some additions for better understanding. In the following, we go into detail about your specific comments.
Thank you for including the questionnaire: Thanks for your comment. We are pleased that you like the added questionnaire and that it contributes to a better understanding.
Line 142, please explain what open stable and active stable means.: Now line 141 --> Thank you for this comment. The term 'open stable' refers to a simple husbandry concept in which the horses live outdoors and within groups. An 'active stable' has functional areas mentioned above, but with automated feeding and integrated incentives to walk around, so that the horses have to move more, for example to get from the 'eat' area to the 'drink' area. (Rose-Meierhöfer et al. 2010) We have included the explanation as a footnote and hope you will agree.
Line2019, and, not und: Now line 218 --> Thanks for the comment. We corrected the sentence.
Kind regards,
Laura Stange
