advice on wet muddy legs

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sodapop

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I never normally consider washing mud off my horses legs but I am worried about my very hairy cob and wondered what other people did. He comes in from the field dripping in thick sticky mud, overnight the outer layer drys slightly but underneath the mud is still wet so his legs haven't dried out in months now. I am considering hosing him off and using some sort of wicking leg wraps for him. My little featherless pony came in stamping her back legs tonight so I really don't know if this freaky wet weather has compromised my horses own ability to self manage??
 
I dont have hairy cobs but i leave mine i think hosing them everyday is worse, although i do wash mine sometimes and put leg wraps on so maybe if you did it once a week and put wraps on it wouldnt hurt.
 
Many years ago when working as an groom for a hunting and eventing family muddy horses were thatched with straw or hay, the legs in particular were wrapped in hay or straw and a bandage was used to keep this in place. This helped the mud to dry and it could be brushed out with a curry comb in the morning.

These days my troop live out and I tend not to touch the mud on their legs when they are wet and muddy in the winter. In the 12 years I have owned them they have not suffered from mud fever or sores of any kind. Two of them are grey and they are supposed to be prone to mud fever but they have been fine.

I was always taught to ensure that mud is not worked into the horse's skin at all and too much wetting and subsequent drying affects the natural oils present in the coat and this then loses the protective properties.
 
I think washing them would be worse as the legs underneath still wouldn't dry out, and I know with mud fever for example you're supposed to let the legs dry naturally! Not much experience with feathery cobs though, but I know what you mean.. I always feel terrible leaving their legs muddy in winter but when it dries you can brush it out. x
 
It never dries though does it, that's the problem :( I sometimes (maybe once or twice a week) put the hose to a weak dribble and rinse the worst of the mud off, then sponge his legs (all with cold water) and then bandage overnight to give his legs a chance to be warm and dry.

I'm currently looking into getting some turnout socks for him, but a bit worried that with the depth of the mud they might get suckered off!!
 
I have lots of hairy cobs and lots of mud!

I agree that if the mud dries overnight you are better leaving it on and knocking it off the next day.

However, if the legs are sopping wet and dripping with mud I give it a really good blast with the hosepipe and get everything off so that the water runs clear....stick the end of the hosepipe into the feathers if you need to! Wet clean legs will be bone dry in the morning if they are bedded on deep dry straw. I NEVER rub or touch the legs once they are washed off.... the straw will dry them off and do the work for me. My lot are so muddy now that I would have the same problem as you and they would never dry out if I left the mud on.

When I am back at work after the Xmas break with less time, they will be plastered with pig oil and left again as straw plus oil equals cleanish legs in the morning :)
 
If he has a decent amount of feather, if you wiggle your fingers deep through the hair you should find that the skin is dry. The worse thing is wetting the skin with washing or hosing as getting it dry will take days.

Leave the feather alone, don't brush other than occasionally just to check what's going on under the hair and only then, when mud is completely dry.

The feather is nature's barrier against the wet. Putting wraps on during this mild wet weather could encourage mite infestation by providing a warm moist environment.


If you are worried, brush legs when dry and liberally apply pig oil up to the knee and then repeat every couple of weeks, but not before a farrier's visit. Keratex Mud shield powder is also brilliant, but works out quite expensive on hairy legs if used frequently.
 
My problem is I have an arthritic horse (arthritis in both hocks and one knee joint) so I can't leave his legs muddy and wet, or else the poor thing is stiff as a board and uncomfortable :-( so I have to try and keep a happy medium with the mud and the arthritis!
 
horserider said:
If he has a decent amount of feather, if you wiggle your fingers deep through the hair you should find that the skin is dry. The worse thing is wetting the skin with washing or hosing as getting it dry will take days.
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I would normally absolutely 100% agree with everything you are saying, however, this year I find that horses are standing in more soup than mud! My hairies are down to the skin and I'm finding clean wet legs are drying much better than soaked to the skin muddy legs.
With you all the way with pig oil though :)
 
My horse hasn't got feathers so him along with the rest of the yard get hosed off when they come in and then they have the rest of the evening and night to dry off, it doesn't take too long to dry and they are all clean in the morning :) the mud is just ridiculous at the moment the fields are not coping well with all the rain :(
 
Thanks everyone, think I might just try hosing him off and see how well he dries off. Our mud really is liquid clay and the bits that have ever dried completely are like concrete to get off. I have never seen mud like it!!
 
Mine have their legs hosed off but are stabled at night and have wraps. I am truly losing the will to live with all the mud..and we are on sand on top of a hill.
 
I hose mine off at night then slap on baby oil or pig oil when dry in the morning.
Do this every few weeks and find that the mud just slides off
 
Our Belgian draft has heavy heavy feathers and living out mud is the word. We now use pig oil and flowers of sulphur. Keeps away the mud fever and the mud will not stick. So we tend to rinse them off once a week. Go out for a dry hack and then by the time we get back most of the feathers are perfectly dry and just use some new pig oil. Works perfect for us! :)
 
if you are able to keep them in (not sure if you have stable) best thing to do is let mud dry then brush off the mud. use keratex mud fever powder. its also a barrier. you apply it to dry clean legs and it will protect the skin underneath. its fantastic stuff.
 
I wash the mud off, towel dry, then put stable chaps on and tomorrow morning lather with leg guard, dont like the mud getting too thick on the feathers.
 
I never touched my mares feathers in the winter and she had full on up to the knee thick feathers. I always thought it best not to interfere and she never suffered....
 
Please do not wash off the mud. I live on flood plain and sometimes they are cannon deep in mud soup. Just make a straw island or bring them in to dry out occasionaly, even my TB coped and I have never had anything get mud fever. I have a grey and if you part his hair on his legs it is not only dry but almost white not the colour of mud like the rest of him.
 
I used to work at a yard where we hosed the horses legs off daily when bringing them in for the night. However most of them were clipped so dried v quickly and we never used any shampoo because that would remove the oils from the coat. They also had thick Staw beds which imagine elped dry them. Don't know if we were incredibly lucky or it was down to the clipping, but after working there for 3 years with 50 + horses/ponies of every breed imaginable I never saw 1 case of mud fever.
 
Just to throw a spanner in the works...

I got my mare a couple of months ago, she came from a yard where she was pig oiled every two weeks. She came with mud fever on all four legs. Now I am stabling her at night, every night she gets the mud hosed off, scabs picked off, her legs hibiscrubbed, towel dried, then sudocrem applied to her lower legs in the morning before turnout. Her legs are bone dry in the morning, otherwise I wouldn't be putting the sudocrem on. Her mud fever has really improved.

I guess it's a case of trial and error to see what works for you, don't take anyone's advice as gospel - look how how many on here say to NEVER hose their legs. I have always hosed wet mud off my horses and never had mud fever, my mare came with mud fever and only through hosing and sudocrem has it drastically cleared up. Water doesn't cause mud fever, mud does!
 
peony said:
Just to throw a spanner in the works...

I got my mare a couple of months ago, she came from a yard where she was pig oiled every two weeks. She came with mud fever on all four legs. Now I am stabling her at night, every night she gets the mud hosed off, scabs picked off, her legs hibiscrubbed, towel dried, then sudocrem applied to her lower legs in the morning before turnout. Her legs are bone dry in the morning, otherwise I wouldn't be putting the sudocrem on. Her mud fever has really improved.

I guess it's a case of trial and error to see what works for you, don't take anyone's advice as gospel - look how how many on here say to NEVER hose their legs. I have always hosed wet mud off my horses and never had mud fever, my mare came with mud fever and only through hosing and sudocrem has it drastically cleared up. Water doesn't cause mud fever, mud does!
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I agree my boy gets hibiscrubbed and sudocremed and also my vet gave me a simular concoction which has worked well also you can also buy some mud socks that you put on before they go in the field to protect there legs and Thermatex leg wraps might be a good idea if you have feathers they will wick the water out after you have washed them .
 
If your horse has mud fever yes you do wash and have to use hibiscrub but if the horse has not got it you will cause it by removing the natural oils and the soil that is washed down to the skin will cause micro abraisions that will allow the bacteria in. Washing clipped stabled horses that live in a mainly dry enviroment is totally different to caring for a muddy marvel that
spends most of its time outside but even the hunters that I cared for never had their legs hosed they where left to dry naturally and then brushed and checked at last horses.
 
sodapop said:
I never normally consider washing mud off my horses legs but I am worried about my very hairy cob and wondered what other people did. He comes in from the field dripping in thick sticky mud, overnight the outer layer drys slightly but underneath the mud is still wet so his legs haven't dried out in months now. I am considering hosing him off and using some sort of wicking leg wraps for him. My little featherless pony came in stamping her back legs tonight so I really don't know if this freaky wet weather has compromised my horses own ability to self manage??
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In the old days washing off was the normal.


I wont wash legs off now.


Mud is only on the surface washing legs off wets the skin
mud dries quickly wet legs takes age to dry


Clip hair only if standing in deep mud or if they have mud fever otherwise leave alone TMO
 
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BHS had an article in their magazine about this - recommending letting mud dry, then brushing off, as research shown that washing legs leads to more problems.
 
peony said:
Water doesn't cause mud fever, mud does!
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I think I disagree with this a little, mud fever is an infection caused by bacteria. I strongly believe some fields/ land is 'infected' with the bacteria responsible and hence lots of stories of horses that have never had it moving to yards and suddenly it flares up and vice verca - some yards seem never to have it no matter what the different management used by different owners.

Bacteria love damp warm conditions so anything that works for your individual horse to keep the skin (not outside feathers) dry is key.
Almost always I'd say don't wash off as hosing will get water to the skin much better than mud - BUT this year is different and if you're finding the skin really is wet from mud soup and drys better having been hosed then maybe try that for a while.
 
coffeeandabagel said:
I have been told that mud fever is caused by something in the mud and that not all areas have this microorganism or whatever in the mud. Apparently we dont.
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That's it in a nutshell some Are much worse than others and horses seems to develop a degree of immunity to the bugs in their area over time one of ours is very prone when he hunts in certain areas interestingly he's a horse who was very ill at one point and his immune system is almost certainly less good due to this I have four horses apart from only one little patch easily cleared up on another no other horse was had an issue this winter , this one horse is a constant struggle to keep on top of.
 
sophiebailey said:
It never dries though does it, that's the problem :(
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If you bandage as soon as he comes in that will warm him up and dry him off. You can either use bandages if you know how to apply them correctly or get yourself some Thermatex type wraps, they are both as good as each other with very little difference in time taken to put them on when you're in the habit of doing them. Very easy to brush the dry mud off in the morning and hang bandages/wraps to dry and air before needing them the next night.

BTW, for those of you that think Hibiscrub is God, please use it very sparingly, it is not meant for regular use as it strips out all the oils from the skin. IT IS NOT MEANT AS ANYTHING OTHER THAN FOR CLEANING WOUNDS; my vet goes so far as to say it should be licensed (so only available on prescription as it is so deadly to skin.
Also look at the diet and make sure it is balanced with decent oil levels as all skin problems start from within because the skin is not strong enough. Micronised linseed and brewers yeast are both very good aids in this.
 
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