Atypical Mudfever

[Serenity087]

So, Dorey got mudfever, no surprises there.

What DOES surprise me though is the fact that instead of just being scabby, she has lumps on her heels. They're hard, apparently painful (but her tolerance of me playing is fast fading, so it could just be that she'd rather kick me than stand still!) and although a little scabby, aren't ouzing and flaking like mud fever normally does.

And where I started with 1, there are now 3.

Is this part of the getting better? Or are they getting seriously worse...

Am going to hit them with the sudacreme to soften them (hopefully!) but I've never seen lumps like it before!!

I've also never had mud fever this bad... it's covered her heels really badly and I'm getting really rather worried that I'm losing control!

Advise? Have been washing with hibiscrub then powdering with antiseptic powder for a week or so then repeating. Some bits have cleared up beautifully, but then these lumps appeared!

 

[windseywoo]

Would say get the vet out. Sounds like there is an infection in the heel which probably needs treating from the inside. A course of antibiotics will probably clear it up in no time

 

[Faithkat]

My mare is like that. I needed a strong course of ABs to clear hers up. I found that doing the Hibiscrub/Sudocrem thing made it much, much worse and the vet told me to leave it alone. The "mud fever" actually spread to her face! She was scabs from just below her eyes right down to under her chin and the vet reckoned it was from rubbing her face on her leg. I left it completely alone (although there was a terrible temptation to pick the scabs off when they dried and she looked as though she had leprosy!)

 

[Pasha]

My boy gets mud fever every year and have managed in previous years to clear it up with Rosemary & Sulphur Cream.

This year he has been getting huge scabs and very sore cracked skin so vet gave me Flamazine Cream (£50 a pot )... it cleared up one leg perfectly, but the other one just got worse and worse and scabs were moving around.

Vet then gave me ABs and said to leave alone and I also kept him in for 3 days. As soon as he went back out they flared up again, so took it upon myself to fidn a solution and found Aromaheel! 2 days in and a HUGE improvement! He will actually let me touch them now and scabs are drastically reduced and skin not red and inflamed High hopes it will all be gone after the weekend... and best bit is it's CHEAP and they can still go out

 

[Booboos]

Could also be an auto-immune reaction which needs treatment with steroids, at least this is what F had that looked exactly like what you describe and would not clear up with normal mud fever treatment.

 

[Beccy Smith]

Skin problems respond best both long term and short term from a holistic approach. Necrotizing products such as hibiscrub can encourage reinfection as they kill some healthy cells thus allowing fungal spores in and around the skin something to feed off and the cycle begins again. So cause and effect need addressing and this may warrent veterinary medicines too. I find thunderbrook products effective at addressing gut issues and therefore help the immune system (and all the other systems) and my horses have responded to a 50% mix of clotrimazole and sudacrem with a few drops of blue yarrow to help remove scabs and sooth the skin. I also like Pioneer Herbals Scab softener which gently removes scabs too. Dont forget pain relief and if you horse has feathering also consider mites or other skin parasites. Also, skin imbalance is connected to stress so consider your horses emotional and mental health.

Our horses live in an increasingly toxic and chemical world and an organic and low stress environment with a holistic veterinary appoach is become apparently more important to the health of our horses. I dont recall the number of colics, mud fever, laminitis and thrush and other hoof problems in my younger days as there is now and feel we as horse owners must be more proactive and less reactive to disease.

 

[Serenity087]

She's been on four yards in two counties, had a foal, been weaned from her foal and bought back into work for the first time in 4 years... if she wasn't stressed, I'd be selling her blood as a calmer!!

However, she's been mud fever free for the better part of 7 years that I know of. So gutted

Only other, interesting, thing is, she has "acne" on her neck. Never gets better, never gets worse, I can pick the crusty bits off occasionally, but the lumpy bits remain.

Am now tempted by the stress/poor skin path than the mud fever one... Not sure AB's will help!