Best turnout boots + clipping legs? Mud fever

[ellie11987]

Hi all, recently got my old mare back and she is prone to mud fever in the winter and I am keen to get on top of it quickly with a good plan set it place.

First of all - turnout boots. At the moment she just has on some tendon boots to prevent knocks but I am wanting to invest in some turnout boots for all round protection and to guard against mudfever. Unfortunatley the winter field she is in during the day is quite muddy, would this be entirely pointless? I have been looking at the Premier Equine Xtra Pro Mud Fever boots specifically.

Secondly - for the past few years I have full clipped but left the legs on. I've thought about clipping legs and booting this year in order for the hair to dry quicker and for scabs to be seen easier. Am I wrong in this thinking? I would invest in some thermatex leg wraps to dry the legs off after washing/at night too.

Thank you!

 

[Deltaflyer]

There seem to be about 100 zillion different opinions on what to do re mud fever and the mud fever prone.

It seems that what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

I thought clipping my boys legs out would help as my reasoning was that they'd dry quicker and the air would get to the skin more easily. This actually turned out to not be good for my boy as he has VERY pink skin on all four legs, so much so that on his fronts his ergots are white. It turned out that it's not just mud he's sensitive to but also sunlight so he was effectively getting mud fever in the summer.

My saviour has been washing when seriously muddy, drying thoroughly (important) and applying Neem Oil (the oil 'Stinky Stuff; is made from). It's really helped hugely with the areas I hadn't been able to get to heal since March and I will continue to use it as a barrier once the scabby bits have healed over. Splendid stuff even if it does smell a bit odd. I will be using Shires performance turnout boots once it gets really muddy on his fronts.

Possibly the kind of mud you have might be the decider on clipping legs. We have light, easily hosed off mud where I keep my chap so clipping legs isn't really a must. I have had horses on heavy clay in the past and clipping hairy legs was pretty much a given as the stuff kind of 'set' in to the hair if you didn't get to it before it dried, it was a nightmare to try and brush out, and, as you can imagine, all kinds of anaerobic bacteria could be flourishing amongst it.