Curing inflamed pink skin following mud fever

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Olliepop

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My TB gelding had mud fever (including cellulitis) on his hind pastern last year and had antibiotics and steroid cream prescribed to treat it. The scabs cleared up but I am having trouble with reducing the 'pinkness' of the pink skin on the back of the pastern/ above the bulb of the heel. I have tried all manner of creams (Sudocream, Lincoln Magic Muddy Buddy, Savlon, Vaseline, another nappy rash cream forget the name, Kamilosan, Fuciderm cream from the vet) but nothing seems to reduce the pinkness of his skin. There are no scabs/ bleeding whatsoever. I just wondered if anyone else had had a similar problem and managed to cure it? I have a feeling that if I wasn't managing it (the pink skin) by cleaning with water, drying it and applying one of the above creams once a day that it may well take a downward turn and go scabby again. Should I be cleaning it twice a day? I'm worried about making it too wet all the time when cleaning it but at the same time it's not good to have mud on it (it gets through whatever cream I apply eventually).
 
You've tried an awful lot of lotions and potions with no effect... perhaps try leaving it alone? Dietary assistance may also help skin quality.
 
Hi thanks for the replies. I've tried something which looks similar to that cream by Barrier Health Care called heel to hoof but it may be worth trying this one.
I've tried leaving it when I went away on holiday for a week and it does start to develop tiny scabs again (size of a pin head which go away again when I start to apply the cream).
With regards to diet, in summer he's on top spec complete balancer and 1/2 scoop garlic and in winter he was fed hay, fast fibre and veteran vitality. He was on Alfa A molasses free but I took him off that as had read that alfalfa can aggravate mud fever. Is there anything specific to feed that's recommended for mud fever? Sorry for the ignorance but it's the first horse I've had who's has it.
 
I just tend to feel that ongoing problems with skin etc that are difficult to get rid of are often symptoms of an imbalanced diet. I think there's also a question mark over the wisdom of feeding garlic long term as well. Perhaps the TopSpec does not fit in with the mineral profile of your forage? Iirc, zinc is an important mineral for skin health, and is often deficient in UK forage. Perhaps try a supplement such as Pro Hoof, which has higher levels of those minerals commonly found to be lacking?

Other than that, micronised linseed is excellent for skin (and therefore coat and hooves, too). :)
 
Is he living out? If so I wonder if a few days in a clean, dry stable might help - as long as he is happy being in. Just to give the skin a chance to heal properly? I'm guessing while it's still pink and delicate it's likely to get re-infected. I have done this in the past and it really helped.
 
He's not great being kept in 24/7 - overnight is enough to make him climb the walls! However, with this horrendous weather I might not have much option if it's for long term benefit.
Not tried Aloe Vera hadn't thought of that. Thanks for the tip.
It's frustrating as while it's still pink I'm not riding him in our sand school (think it will irritate the skin more) so only really hacking him out on the roads and riding on nice rubber surfaces. Would be nice to regularly school him again.
 
My tb had bad mud fever last year on his 3 socks. It took a while to get rid of it and in the end it disappeared when i changed yards. This time of year while he has zero feather his pasterns are pink. I think this is what makes him more susceptible to infections. I would stop washing every day as this makes the skin weaker and use heel to hoof or muddy narvel barrier cream every few days to build up a barrier. I feed my boy on top spec balancer too and i found this to help vastly. I would b reluctant to add alot of other supplements on top of this. I looked at the specific mud fever supplements before and saw he was already getting all the ingredients in his balancer.
 
Bay TB, thanks for the reply.
Yes mine only gets it on his one pink leg and only on the bits where the skin is pink (only the small bit above the bulb of his heel the rest of his leg is black). The other 3 legs are fine. Will take all of the advice on board and if it's still persisting will see if the vet can offer anything else.
Strangely, when he first got it the fields were rock hard and dry and my vet said it can be caused by other things e.g. dust irritating the skin and allowing the bacteria to subsequently infect the area. They also said when he had the cellulitis (he wasn't lame just huge leg) to walk him out (even ridden but I drew the line at that!) to help the swelling go down and increase blood flow to the leg. Once I got back from the vet I walked him in hand up the road and after that and a combination of the antibiotics and bute the swelling went straight down. Thankfully the scabs cleared quickly and just this pink skin problem left. Some days it feels like it's less pink and I feel I'm making progress and then others it's pink again.
 
One of mine has just had a mild bout of pastern dermatitis/start of Cellulitis due to the weather despite me being really careful- luckily we sorted it straight away with Norodine and Fuciderm!- so i know what you're going through.

I would be inclined to ask for another tube of Fuciderm or a special skin anti inflammatory lotion from the vets to get right on top of it so it doesn't flare up again. I washed my boys legs and dried them twice daily at first, but as it got better i let it dry out as like you i was worried about repeatedly getting his heels wet. Keeping their legs clean and dry will help- which is easier said than done in this rubbishy weather!

Good luck!

p.s can also recommend leg guard lotion which acts as a barrier- used it in the winter and it stops the mud sticking, i need to buy some more!!
 
Yeah, my boy actually started with it in a dry spell last august. After pondering over the cause i think it was due to the field he was in that had a number of dried thistles at that time that were scratching at his thin tb skinned pink heels setting the infection off! Once he moved fields it cleared up and even through all this recent rain and new boggy fields, thankfully it hasn't come back. Good luck with it as i know what a nightmare it can be.;-)
 
Mine has white socks behind and always gets mud fever - last winter it was terrible, ending up with badly cracked heels and infected (needed twitching twice a day to clean and dress).

I've tried everything but the pink skin hasn't gone away / feathers haven't grown back in that area. The best thing for him has been good old fashioned Protocon cream!
 
Our cold TB had mud fever, I washed his legs then kept him in till he was dry, then covered his heels with Sudacrem and put close contact boots on, they stopped his legs getting wet and muddy( and we had horrendous mud) the boots gave his legs chance to heal
 
Well have finally bitten the bullet after yesterday's rain (my field has a layer of water on top in a lot of parts of it) and he's now in much to his disgust! The skin is quite pink but still no scabs or bleeding and want to stay that way.
I cleaned it up last night and dried it and have not put any cream on it. He's in a stable with clean, dry, large shavings.
Also took him out for a half hour hack on the roads this morning to get the blood flowing into his leg and to keep him sane as he's in for the rest of the day.
About to call the vet to see if I can get more Fuciderm or if they can recommend anything else.
Re: chaps were these the Equilibrium Close contact ones? As it's so low down on his leg (above bulb of heel) I'm wondering if the mud will get in underneath and irritate it more than leaving it uncovered? I will measure up tonight to see what size he needs.
Also, has anyone used Feedmark's Equidermis suppement and had success? I have used their Clarity herb before on an old boy I had on part-loan and really rate it so wondering if this one was as good?
I am determined to get rid of this once and for all!
 
Hi Olliepop
I think a bit of time in the dry will help the pinkness to go down. If there are no scabs or bleeding etc... I would be reluctant to keep adding Fuciderm at the moment as (forgive me if I've go this wrong) I believe that is a steroid cream? If so, and used over a long period of time, it will cause the skin to become weaker. My vet gave me some when my boys mud fevver was very bad and said only to use it sparingly for that reason. I brought the equilibrium close contact boots for my boy for turnout but I found that the mud did creep up underneath them and his legs became very hot and sweaty under them (creates a perfect environment for any bacteria to multiply) so after a couple of uses I sold them on. They would be no good while he is out 24/7 too as they are only advised to be used for up to 12 hours at a time (and are v. expensive!!). I just went back to using a barrier cream instead.
At least on the bright side, it is meant to finally get drier next week :o
 
I know dry weather on the way finally. I'm sick of mud with a grey horse with mud fever! And I'm worried about lack of hay too!

I phoned the vet and she has said that we can try Flamazine so am going to pick some up tonight on the way home. She did say that it's not just about the mud and wet so I think I need to sort out his diet and try a few avenues there.

Thanks for the info on the chaps. I kind of thought mud would get underneath especially at the bottom which is where he has it. I was planning on using them in the day and bringing him in at night so that I was stuck in the 12 hours they say to use them for. I do feel mean for taking his 24 hr turnout off him but I do need to get this skin issue sorted.

I would still be interested to know which supplements people have found help - I will read back through some of the posts later on as some people have commented on this already.
 
I have one that gets mud rash really badly in winter. The ONLY real cure for it is to dry the area out once it has been treated. If the horse keeps going back in the wet field it will come back time and time again. I think that putting lots of creams on top of the problem can sometimes prevent the skin from drying properly and healing. If, when you leave the legs alone, the scabs keep coming back, then the cause is still there... the wet field. My mud rash magnet goes out in the mud in summer and comes in during the day (for fat reasons) so his legs get a chance to dry out and he doesn't get it. In winter he has to go out on a hard standing area and stay off the mud full stop.

This summer is a nightmare in general!
 
One thing that prevents mudfever and a scabby nose on my youngster is ensuring that she has free access to a mineral block that contains zinc and copper.

Be prepared for the possibility of a return by having a bottle of Nizoral shampoo in your first aid kit. It will stop it dead in its tracks, just wash suspect area and surround using hand hot water.

I'd be inclinesd to stop washing the area now unless it is covered in mud. Just put zinc and castor oil ointment on it.
 
Buddy's pink skin has disappeared in 1 week, i'm bringing him in overnight (he's lost weight too), used heel to hoof as a barrier and Mud Proofing powder every morning before turnout, on top of that i started him on Spillers balancer and global herbs mud-x syrup. So i have no idea what has helped BUT something has :D I'm also treating him for mites as he has been stamping slightly (which could be due to irritation of mf but you never kno) so he is having some dectomax(sp?) injections as recommended by my vet, and i'm clipping his feathers off :( but hopefully he'll be abit less prone now!!!
 
Olliepop said:
I would still be interested to know which supplements people have found help - I will read back through some of the posts later on as some people have commented on this already.
Click to expand...

I would strongly suggest brewers yeast as a supplement; it is excellent for skin, coat and hooves condition as it is a digestion aid, it also has B12 in it. BY is usually the base product used in the better known digestion products so why pay more for a fancy name and marketing?
Also I would use micronized linseed too, excellent for coat condition.
You can feed both together and can get them from http://www.charnwood-milling.co.uk/mail-order/Horse_Food.html
 
Yes we do have buttercups but not loads of them. There are also docks, a few thistles and mayweed around the edges near to the fences.
Can buttercups cause skin issues?
 
They most certainly can. My TB had what looked like mud fever on his white sock. This went on for a while, until we had a very dry summer (wierd!) and he still had it. Can't be mud I thought, maybe sunburn? So put sun block on. No better. Ended up with a very swollen and manky leg, resulting in antibiotics :(

One of the other liveries suggested buttercups, so when the vet came out to see manky leg, I asked him about it. He said it could be the cause, it's normally pink noses that suffer but thin haired legs can get it too. Horse went to live in a buttercup free field for a while due to yard move and guess what? No 'mud fever'. We've since moved again and although there were few buttercups in his last field, I've noticed some scabby bits. Seems the more scabby skin they get, the finer the coat becomes so they get more scabby skin and so on. It's the pollen apparently, so if you get rid of the flowers, you should stop getting the bad skin.

I just rub Sudocrem into the sore bits as soon as they appear, but until you get rid of the cause, it will keep coming back. My lad got worse each year for ages. Thought it was odd getting mud fever in the summer!

Try a good barrier cream perhaps?
 
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