Damn mud fever!!

S

shelly018

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 August 2007
Messages
212
Visit site
I posted a while ago about my chap and his mud fever. Cut a long story short - got it in his off fore and hind, he's been in 24/7 for the last couple of months and we finally got rid of the last little bit with some wonderful cream from the vet about 3 weeks ago- or so I thought!!

Can you beleive it - he's got in in his other fore leg! But how -he's not been near any bloody mud for weeks!! He's either worked on the arena or hacked on the road - I give up!!!
 
No, he's on lovely fluffy shavings! His legs only get wet when it rains, which I suppose is most of the time at the moment and I towel dry them to within an inch of their life!!

I even clip off his feathers on the advice of the vet - didn't like them much anyway! (sorry feather lovers!)
 
I'm not sure it makes a difference, but sometimes straw beds can be quite moist and harbour all sorts of bacteria and bugs. And straw is usually deeper than shavings, so is in conact with the heels and lower legs. If a horse is prone too, suffering from or recovering from mud fever, is it not possible that straw could affect it in someway?
I hasten to add that I'm a fan of straw! Was just a thought.
 
Dont get me started on it!!!! ive tried every possible "cure" hmm creams lotions potions, stuff you put in the feed, on the legs, boots bandages etc etc vets prescribed anti b's etc etc would hate to add up the cost of it all... and still never found a miracle cure if i could id be a millionare!! so ive gone back to good old fashioned salt water after 2/3 days it usually clears up and then slap on sudacrem
 
For anyone who hasn't tried it, Indian herbs do a really good potion that's brown and stinky but has worked on the most stubborn of mud rashes here.
It is such a useful thing to have we persuaded one of our liveries who actually lives in India to bring over a big tub full for us last visit.
The price there is pence compared to pounds here of course!
We find putting it on disgusting though it is brings all the scabs off and stops new ones forming, I would perhaps look on their website for it?
 
Just a thought but we were advised by the vet to not clip any feathers off a pony we had with mud fever as it encourages the water/mud etc to come away from the skin. We towel dried the legs every night and popped on some of the thermatex wraps and it seemed to do the trick for her.
 
I had a young horse with persistand mud fever. I tried everything including anti-biotics. In the end my physio told me that if you inject your horse with ivermectin (ie whats in wormers) then it clears it up from the inside out.

Very sorry but I can't remember the dosage. Perhaps you could ask your vet about it. It certainly helped my horse. We injected into his brisket. The only thing I would say is that he did have a slight swelling as a result but this soon went down.
 
Keep the legs warm and dry, sometimes dry is not enough to keep cirulation really good in the legs ,then these things can take a hold.Thermatex wraps in stable ,turnout boots when out and keritex powder
 
pig oil and sulphur.

honestly the best method ever.
My horse had a touch of mud fever and i applied this to it.
in a week he has not had any mud on his legs at all. He is in a very muddy field. I mean NO mud.
and the mud fever has cleared up already.

If you google pig oil and sulphur you will find lots of info about it.
on the forum New Rider there are some amazing pictures of some horses with severe mud fever and within weeks all healed up.

it really is worth a try, its in expensive and truly works.
 
Some of the horses where my boy is kept got mud fever for the last couple of years but this year we just let them be (on the wettest winter in 12 years on that land go figure), by that I mean no washing, no towel drying, no wraps etc and just brush them thoroughly when they have dried naturally (standing in the yard or stable with only a tiny bit of bedding in the corner on rubber matting) taking off the exterior mud. NONE of the horses have had any mud fever and this has to be more than just a coincidence. It may be that towel drying only drys the top and not the skin underneath, whereas natural drying dries from the inside out. Hope this helps. If your horse already has mud fever I would just let it be unless it is causing lameness, it is unsightly yes, but in my experience it clears up really well on its own if you don't wash the legs until the ground has dried and there is enough heat for them to dry naturally quickly.

Good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top