Do you brush/wash the mud off your horses EVERY night?

arwenplusone

arwenplusone

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I have to admit *prepares to be shot down* that I often don't bother.
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Knock off the worst on the mare that is in work the night before so it saves me time in the mornings but our fields are poached at the moment and my broodmare is part hippo so it would take me hours to get her clean....
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So sometimes they go to bed with muddy legs and I hope (usually in vain) that it will have fallen off by morning.....

I am a baaaad person
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OK - I confess:

I haven't washed my pony's legs since september!!

I am doing it deliberately though, to keep the natural oils in his feathers in the hope of preventing mud fever.

I do get off any dried mud every evening, but leave wet stuff on his legs/belly etc and brush it off the next day.
 
I do the same too - brush when riding and will do if cant ride for a few days but not otherwise. I also only brush/wash tail if i'm going anywhere. i do brush more in the summer!!
 
I brush but not wash as he has feathers, so if it has been raining and its caked then it gets washed, but usually by they time I am up its dry (they are brought in at 3 and i get up about 6) so I comb and brush it out to let them dry out a bit. I take any mud off his belly too as his stable rug closes under his belly so I dont want any rubs.
 
Then I am a bad person too!
3 of ours are out 24/7 (fully rugged) so only get properly cleaned when they come in at weekends to be ridden. I do check them over for anything obvious during the week by the light of my headtorch, as never at yard in daylight, and YM does a walkround everyday with her dogs and shetland and keeps an eye, but they too are all resembling swamp beings atm so I just don't have the hours in the day!! They get fed/hayed and still have a bit of grass so seem fine.
One that comes in gets a cursory flick of a brush most nights but is rugged ears to tail so not too bad really, plus he's a pretty arab and doesn't like dirt!!
They've survivied the last 5 years this way so I'm sure its not too bad!!
 
I hose my share horses legs when I go, but only because I need to put boots on him all round, to be able to ride/lunge. If I didnt ride then I wouldnt bother.......
 
Nope - wet stuff gets left on to dry so that I'm not continually washing his legs of wet mud but rather brushing dry stuff off. Lets be honest - having a wee bit mud caked legs overnight isn't going to cause untold damage. One of the girls at my yard has a wee palamino pony and it's honestly bathed head to toe at least 2 times a week - despite not getting turned out. It's got no shine on it's coat at all cause she's washed all the oils out.
 
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I have to admit *prepares to be shot down* that I often don't bother.

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Nope - never.

Don't pick his feet out very often either........
 
Hose off any wet mud, brush or leave any dry. The way I see it is, not worth wetting the legs again if they are dry, but if wet mud, then plain water will dry quicker than mud.

Yes they go to bed muddy sometimes, they have plenty of food, year round grazing/turnout, big deep dry straw beds, ad lib long fibre and access to fresh water at all times, as well as appropriate rugs. They don't do bad...
 
it is so nice to see all the posts from people who DONT wash their horses legs every day. I used to feel so guilty when all around me were hosing theirs down but I am convinced it isn't healthy for them to be hosed so often in winter. Perhaps Im not as bad as I thought I was
 
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I have to admit *prepares to be shot down* that I often don't bother.

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Nope - never.

Don't pick his feet out very often either........

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*gasp* how dare you!
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I never wash B's legs in winter, it's just asking for mud fever and the water from the hose is freezing
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She goes to bed muddy and by morning it's dry and easy to flick off with a dandy brush.
 
I do wash the wet mud off their legs when I bring them in at night. Not sure I'd want to pick up their feet to pick them out otherwise!

Dried gets chipped off when I'm going to ride the next day.
 
Um nooo..... only the bits that are dry get brushed off before i ride. Other than that no i don't because i'm not there in the mornings to brush the dry mud off Blue's legs and Holly is living out!
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I brush horses legs every night when they come in and pick out their feet - we are lucky that the fields are not full of sticky mud but a sort of sandy base so easy to come off. Feet get picked out every evening just in case.

Legs and tummy only get washed off when come home from hunting - I put baby oil on legs and mud guard on their tummies to protect them from worst of mud and because it forms a barrier they don't get quite so covered.

At the last yard I worked at the only time the horses got cleaned was a bath before hunting. Needless to say they all got horrific mudfever. Now that I've just got 2 horses I do it my way!!
 
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At the last yard I worked at the only time the horses got cleaned was a bath before hunting. Needless to say they all got horrific mudfever. Now that I've just got 2 horses I do it my way!!

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? I actually thought that bathing/hosing increased the risk of mudfever?

Good idea on using a barrier cream/oil though.
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I wash her off when she comes in - easiest way to check for any injuries and if all her shoes are still on! But she is stabled most of the time.
She's also not mad about being brushed - easier to hose off mud than try to scrub it off. Try not to groom too much in the winter - only sweaty bits or really grim stains - as she gets trimmed and groomed within an inch of her life in the summer for showing and I figure we could both do with a break...
 
Nope, dried mud get brushed off when ridden, A few years a go i would wash her legs everynight and she got horrible mud fever, so i leave her to fight it herself and since she has fluffy feet i haven't had mud fever since!

I do pick out her feet but thats it!
 
Not always, but if I do, sawdust is great for drying them off.

I know some people use oil or vaseline on their horses legs to keep the mud off. I'm not sure if you can do this with all horses or just those with good feather?
 
My girls both get wet mud washed off their legs and a proper groom each night before bed, unless Im in a major rush then its just hose off legs and pick out feet - but that's rare I feel really guilty when I do that!
 
Ours have their feet washed off every night but never their legs. Feet always picked out. Mud is usually too wet to brush off at night! But they do get a groom every day, even if just a quick flick underneath where their rugs go.
 
I always hose legs as there is no way I would spot an injury otherwise, and flick over just so i know I have cheked every bit of him. I just know the one day i don't bother something will go wrong! He has four white stockings and has never had mud fever so i can't be doing too badly.
Always pick feet out too as they stink if you dont!
 
I never wash mine, not even tails during the winter months, as they live out 24/7 so I don't like to strip oil from their coat.
I do brush all three of mine morning and evening...unless the mud is wet. My grey hates mud...so is always a one minute job...and my Shire x girlie isn't too bad as mud slides off her.
My old TB though, has a coat like cat fur...and lies flat out on alternate sides morning and night...so is usually quite a challenge
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S
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*hands up* I'm a bad person too
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Never wash legs - did so religiously one winter and they all got mud fever, I now leave them to dry overnight (mud and all) and have never had it since.

They all get a groom on the weekend, and maybe a quick flick over once a week if I have time. They seem to be doing ok
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As mine is out every day, I just chuck a bucket of water over each leg (dreaming of a hose!!) to get the worst off/spot any injuries. but others scrub legs every night. I certainly don't envy them when the temperature drops to freezing!!
 
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