Feather,a welfare issue?

Sanversera

Sanversera

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I keep my cobs feather clipped, his mane short and tail trimmed. I am seeing more and more photos on Facebook of heavily feathered cobs up to their hocks in mud with tails soaked and trailing and tangled manes. Owners delightedly exclaiming "look" and "he's been rolling". Does no one take pride in their horse's appearance anymore? Sodden saturated filthy legs cannot be a good thing. My horses live out but I manage to keep them decent with clippers scissors and appropriate rugging. I appreciate that hairy cobs can be kept in a natural state and be untangled and clean,the king's drum horses look fabulous but it takes a lot of work and not being out all the time in a deep mud paddock.
 
Oh dear this is me. My horse comes in with muddy, filthy feathers and then it dries over night and all the mud falls off...the feather is so thick that his skin never even gets a hint of damp on it. However, if I washed them every day (like someone I know did) they end up with tonnes of skin issues.
 
Sanversera said:
I keep my cobs feather clipped, his mane short and tail trimmed. I am seeing more and more photos on Facebook of heavily feathered cobs up to their hocks in mud with tails soaked and trailing and tangled manes. Owners delightedly exclaiming "look" and "he's been rolling". Does no one take pride in their horse's appearance anymore? Sodden saturated filthy legs cannot be a good thing. My horses live out but I manage to keep them decent with clippers scissors and appropriate rugging. I appreciate that hairy cobs can be kept in a natural state and be untangled and clean,the king's drum horses look fabulous but it takes a lot of work and not being out all the time in a deep mud paddock.
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CPL is also a big welfare problem for horses with feather, probably a bigger issue than mud.
 
Being muddy isn't a welfare issue, no. My cob had a full tail and feather. His legs looked disgusting during the winter, but once you parted the hair, his legs were perfectly clean and dry and very white! He had no mites, or other skin issues at all, ever, and was very loved. I did trim his tail as that could get quite heavy when muddy.

He lived out, with free access to his stable and I can honestly say he lived a lovely life. I doubt he'd have been any happier with constant leg washing and clipping and then worrying about the prospect of mud fever, or being stabled continually so his legs would be clean 🙄

Horses are meant to have hair, just like they are meant to have whiskers.
 
shortstuff99 said:
Oh dear this is me. My horse comes in with muddy, filthy feathers and then it dries over night and all the mud falls off...the feather is so thick that his skin never even gets a hint of damp on it. However, if I washed them every day (like someone I know did) they end up with tonnes of skin issues.
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And me, i was going to avoid commenting, but thought i would give you some support.
 
I cut tails shorter in the autumn so they aren't trailing in the mud. But one year they all ended up with shorter-than-usual tails after a bad snowstorm. They were a long way from the house and the water supply at the field was frozen, so we were hard put to get enough drinking water to them, let alone enough to defrost the ice balls that had formed on their tails. The only option was to cut the tails. They did look odd, but it all grew back in time for fly-swishing the next summer.
 
This is the first winter of three I've put a rug on my exuberantly hairy native so she's actually clean on some bits. I do bang her tail short and I took a lot of the weight out this winter to be more pleasant for her but I don't touch her legs when the mud it wet I brush when dry and pig oil once a week. I've seen far more issues with washing everyday and I couldn't really care less what people think of me.
 
Another one with a heavily feathered and maned little cob. He lives out in a small herd with a field shelter, unrugged, has muddy legs but never any mud fever and no mallenders. I switched from Arabs to my little cob when it became apparent a life time of being a horse slave needed to end due to age related feebleness. My low maintenance hardy small cob is just right for me, and I think he looks magnificent of course.
 
I leave the feather on my younger cob over winter precisely to protect his legs and I don't wash them unless desperate!

If you part the hair it's white under the mud and dry. He's got pink skin so if I was forever washing then he'd have a higher chance of problems. He'll be clipped out over the summer because he itches his mane.
 
Another who would rather see the hair left on if they're going to get muddy- as it offers some protection. I'm not sure when the constant leg washing/bathing became a thing, in my PC days I would have been shot for taking a hose to a horses legs in winter. I was always taught to let mud dry them brush off, as the washing pushes water and bacteria into the skin.
Obviously if they're already seeing skin problems you need to be able to see to treat, but if they're healthy I'd rather leave well alone.
 
Of all the welfare things I've worried about, muddy feathers aren't generally high on my list (providing the skin is healthy). I'm a bit bemused - there's a thread running about how awful no turn out is (understandably) but muddy horses in winter also now appears to be a welfare concern. Exactly what are horse owners supposed to do ...?

Until this afternoon my native hadn't been groomed for two days (except where tack goes and he's rugged), he twigs in his tail, mud up his legs (including his semi-feathery bits) and ground into his face. He was as happy as a sand boy.
 
I had an Irish cob with full feathers, full tail and massive mane (long and thick). He lived out, and was washed maybe twice a year. His skin was always good under all the hair. Once retired I left him to grow a full coat and he was unrugged and healthy (did shorten his tail to keep it out the mud). It was amazing how clean, dry and white he was under the top layer of (muddy!) fluff. Lived into his 30’s…
 
MuddyMonster said:
Of all the welfare things I've worried about, muddy feathers aren't generally high on my list (providing the skin is healthy). I'm a bit bemused - there's a thread running about how awful no turn out is (understandably) but muddy horses in winter also now appears to be a welfare concern. Exactly what are horse owners supposed to do ...?

Until this afternoon my native hadn't been groomed for two days (except where tack goes and he's rugged), he twigs in his tail, mud up his legs (including his semi-feathery bits) and ground into his face. He was as happy as a sand boy.
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The OP would hate the state of my smallest cob. She's not a fan of rugs so only gets one when it's raining and she only gers groomed where the tack goes. She's feral and filthy!

She will also be out showing in the summer - that's bath season.
 
I’m actually wishing my finer Welsh x Standardbred x Trotter x whatever he is had more feather to protect him, as mud fever has struck 😩

(I don’t wash his legs as I wanted to avoid this very issue, but thinking with the fields as they are (bogs) and the fact he’s got it anyway, I should be doing a weekly wash before applying the various creams/powders in the repertoire? It’s hard to find the balance between leaving alone and intervening. He’s in for a few days while it heals up with school turnout and walks. Seems happy in himself and was bucking and farting around the school earlier.)
 
KatieDM said:
I’m actually wishing my finer Welsh x Standardbred x Trotter x whatever he is had more feather to protect him, as mud fever has struck 😩

(I don’t wash his legs as I wanted to avoid this very issue, but thinking with the fields as they are (bogs) and the fact he’s got it anyway, I should be doing a weekly wash before applying the various creams/powders in the repertoire? It’s hard to find the balance between leaving alone and intervening. He’s in for a few days while it heals up with school turnout and walks. Seems happy in himself and was bucking and farting around the school earlier.)
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There's no comparison between a full, cob feather and a part bred, or other native. Cob feathers are absolutely waterproof, but that's because they are so thick. Normal, native feathers don't do an awful lot to protect the skin underneath I don't think. if I had one with mud fever I'd rather be able to see when the skin starts to look a bit inflamed.
 
Im in the middle really. Mine have feather but I trim tails so they do not get dragged in mud and manes are a reasonable length. Mine are natives but I really do not like overly long manes and tails and feather as dont think it can be comfortable for the horse.
 
As long as owners check under the feather.

I had already rejected the cob that I was given to ride on a trail riding holiday last year as I found that she had a sore back, but she was also very sore under her feather on her hinds. I had carried on brushing her and picking out her feet while waiting for a replacement horse to be brought, and I could feel thickened lumps of skin as big as grapes under her feather 😳. She was VERY sore on them.

Untreated mud fever or CPL? I did report it to the trail riding peeps. No idea if they took any action on it, they didn’t ever get back to me.
 
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