Hairy leg care tips please

OK I'll patch test plain pig oil too.

My local farm supplies sells the plain stuff.

I've asked his owner to make sure he isn't reading this thread, he'll have an ego the size of a planet :)
 
cptrayes said:
Great thank you. How big a cat or dog do I pretend each leg is for the Frontline ???

And where do you put the spots of it??
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I use the pipets for the biggest dog you can get, normally three in there and divide that between the four legs. I put it at the back of the coffinbone.
 
Bar Nicnac Humbug said:
Sorry; M1 you say? Service station? Next Monday? Anyone up for a bit of horsenapping? He's gorgeous!!!
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I'm not telling you which one then :)

He's my first ever cob! I just want to have some fun training him up as an all rounder. And he'll brighten the place up, my other two (yes I really am lucky :)) are 17 hand black/brown with no white.
 
Lovely looking boy.

Another vote for PO&S, I would see if any friends hads a little to yoink to spot test, then, if all is OK buy the biggest container possible, my tack shop gets it in for me (so no P&P). I put mine in a plant sprayer (shake well) and spray on once a week. Initilay the feathers lookk wet and oily, but the next day they look back to normal. They still get muddy but it stops them getting mud stained and the mud just slides off when dry, it also keeps them nice an conditioned.

The sulphur is an anti microbial agent and discourages mites, the oil forms a physical barrier to mites and bacteria. However, neither will help if a cob already has mud fever or mites

Best of luck with your new fellow, I look forwards to hearing updates.
 
You can get ready mixed in litre containers, we use Gold Lable, no reactions, but do patch test first. Don't wash legs everytime you see mud, I put loads on just once a week in a morning after the mud has dried over night and I can brush off.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Ohhhh, please be careful, very careful with this......... some horses can develop a dreadful reaction to this stuff. Mine did :( I took advice from very well meaning people on here and just slathered it on, only to go out later and his legs were absolutely PINK. My poor boy. Yes, some of you will say I should have patch-tested, and yes, I s should have, but didn't. And apparently this sort of reaction is not uncommon with Pig oil with the sulphur.

It is the sulphur that is the problem; it can be very caustic which is what caused the problem with mine. I have tried pig oil on its own, mixed in with some tea tree oil, and that doesn't cause any problems at all, so it WAS the sulphur.

But always, when this sort of topic comes up on here, PO & S is recommended: and I just cringe. Not criticising anybody please note: but this was what happened to MY horse when I used the stuff.

Just flagging up so people (unaware) will know.
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I did the same, and am wondering whether it also caused him the equivalent of chemical burns on one leg.

I now use olive oil if I need to use oil for anything. Don't particularly like baby oil either tbh.
 
Woodsider said:
Chelford Farm Supplies?
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I saw five litre bottles of pig oil there a couple of weeks ago in the farm section. I don't know now whether to try it with sulphur or without. I guess if the stuff they've got is non sulphur I'll just buy it and try it.

He will be in a barn at night, though, and I've never had a problem with mud fever here and I don't wash my horses, so I wonder if I should just wait and see. It would be awful for him to start it and have to clip them off to cure it though. I want him completely 'au naturel' and the next tying I need to learn is a running plait for when we go and do dressage :)
 
cptrayes said:
He will be in a barn at night, though, and I've never had a problem with mud fever here and I don't wash my horses, so I wonder if I should just wait and see. It would be awful for him to start it and have to clip them off to cure it though.
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Personally I'd wait and see first, my feathered boy is out 18 hours a day and stabled on shavings for the other 6. I keep checking his legs but even when his feathers are wet and grotty the skin underneath is dry and totally scab free.

ETA - the biggest breakthrough I had with preventing mudfever in my mare was to stop brushing and washing her legs completely. As soon as I stopped doing this I had no more mudfever at all until her immune system broke down due to Cushings (and then any bacteria took hold where it could). I think that brushing caused tiny nicks in the skin which let bacteria in. She was stabled overnight and prone to mudfever so I just put thermatex leg wraps on over the mud, then used my hands to clean off the dry mud as best I could in the morning.

I like Gold Label Leg Guard for preventing mud fever, if necessary. Quicker and easier to apply than PO & Sulphur in my experience and highly unlikely to cause any adverse reaction. It's also good for human skin too, makes my hands lovely and soft!

If you do wait and see, and you're unlucky, Aromaheel is very good stuff for treating mudfever and you can just about get it through thick feathers if you're patient and persistent. It means you don't have to clip to treat as you just put it on and leave it, it will do the job of removing the scabs for you aswell as healing the skin underneath.
 
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Useful info, thank you :)

I think I might wait and see, at least spring will be on the way of it all goes pear shaped.
 
He's gorgeous, you're so lucky to have found him. On my feathered one, I get the Dectomax injections for mites rather than using frontline.
Here's a link for medical grade pig oil and oils for different applications. Also recommend soft soap in summer for the fluffiest, whitest feathers you can have. Don't forget the chalk now you're about to become a heavy horse person.

http://www.shireoil.com/Products

Soft soap can be bought cheaply on ebay btw.

'I'm excited for you, he looks fab. Hope you'll get the camera out and give progress reports.
 
dogatemysalad said:
He's gorgeous, you're so lucky to have found him. On my feathered one, I get the Dectomax injections for mites rather than using frontline.
Here's a link for medical grade pig oil and oils for different applications. Also recommend soft soap in summer for the fluffiest, whitest feathers you can have. Don't forget the chalk now you're about to become a heavy horse person.

http://www.shireoil.com/Products

Soft soap can be bought cheaply on ebay btw.

'I'm excited for you, he looks fab. Hope you'll get the camera out and give progress reports.
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I'm excited for myself :) I just love teaching babies new things, and a cob will be a totally new experience for me. It's more than ten years since I've owned a horse that weeny :D
 
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cptrayes said:
I saw five litre bottles of pig oil there a couple of weeks ago in the farm section. I don't know now whether to try it with sulphur or without. I guess if the stuff they've got is non sulphur I'll just buy it and try it.

He will be in a barn at night, though, and I've never had a problem with mud fever here and I don't wash my horses, so I wonder if I should just wait and see. It would be awful for him to start it and have to clip them off to cure it though. I want him completely 'au naturel' and the next tying I need to learn is a running plait for when we go and do dressage :)
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The plain pig oil will help keep them clean and untangled/stop them breaking. Adding the sulphur will help stop any mudfever issues. I mix mine myself as I use the sulphur powder for other things too - like in sudocreme ;)
 
Another vote for pig oil and sulphur, used to make the mix myself so it was like a paste, good for helping sort out draught types with wedge type back legs if that makes sense. Most feed merchants or farmers store will sell both products
 
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