Has anyone ever tried...

horsimous

horsimous

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footskins for solving mud fever?

I have a mare who gets very distressed and ill when kept in and I am having to deal with mud fever. It's rather a battle now the rain has arrived.

The only thing keeping it at bay is sudocrem but now it's wet this is less effective and I am worried it will go out of control again. I saw an advert for Footskins which are made of latex and wondered if anyone has tried them?

Are they any good or will they just be shredded to bits as my horse is turned out and has shoes on? Are there any other pitfalls/hints for use or should I give them a miss?

I will see if there are any replies after work...
 
horsimous said:
footskins for solving mud fever?

I have a mare who gets very distressed and ill when kept in and I am having to deal with mud fever. It's rather a battle now the rain has arrived.

The only thing keeping it at bay is sudocrem but now it's wet this is less effective and I am worried it will go out of control again. I saw an advert for Footskins which are made of latex and wondered if anyone has tried them?

Are they any good or will they just be shredded to bits as my horse is turned out and has shoes on? Are there any other pitfalls/hints for use or should I give them a miss?

I will see if there are any replies after work...
Click to expand...

Just googled to have a butchers at what you are describing. It a nutshell Hmmmmmm.

https://pegasushorse.co.uk/product.php?cat=vet

I can see various drawbacks in using this product.

The first being if the horse is allergic to latex which, like people, can cause an anapylactic shock and/or contact dermatitis (I've had this myself and it is notoriously difficult to treat).

The second drawback would be that I would have thought that the leg would have sweated under the latex, so rather than prevent 'a healthy skin' outcome, I would have thought it would have caused more problems than it created.

Which brings me onto the third drawback that I can see. That is that the tendon could easily become overheated. If the core temperature within a tendon reaches a certain level, the tissue begins to degenerate and therefore means that the tissue cells begin to die. If this happens the tendon is weakened, and therefore are more vulnerable to further injury such as major tears. It also allows the fibres to stretch beyond their normal range until it finally snaps.

Finally, why bother? Just put some kind of barrier cream over the horses leg prior to turn out if you are that worried. This winter, for the next few weeks at least, I will be turning my horse out myself in the mornings so I think I will be putting some kind of barrier cream on his legs before he goes out if his paddock gets very muddy.

If you can't find a decent barrier cream then flowers of sulphur (available from your local garden centre) mixed with a packet of lard and smeared all over your horses legs and into its feathers (if applicable) will keep mud and water at bay. Or try this from Keratex

http://www.keratex.com/products/keratex+mud+shield+powder+
 
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I've always treated with sudocream and before turning out cover the area where they get mud fever with cows udder salve, bit of a pain to wash off but stops the mud getting into the skin, alot cheaper than most barrier creams as well. You can get an udder cream but doesn't stay on as well as the salve. I agree that there could be a lot of problems caused be putting a latex cover on though, can't quite see how that would aid with the mud fever. Hope you find something that works for you though. :)
 
We used to have mud fever problems - interesting.

I did find the Kratex powder a very good product - just make sure that you don;t sprinkle it on a concrete floor - it is waxy and wil make a serious slip hazard. Also the legs have to be really dry.

We don't have mud fever issues any more - but it is since I got the diet sorted out - so think about abandoning the bagged feeds, using a forage based approach, get rid of any molasses or sugars including any molassed chafs, and think about adding:

Brewer's yeast (two heaped tablespoons initially then down to 1 when things improve)
Linseed
Adequate minerals and vitamins.

This is one of these things you have to sort from the inside.
 
Thanks very much for your replies.

I did think about the sweat factor as I have to use latex gloves every day. I suppose it depends on the weather or how long they are on for. I was hoping they weren't powdered for horses as I find the powder dries out my finger nails. I guess they could cause more problems on top of those we already have!

Am feeding Mollichop showshine, baileys top line condition cubes.
Equine Gold
Protexin
All one of their respective scoops twice a day


She is looking good on it. Before she was on Alfa A, Bailey's balancer cubes, baileys digest supplement.

So far I have tried:

Vaseline - disaster
Sudocrem - helped till now, couldn't clear it but not so good in the wet weather
Keratex powder - no effect so problem got worse
Udder cream - got worse
Using hibiscrub - got worse
Very expensive anti bacterial/anti fungal shampoo from the vet - didn't work
Antibiotics - helped to some extent but didn't eradicate the problem

I am thinking it probably isn't mud fever/ Have ruled out mites.

Someone mentioned funny scabby heels and that purple spray helped. Perhaps this will be the thing that works...
 
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