Horse won’t stand to be washed

Personally I’d use bribery and corruption …hiding slices of apple and carrot in a haynet for him to find and eat and using bucket and sponges to slowly wash his legs….maybe even one each night on a rota until the process becomes a habit..a bit boring and as long as each leg is dried well and protective salves used for the mudfever work then he may become more accepting. A lady on my yard has taken a year to accustom her hairy cob to leg washing and drying but he’s a sweetie about it now and he is done once a week.
 
That_midgit_equestrian said:
Hi everyone thank you for all your replies they have been super helpful tonight I’ve been down, I persisted by washing his legs off whilst I held him and my mum rinsed him we already have him in a Monty roberts because he’s quite Bolshy and sometimes needs putting in his place. I then went in to the mud rash with warm water and some baby soap and he was an angel were going to keep working at it but for now he’s doing well
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Really pleased to hear you’ve had a positive step forward.
 
Boulty said:
Daft question but are you using cold or warm water? The world ended if you used cold water to bath any part of the Welsh idiot I used to have unless it was boiling hot out but warm water would be tolerated under sufferance. When I was at a yard with a hot wash it was a revelation! No more millions of buckets if I needed to wash legs / tail in winter!

Other than that would agree with doing what you need to keep yourself safe right now but then work on making it a better experience in tiny steps when current issue is cleared up.
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Was just about to ask if the previous yard had hot water .....
 
Wishfilly said:
Being brutal isn't your horse's health more important than being able to show this season?
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If I’m still struggling with them I will take them off I’m planning to trim off the part at the bottom as it’s only affecting his heel area so yes I do think his health is more important but Id rather not rush to chopping off his beautiful feathers however if it was what needed to be done I would
 
Midlifecrisis said:
Personally I’d use bribery and corruption …hiding slices of apple and carrot in a haynet for him to find and eat and using bucket and sponges to slowly wash his legs….maybe even one each night on a rota until the process becomes a habit..a bit boring and as long as each leg is dried well and protective salves used for the mudfever work then he may become more accepting. A lady on my yard has taken a year to accustom her hairy cob to leg washing and drying but he’s a sweetie about it now and he is done once a week.
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That’s a good idea! When his legs have healed up I think I’m going to carry on with training with the hose irs the whole body really so during summer I’ll take advantage of the heat
 
Pinkvboots said:
And those of you that think its acceptable to spray a freezing cold hose on a horse until it will stand is bloody cruel especially if it's not particularly warm out.

It's no wonder the horse doesn't want to stand still,could you want to be hosed down with cold water.
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Thanks for the concern but unfortunately without the yard having warm water and him having mud rash it does need to be done
 
That_midgit_equestrian said:
Hi just wondering if anyone had any advice, I have a lovely (if not a bit bolshy) 13hh cob hes a good lad really but when washing him in general but particularly his legs he becomes quite dangerous dancing about and rearing, this has been an issue since we bought him and aparantly he didn’t do it in his old home. I show him so it is inconvenient but particularly now he has developed mud rash and it really needs seeing to I can’t get to it to clean it does anyone have any tips whatsoever as I’d really appreciate it
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Have you tried cross tying, and get a big horselyx for him to lick while your washing and maybe a companion beside him, maybe have others washing their horses beside him so he sees it is not an issue

Have you tried using a bucket warm water and then just rinse it off with hose

feathers can be good to keep the rain running off
but

once infection or such they are a nightmare.

could you not just clip them now before show season then let them grow giving you time to treat it.
 
ILuvCowparsely said:
Have you tried cross tying, and get a big horselyx for him to lick while your washing and maybe a companion beside him, maybe have others washing their horses beside him so he sees it is not an issue

Have you tried using a bucket warm water and then just rinse it off with hose

feathers can be good to keep the rain running off
but

once infection or such they are a nightmare.

could you not just clip them now before show season then let them grow giving you time to treat it.
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The way our wash area is set up I don’t think I could cross tie but I’ll have a proper look he just tends to go up as I’ve tried to cross toe before for putting a fly mask on he just went up so high he snapped it I have washed him alongside other horses before and I don’t think it helped but would be willing to try it again yes as I mentioned further up we have used warm water and he stood so so much better see I would clip them off but show season starts next month so I don’t think it’s really an option for us to completely clip them however if it comes to it I can clip them off and plait him up I can’t remember what I’d show him as but that is an option
 
That_midgit_equestrian said:
Hi everyone thank you for all your replies they have been super helpful tonight I’ve been down, I persisted by washing his legs off whilst I held him and my mum rinsed him we already have him in a Monty roberts because he’s quite Bolshy and sometimes needs putting in his place. I then went in to the mud rash with warm water and some baby soap and he was an angel were going to keep working at it but for now he’s doing well
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If he has mud rash he will be so sore. And warm water is the only answer.
 
Boulty said:
Daft question but are you using cold or warm water? The world ended if you used cold water to bath any part of the Welsh idiot I used to have unless it was boiling hot out but warm water would be tolerated under sufferance. When I was at a yard with a hot wash it was a revelation! No more millions of buckets if I needed to wash legs / tail in winter!

Other than that would agree with doing what you need to keep yourself safe right now but then work on making it a better experience in tiny steps when current issue is cleared up.
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This can make such a huge difference!
 
I suppose the first step is to get on top of the mud rash. That will be painful for the horse and then combine it with cold water and I'd tell you to bog off too!
In your shoes I'd probably have the horse sedated, have a super good go at the mud rash with a steroid and antibiotic vet cream - then short term try an manage it so you don't have to hose/wash - i.e. keep the medicated barrier cream thick and keep the horse off mud temporarily.

Once more comfortable on his legs then introduce the wash training using warm water.
 
Just a thought. If you have a cob that you want to show and its stabled on a muddy working farm then it really would be a great investment to purchase a portable gas shower. All you need is a hose pipe which you aready have. Connect it up, turn the gas on and you have unlimited hot water.
They are of course more expensive than a mud daddy but infinitely better and you absolutely wouldn't regret it.
 
That_midgit_equestrian said:
If I’m still struggling with them I will take them off I’m planning to trim off the part at the bottom as it’s only affecting his heel area so yes I do think his health is more important but Id rather not rush to chopping off his beautiful feathers however if it was what needed to be done I would
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Personally, if it was me, I would want to take the whole feather off to see what I was dealing with properly- you may find that he actually has other sore spots hidden by the feathers. I've had to do this with my pony before when I first got him, and what initially looked like a mild issue was actually a lot worse when I'd got the feathers off- but I was soon able to get on top of it and let them regrow.

If he's got heavy feather, there is also a school of thought that having lots of dripping wet feather next to the skin won't help the mud fever recover and can actually make them more prone to it, as well.
 
You need to find a way to wash him with warm water, i dont think any of mine would be appreciative of freezing cold water at this time of year, set yourself up for success, make it more comfortable for him, rather than battling one with freezing water.

If he’s rearing in protest at stuff, absolutely do not put him in cross ties, it’s a recipe for disaster with a serious accident, it is very easy for them to flip over, as they can’t move their feet. If you want to use cross ties at some point then train him separately to accept them, when you’re not trying to battle over something.

Edited to add, sometimes you do need to NOT put your own desires ahead of his needs, forget showing for now and whip of his feather, you will be able to treat it much faster and easier, I had to give in with my heavily feathered mare when she came to me and take them off, I battled for months trying to treat and save her feather at the same time, I was soon on top of her issues when I could actually see what and where the issue was and it saved me a fortune on products too, as I wasn’t wasting them getting them all over the hair.
 
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