Hosing legs in this weather!!!!

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zoelouisem

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Well its freezing here in Windsor as it is all over, and although the grounds hard, where weve got muddy gate ways its still quite muddy there. I bring my pony in daugter ride i brush what i can off and leave the rest till tommrow when its dry as there no way im putting a cold hose near his poor legs.

Anyway finishing him up, and theres a group of girls on the section rented hosing the mud off there horses legs!!! :eek::eek: Not only that they havnt got clipped legs and it was about 4pm so there legs are probaly going to be wet all night!!!

Am i alone in thinking this is totally wicked???:confused:

Ps i do hose his muddy legs in milder weather just not when water turn to ice in minutes!!!
 
tinkandlily said:
Oh dear the poor horsey's i certinly wouldn't want wet legs in this weather, why don't you "accidently" spray them with the hose, see how they like it ;)
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LOL thats a very good idea!!! Thing is they were all moping round whinging how cold it was, then theyve got the hoses on there poor horses legs, and then one was stood there with a clipped horse no rugs grooming it! :eek: at least put a rug over his poor bottem!! Meanys i say, and im quite tough aswell!!!! ;)
 
Well i had to wash my poor ponys tail in a bucket today so she would get wet, and 10 min after i'd done it, her tail had frozen! so after about an hour of drying it with a towel, i doubt i'll be doing that again! :p
 
georgiaziggy said:
Well i had to wash my poor ponys tail in a bucket today so she would get wet, and 10 min after i'd done it, her tail had frozen! so after about an hour of drying it with a towel, i doubt i'll be doing that again! :p
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At least you made the effort to try and dry it these didnt and i wouldnt count the bottem of the tail as bad as its not there actually skin.
 
I only wash their hooves off, when they come in caked in mud.
I just wait for the mud on their legs to dry (if it's wet in the first place). If I do have to wash pones legs, it's with warm water and dried off with a towel and thermetex wraps. So far haven't had any shows while it's cold so no need to wash all his legs :)
 
think it is better to let legs dry naturally in this weather then brush off. It was -3 at the yard at 4pm and I wouldn't want horse to be stood with freezing cold legs that won't dry. Also yard would be like an ice ring with all the water over it.
 
Cant see any point in washing legs off in this weather atall. Best left to dry naturally and brush off next day. -6 round her at the mo, OH is an RAC Patrol and just come home, cold he says!!!
 
Surprised the hose even works in this weather! I know mine doesn't!

When its this cold though, all the mud tends to freeze so problem solved anyway - they come in clean!
 
aro said:
think it is better to let legs dry naturally in this weather then brush off. It was -3 at the yard at 4pm and I wouldn't want horse to be stood with freezing cold legs that won't dry. Also yard would be like an ice ring with all the water over it.
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Yes it was doing that too!! This is the same people that tipped a barrel of soaked hay water right across the yard and my 6 year old daughter slipped on it and now has a knee double the size and blue. Have spoken to YO not who is sorting it!!! As its right in the middle of the car park so is very dangerous!!!! Some people really have no commen sense!!!!!!:(
 
also it has to be added that keep washing legs with this mud gettting them wet then dry then mud then wet etc can cause mud fever :) and we dont want that .... lashings of pig oil before they go out i say clean legs and no mud fever
 
Well i washed oscys legs the other day. I rub the mud off them with just a pair of marigolds on so i'm bloooming freezing too. It's not nice but he's prone to mud fever and if he even gets one little scab and you go to touch his leg, he holds it up in the air going 'it huuuuurts, it's going to fall oooof!' So a bit of cold water and then thoroughly dried with a towel is better than that.

However, when it's consistently frozen the ground will not be muddy and he won't have muddy legs or they will dry and i can brush it off. He lives out so they won't dry if he's still in the mud and he needs barrier cream applying to both his hooves and legs every day.
 
Kao said:
I only wash their hooves off, when they come in caked in mud.
I just wait for the mud on their legs to dry (if it's wet in the first place)
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Same, just enough so I can pick up a foot without being covered in the mud soup that we have all winter. :(

Azmar said:
It's so cold here taps are frozen so that stops any leg washing problems!
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Snap. I was lucky enough to arrive after others this morning so they were mid-defrosting the taps. By the time I got round to doing water, there was one working tap on the yard. Yay!
 
I've stopped hosing this winter though only used to do it in previous years when it was above freezing, would never do it in these sorts of temperatures. I leave the mud to dry now and brush it off in the morning, I will use a brush and water to get the mud of his hooves if they're totally caked and he doesn't mind that as low key. He used to hate the hose as think it is a real cold shock to their hooves with the metal and when they're on cold concrete too. He came out of last winter with not great hooves so I'm hoping this winter with no hosing I might see a difference. I'm very lucky as mine doesn't seem prone to mud fever at all as has good draining feathers!
 
*Spider* said:
I think mud should always be brushed off rather than hosed off. By hosing you're allowing the bacteria in the skin.
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I have dealt with some very servere mud fever over the last 10 years (not my horses) and have always found that washing with cold water closes the pores and does not allow the bacteria in. However legs should then be dried gently but thoroughly with a towel and waterproof/ moisturising barrier cream applied. Have kept current prone horse mudfever free for the whole of the year with this method. He got 2 small scabs a fortnight ago but they were gone in less than a week.
 
I must admit i do hose cos its thick clay at ours, but dry after and dont ever have any problems with mud fever. I think it can be down to the horse to be honest some horses dont do well with having the mud left and dry on them it gives them rash, others get sore from been hosed daily!

I just think it was a bit mean of these people in this weather hosing from the knee down and leaving them dripping wet when its do freezing the water is turning to ice in 5 minutes on the floor!!!!! They didnt even have clipped legs so im guessing there prob still wet now!!!!!!
 
Whats the problem with mud? I do not think horse goes and find a puddle to wash off before they lie down. In 35 years of having horses i have never washed a horses legs apart for in the summer when we show, and if they have dark legs I try and wash as little as possible.
They live out 24/7 sometimes in waterlogged fields in bad winters and have never had mud fever. If they have plenty of oil in the their coats and are warm no matter how wet the outsde of the hair is if you part it the layer next to skin is virtually dry. This is best seen on a grey as the coat next to the skin will be cleaner.
Save time, save the horses legs and put away the hosepipe.
 
Jen_Cots said:
Cold hosing is great for tendons so I wouldn't worry about hosing in this weather.
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Does seem to do his huge wind galls good too tbh. I'm being a bit defensive because i guess i do feel a bit mean, but i feel mean when i ride him and he's not in the mood too, and when he can't have a feed coz he's getting fat. It's not ideal (for my poor fingers either) but sometimes it needs to be done. No excuse for not drying them off though, that's going to cause more harm than good.
 
alsxx said:
Hmmm I didn't say it should be hosed off, I was saying that the ground/mud is frozen so there is no mud on their legs to necessitate having to remove by any means :confused:
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I know, ridiculous that these girls are hosing their poor horses legs off :(

All these horses at the stud got severe mud fever when the main lad insisting on washing off all the mud instantly. After he was sacked our boss listened to our main lass' suggestions and last year we oiled them up all instead to waterpoof them and brushed the mud off afterwards and low and behold not a single broodmare or youngster had mud fever!

Fair enough if it's a trickle of mud and you want to get it off for riding but if your horse's legs are caked and you have to result to scrubbing, seriously don't hose them off, let them dry and brush!
 
I am all for not washing legs, as makes horses more prone to mud fever etc, but I might be competing next week (weather allowing :rolleyes: ) and really need to wash his filthy dirty tail before then. Might have to boil the kettle many times, and have lots of towels on standby :)
 
Stencilface said:
I am all for not washing legs, as makes horses more prone to mud fever etc, but I might be competing next week (weather allowing :rolleyes: ) and really need to wash his filthy dirty tail before then. Might have to boil the kettle many times, and have lots of towels on standby :)
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See i can understand that, but as you say warm water and dry after.

These horses were cold hosed left wet, all to go out first thing and through the muddy gate way again!!
 
I don't do any washing at all in this weather. Our little welsh pony really needs her tail washing but it will have to wait until all this snow and ice has gone or else it will just freeze! The taps and hosepipes here are all frozen anyway. I'm surprised they were allowed to be washing their horses as anyway. Most yards ban washing in this weather as it just turns the yard into an ice rink!
 
SJ_Superstars said:
I don't do any washing at all in this weather. Our little welsh pony really needs her tail washing but it will have to wait until all this snow and ice has gone or else it will just freeze! The taps and hosepipes here are all frozen anyway. I'm surprised they were allowed to be washing their horses as anyway. Most yards ban washing in this weather as it just turns the yard into an ice rink!
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Yer my daughters sec a pony needs his tail doing too, and im really fussy i dont dont look at it, cos otherwise it annoys me, cos im not gonna wash it in the weather theres no need.

Yer shes now put signs up telling people not to wash feet off and not to tip water on the yard to tip it down the drain.
 
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