Mud, feathers and scabs?

[Bessieboo]

Hi everyone,

I am after a bit of advice regarding my mare's legs.

She has full feathers on her legs which I have covered in pig oil and sulpher. I do not wash the mud off her legs when she comes in from the field but wait until it has dried and then brush it off.

At the weekend, whilst brushing her feathers, I noticed that she has some scabs around the bottom of her legs. I was able to gently pick them off and I have rubbed baby oil onto her skin to soften up any I have missed. She does not have any sores where the scabs are.

Is this mud fever? Should I be doing something else like washing her legs or anything else? Should I be taking her feather off?

We have recently moved yards to one where she is turned out all day but brought in at night and because of this she gets more mud on her feather than she did before.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cookies and hot chocolate to all x

 

[Bessieboo]

*bump* desperate for advice or reassurance

 

[Kaylum]

at a guess mites. Feathered horsesoften get them. You need the vet to take a look to confirm this.

 

[Bessieboo]

Has anyone else had experience of mites?

 

[Tinsel Town]

If she is out and subject to mud then i would have thought it is more like mud fever than mites (also given the time of year, wet legs etc more prone to mud fever) it is the continual wetting of the skin that causes the mud fever.
personally i would cut away the hair so you can get to the scabs so you can treat them.
You've already said your not washing her legs which is good, you dont want any more moisture on her legs, leave the mud to dry, then brush it off, remove the scabs with something like baby oil or sudeocrem (which softens them), once the scabs have been removed the affected area should be washed with an antibactrial scrub such as hibiscrub.

Mite wise, is she stamping her feet? With the irritation of mites horses stamp their feet, try to chew their forelimbs, and rub their legs on fence posts etc, they do sometimes get scabs with mites.

With horses that have mites we have clipped all their feathers off, then treated the legs, wash them first in hibiscrub, and treat any scabs with antiseptic cream.

You can get barrier creams to help prevent mud fever (for furture help )

I would get someone else to give you their opinion on it (difficult to judge as not seen them) or ask your vet

Hope this helps

 

[Bessieboo]

Thanks for the advice.

I asked my YO to have a look last night (she is much more experienced with horses than me) and she seems to think that it is nothing to worry about, perhaps a build up of dry skin and grease. We are going to keep an eye on it and if it gets worse have the vet take a look.