Mud Fever and clipping

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mickey

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Anyone ever heard this: That shaving legs works as a preventative measure in terms of mud fever, as hair can trap mud/bacteria? Personally I think it sounds like tosh, and I keep the hair on my horse's legs to try to protect the skin from exposure to mud/water.
Any thoughts?
 
We have a lightweight cob who is a bit prone to mud fever, and have experimented with feathers on/feathers off ... I don't know about the hair trapping moisture, but the big plus for me of clipped legs is that you can see at once what's happening around their heels! Its easier to monitor we found, and also to treat.
 
I agree with the OP... When Han had her feathers left on she got it quite badly, without any hair on the legs I could put the barrier straight against the skin, wash them effectively and also dry them very quickly.
 
I have to clip Chex front legs, but because I know he'll get it I'm not sure if thats really a preventative measure
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We have a tradtional cob with full feathers and he has never had mudfever. His feathers form ringlets in the winter which are white inside even in the muddiest conditions. His legs rarely have the mud washed off and we use pig oil and sulpher to keep his feathers and skin healthy. I don't see why this could'nt be used on clipped legs as well.
 
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i thought having feathers can prevent mud fever?

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Sorry , I am not saying it very well so I will clarify my thoughts..........
I think that clipping and washing legs ENCOURAGES mud fever.
Feathers are there for a reason and act as a drainage system
Tankey
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One of the horses I do gets quite bad mud fever, she is fed NAF mud guard, has a spray on lotion and has her legs clipped, this regime seems to work really well for her. Her legs can be towel dried after they are washed. She is stabled at night. Her mud fever was much worse before she had clipped legs!
....................The debate goes on
 
Did you wash them before you clipped them???
I dont mean just before.......but did you wash the feathers and not clip and then get mud fever??
 
I took thefeathers off mien and found masses of crusty stuff, and a few fresh scabs. Now his legs dont have any open skin as they are kept dry. The year before when he has feathers and they got wet the stayed wet - and if snow got in them it parted it and so snow that got necx tot the skin woudl again make the feathers wet. He didnt have these feathers washed as I thought the grease would do him good, but it really adidnt and he now has hard scar tissue from the old sores that I couldnt even see as he had heavy feathers when I got him.
The only issue now is that he has Salanders - possibly due to getting very sweaty legs when he is ridden - so I now dry them thouroughly after he is ridden.

What works for one might not work for another.
 
I have always clipped my mares legs since the 1st year she got mudfever (mainly so I could treat it). This year I'm experimenting and leaving her hairy (but keeping a very close eye on her legs and covering them in pig oil), will be interesting to see how she fairs.
 
With my hairies they are covered in pig oil and sulphur and not washed out from September to the spring unless I am at a show. Washing feather in winter does more harm than good in my opinion.

To date, non of my feathered chaps have had mud fever. Though they did without feather and P&S.

With my non feathered horses I used to cover them in udder cream.

I gave some P&S to a friend with an arab and she started using this and the arab was free all winter with twice weekly applications. She also didn't wash the legs out as the pig oil makes the mud slip off when dry.
 
We clip my cob's feathers & oil his legs to prevent MF. Left him hairy last year & he got MF really badly on all 4, so had to give in clip him then keep him in for a few weeks til it healed a bit. I'd far rather leave him hairy but it just doesn't work for him.
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