Mud fever-best way to treat?

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Rosscoreb

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As title says really. Trimmed up feathers that had grown a bit mad over winter for a show last week and legs were lovely and normal.

Field is still a tad damp from rain and went to ride after work and on all 4 heels there are quite condensed scabby bits! I don't bring him in of a morning so his legs would not have been hosed off that morning. I'm suspecting that this is a start to mud fever? seemed to happen over night. Has anyone got any tips how to treat this? This is very mild, however I want to stop it before it starts!

Apologies if this is a stupid question but he's never had anything like this before so I'm slightly clueless on it!
 
I'm no expert, but I've watched my various liveries over the years, sometimes in despair. I expect I'll be shot down immediately for this opinion, but time and again I've observed that mud-fever is frequently human-induced. So:-

1. DON'T hose legs.

2. DON'T trim feather.

You've already trimmed the feathers so nothing can be done about that. But don't wash her/his legs down unless it IS for a show. They wouldn't get washed in the wild! My cob has never had mud fever but 11 (that I can remember) of the 19 horses I've had at livery here have had it - and they all ha owners who were obsessive leg washers. Just leave any mud to dry out and then brush it off. If you are on clayey ground and the mud clings, get it off and then use something very simple like Johnsons Baby Oil and rub it well into the feathers. This keeps the mud from clinging next time.

I think the other thing is that what looks like mud fever often isn't. A horse here appeared to have it, but laboratory tests proved it was a streptococchial (sorry, spelling) infection picked up from the soil (and yes, his heels had been very thoroughly trimmed out).
 
Thanks for that, I usually let his feathers grow a bit wild and just keep them tidy, obvs had to get rid for the show! I've decided showing is not our thing now anyway so sticking to jumping and dressage :)

Our poor fields just havent had chance to dry out yet.

Will be keeping a close eye on it as it may not be mud fever just the other thing you said :) thanks for your reply though
 
When my mare came bad off loan with awful mud fever we tried everything, from the vets creams to the mud fever creams from the shelf the off thing that worked was liquid parrafin. It cleared it up very quickly and touch wood even with all the rain and mud we have had over the past few weeks she hasn't had it back.
 
Our boy had what looked like mud feaver a couple of weeks ago. He doesn't have clipped feathers and I rarely wash his heels. It appeared while the weather was wet and there was quite deep mud around the water trough. Because he is allergic to just about everything under the sun and 'treatments' can actually make him worse I held my nerve and just monitored any changes daily. We then had a dry spell with wind and sunshine and the mud round the trough dried up. His mud feaver has now all gone and he is absolutely fine, thank goodness. My approach will now be to improve footing round the trough to ensure that he doesn't have mud clinging to his heels and I hope there will not be any more problems. Sometimes doing less, resisting poking about and letting nature and natural body defences heal the bacterial (?) invasion from within could be the best policy.
 
Thank you for everyone's comments, they are much appreciated. I've been keeping a close eye on him and it seems to be getting better, had a huge dollop of rain today so field is mud again... I will be more aware of surroundings etc now. First time he has suffered from anything like this so it's made me more aware of that area!

Thanks everyone :)
 
If you were worried about it you could put on a barrier cream if your field gets really bad, I found the Nettex stuff was brill :)
 
I know this might sound weird but I was told years ago to apply Vaseline as it acts as a water barrier. In the event your horse still gets mud fever then don't hose but brush off the dry mud and apply an antiseptic cream to kill the germs then reapply the Vaseline. It worked well for all my horses over the years and never had any major problems.
My new boy has had lymphangitis from a major case of mud fever so I've removed the any scabs using warm water (if they cant be removed by brushing) on a sponge or cloth, dry the area thoroughly, apply antiseptic cream and before he is turned out slather in Vaseline. Seems to work so far.
 
I would highly recommend pig oil and sulphur (ebay £25). Since I've used this, he's had no mud fever or malanders, and his feathers are much longer and stronger. :)
 
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