Mud fever but there's no mud?

heebiejeebies

heebiejeebies

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I've just noticed what looks like mud fever in my horses pastern. It's scabbed over and is bleeding under the scabs, its on his hind and he's throwing kicks around when I'm trying to touch it, so must be sore.

The thing is, the field is mud free! Ok the gate area is mucky, but they don't stand at the gate, and its certainly not deep enough to reach his pastern.

I'm on my phone but will try and post pics when I get home if that helps? I'm just a bit baffled, it looks like really bad mud fever but no mud? And the fact that I've only just noticed it is a bit strange as well, seeing as I see him and brush him everyday, yet its already scabbed over and until today has shown no objection to me touching there?
 
It's dermatitis of one sort or another, I have had two cases in dry weather in the last couple of years, never did find out the cause. My vet recommends just bathing with warm water with some salt in it - he doesn't rate all the antibacterial creams, says they destroy too many skin cells. If that doesn't clear it up you might need some prescription cream from your vet
 
Faracat said:
Is the skin pink at the scabby area - ie does he have a white sock on that leg?

If yes, it could be due to sunburn/photosensitivity.
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I was going to say exactly this. My cob (ginger with white socks) suffers from mud fever on his heels but couldn't work out why he was also getting a similar problem in the middle of summer, on the front of his pastern and on the same foot everytime. It was worse that time of year also. Turns out the summer problem was photosensitivity and not mud fever at all. I just used to smother his legs either in thick suncream or if it was mud fever in the winter then thick pig oil and sulphur

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Photo of what my cob used to get in summer, and it was this occasion which was quite bad that I realised it wasn't mud fever

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two days later after keeping it well covered from sunlight
 
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I haven't seen photosensitivity look as bloody as in those photos, ouch, poor cob!
My arab boys have white legs, and their hind heels can sometimes get sensitive. A big pot of Sudocreme, slap some of that on every day seems to deal with any that comes up, and prevent it.
Be careful if you try pig oil and sulphur, try a skin test first.
 
Tinypony said:
I haven't seen photosensitivity look as bloody as in those photos, ouch, poor cob!
My arab boys have white legs, and their hind heels can sometimes get sensitive. A big pot of Sudocreme, slap some of that on every day seems to deal with any that comes up, and prevent it.
Be careful if you try pig oil and sulphur, try a skin test first.
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I agree with the skintest if you use Sulphur. Its one of those things, it either works or it doesn't and does tingle....my cob wasn't sensitive to it and I used it for everything as it is antibacterial.

Tinypony...it always looked worse and he wasn't ever lame fortunately. It couldn't be seen initially as the skin would separate from the flesh but because he was so hairy the skin wouldn't slide off until you washed his legs then I would be presented with this!
 
I've had to clip my mare's feather this year, even though it has been a much drier summer than last year. She sweats a lot, which gives her pastern dermatitis. I showed the vet when she had her jabs a couple of weeks ago and she agreed that the best thing was to leave it to the fresh air.
 
Yes he is grey so very pink skinned, and now that I know it's causing him pain I'm just leaving it alone, he isn't lame on it either! So I should just slather it in sudocrem? What about bathing it to loosen the skin up? He seems to have quite flaky skin on his pink muzzle too, I haven't been putting suncream on it because it hasn't been sunny... so will need to start doing that again.

He's got quite moist, flaky skin on his pasterns - is this pastern dermatitis? Doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest, but big chunks of loose skin and hair come out if I pick at the skin.

[URL=http://s1364.photobucket.com/user/slowlygoingmad/media/null_zpscc593da0.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s1364.photobucket.com/user/slowlygoingmad/media/null_zps07bce8a7.jpg.html][/URL]
 
Sorry they're massive... took me an hour to figure out how to put pics on as it is lol... next step is figuring out how to make them smaller!
 
yaffsimone1 said:
I was going to say exactly this. My cob (ginger with white socks) suffers from mud fever on his heels but couldn't work out why he was also getting a similar problem in the middle of summer, on the front of his pastern and on the same foot everytime. It was worse that time of year also. Turns out the summer problem was photosensitivity and not mud fever at all. I just used to smother his legs either in thick suncream or if it was mud fever in the winter then thick pig oil and sulphur

attachment.php


Photo of what my cob used to get in summer, and it was this occasion which was quite bad that I realised it wasn't mud fever

attachment.php


two days later after keeping it well covered from sunlight
Click to expand...

That looks so sore, your poor horse. I picked off a corner of the scabs and it was bloody underneath like that, though the scabs seem pretty fused on so just leaving it, he was not happy at them being touched, and he was quite hot in his fetlock as well - only one hind though, the others are fine.
 
It looks like mud fever to me. My two have had bits of it all year after getting it for the first time last year in all the wet. Don't seem to be able to quite shake it off, but baby oil and flowers of sulphur applied every few days keeps it well under control. I think "mud" fever is a misleading name tbh..no sign of mud in their dustbowl for months now!
 
daisalph said:
Better than sudocrem but just as gentle is Mud Bar Plus - it has sulphur in it but also silver which clears the bacteria without harsh chemicals.
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Is that good as a sunscreen and for sunburn?
What I mean is, if you know it's mud fever then treat mud fever. But if it's sunburn or photosensitivity then Sudocreme works really well and forms a barrier to prevent sunburn. One of my ponies, after a drastic liver damage incident, lost pretty much all of the fur and skin from one white sock. All I did, with vet's approval, was slather it in Sudocreme. It's all nice and healthy now (and she's no longer photosensitive).
 
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It looks to me like sunburn with a secondary bacterial infection, which may or may not be the mud fever bacterium. I would be inclined to put plenty of sudocreme over the whole of the pastern area as the rest looks quite sore as well. I always make sure I put plenty of sunblock on mine as it's an easy place to burn.
 
lhotse said:
It looks to me like sunburn with a secondary bacterial infection, which may or may not be the mud fever bacterium. I would be inclined to put plenty of sudocreme over the whole of the pastern area as the rest looks quite sore as well. I always make sure I put plenty of sunblock on mine as it's an easy place to burn.
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Ahh... some people saying not to use sudocrem, others saying to use it! All four pasterns are very pink like this, do you think he is sunburned on all four and this one has got a bacterial infection too?
 
just to add something else in the mix, my youngster jumped the electric fencing and as he came back over he got a back leg caught, so started panicking and kicking out, the fence tape chaffed along the back of his heel and look just like that!! my farrier even thought it was mud fever a week or so later when it scabbed up loads as it was healing!!
 
kerrieberry2 said:
just to add something else in the mix, my youngster jumped the electric fencing and as he came back over he got a back leg caught, so started panicking and kicking out, the fence tape chaffed along the back of his heel and look just like that!! my farrier even thought it was mud fever a week or so later when it scabbed up loads as it was healing!!
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Oh that sounds sore. We don't have any fencing to get caught in, there is a fence but it runs along inside a huge thick bush the whole way round so no way they could get caught in it!
 
My boy had exactly the same scab sort of things but up round his fetlocks too - I thought it was mud fever but my farrier said it was photosensitivity. I tried sudocrem but it didn't really help, bathing it with hibiscrub to get scabs off then msm cream got it in the end. This year I've just left it and its been fine :s I found the more I messed with it the sorer it was.
 
Another thing it could be is fly bites. By bay (so black legs) horse was biting himself raw; it took forever to figure out what it was - and it looked just like that. Boots/pasture socks on in the field and a bit of antibacterial cream did the trick.
 
Ok so I should bathe with diluted hibiscrub, then what should I apply? Sorry for such daft questions, I've always been really lucky and managed to avoid mud fever!

Since the majority think its photosensitivity what should I do to avoid it in his other legs? Sun cream? Sudocreme?
 
I use overreach boots to great effect to protect the area from the sun. Aloe vera is very soothing, and you can get baby factor 50 to put on his other legs but on this particular leg, I think that sun cream could act as an irritant.
 
lhotse said:
I use overreach boots to great effect to protect the area from the sun. Aloe vera is very soothing, and you can get baby factor 50 to put on his other legs but on this particular leg, I think that sun cream could act as an irritant.
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I use over reachers in front... would it be crazy to use them on his hinds as well?! He would never forgive me! He'd be the laughing stock of the field!! :)
 
Sudocreme will lock in any scabs - and it is the scabs that have to come off, as this is where millions of bacteria are hiding. Even baby oil to slide the scab off is better than sudocreme.

Sudocreme, as a water barrier (to protect babies bums from stuff) is great to PREVENT infection, but not once infection has taken hold.
 
My boy had similar things down his legs, looked exactly like mud fever but I thought it was very odd as he went through the winter in very deep mud without the slightest hint of mud fever.

Turned out it was a reaction to fly bites as they have been relentless all year. A bit of gentle scrubbing of the scabs and lots of sudocrem to stop the flies getting back on the bad area. The best thing though was just brining him in out the flies and putting out at night.
 
Could it be lice or mites? They cause the skin to become incredibly itchy and thickened and then horses kick at themselves in irritation and cause more damage.
 
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