Mud fever help please x

[Chocoholic]

Hi I’m loaning a horse who is very prone to mud fever and has already started showing signs on his hind legs. He’s turned out during the day and stabled overnight. I’ve been avoiding hosing and I have been brushing the mud off in the morning. Is it ok to leave the mud on overnight as he already has some bald patches. I’ve been using pig oil in sulphur as a prevention but what is the best cream to help heal the effected areas. I’ve read about using thermatex wraps. Would you wash the legs then apply these overnight to dry the legs? Also wondered about getting some mud fever boots. I’m new to the whole mud fever issue as my previous horses never suffered from it and I just want to make sure I’m doing the best for him.
Thanks for reading x

 

[Equi]

The worst thing for mud fever is warm wet conditions, hence people are reluctant to hose them off cause unless you can dry them off 100% you're just leaving the perfect condition for the bacteria. Personally what i have done in the past is clip the affected areas to the skin so that i can wash them with hibiscrub and dry them totally dry then apply an antibacterial/healing cream like botanica or sudo. With him being stabled overnight that lets them stay drier and let the cream work. The legs look like s*** for a few months though cause they're baldy.

This is just what i have done though, so i have no idea if it would work for another horse or if its what should be done lol

 

[doodle]

Boots don’t work once they have scabs but I have found them very useful to prevent it. You need 2 sets though as generally need to wash them off every night.

I have found Sudocrem the best. It tends to stay on all day and can be wiped off and reapplied if needed. It is also good for softening any scabs there already.

 

[milliepops]

I think if you're at the stage where there are scabby areas then you need to get stuck in and intervene.
I wash with warm water and something mild and soapy then dry well with plenty of clean cotton wool.

You need to gently get the scabs to loosen in order to stop them trapping grot and infection. There are several methods, I'm using Lincoln Muddy buddy Kure cream at the moment which is pricey but very effective. It sort of dissolves the scabs and soothes the skin underneath.

Then on clean dry areas apply barrier cream of some kind before turn out. If that gets muddy then I start again the next day. If not then you can skip a day or so.

I do find really good fitting chaps can be useful unless the mud is very wet and deep, I have equilibrium ones which are tight fitting and breathable but the fit has to be 100% to work and ideally you need 2 sets to always have a dry clean set to put on each day.

 

[Lucky788]

My cob had a really bad reaction to pig oil which caused bald patches. Just in case that’s linked

 

[Lucky788]

I like the Lincoln mud fever range - really good products

 

[Micropony]

Once they've got it I keep them in while I treat it so the legs can stay clean and dry until it's cleared and healed or it ends up rumbling on for ages.
The question is, why is it happening? Is there something wrong with his diet? Is he out for hours and hours in knee deep mud? Any chance of Cushing's or something?

 

[SEL]

I'm having a problem with one of mine (actually possibly 2 of them, but we're trying mite injections on the other first because he's very hairy). She's 10 and only ever had a problem with this particular yard - last year needed antibiotics. Vet says there must be some sort of bacteria in the soil that her immune system hasn't learnt to deal with.

This year it started as a tiny patch on her chest between her forelegs but by the time the vet checked for me it had spread under one armpit. She's got PSSM and a very sensitive system so steroids were not an option. The plan so far has been;

- clean it up with a dog antibacterial shampoo
- when dry plaster in Red Horse honeyheal to start and now I've just plastered on NAF stuff for mud fever which is greasy and forms a barrier
- piriton to try and break the itching cycle
- she had a danilon the first day the vet saw her to try and reduce the inflammation but I don't think it did anything
- Equest just in case there is some form of mite issue with her too (no obvious signs and she is only itching in this one spot)

I'm also plastering her legs in oil because now her system is in overdrive I don't want it to develop anywhere else.

She was a lot more comfortable with me putting cream on this morning (in the past 3 days she's grown to a 19h fire breathing dragon if you even approached with the pot) so I don't think its so sore thankfully.

If you do think there's any chance of an infection though get the vet out earlier rather than later. A fellow livery has just run up a £900 bill for what started as mud fever and turned into a very sick horse!

Off to google the Lincoln stuff.....

 

[PapaverFollis]

I wiped mud off with a clean cloth dipped in warm water and wrung out. Dried with a clean towel. Applied a good amount of E45 cream. Wrapped in cling film and bandaged while off the field (daytime for mine). I did a couple of nights completely off the field as well (but still only did daytime bandages so the legs got air too). That got rid of most of the scabs. Lincoln muddy buddy cure cream got the last stubborn ones. Have been using the muddy buddy powder since which seems to be helping. I clipped his feathers off so I could actually get product onto the skin.

It was my first real encounter with mud fever and it had got pretty bad before I noticed! But that cleared it up very well.

 

[Chinchilla]

my protocol for mud fever is aromaheel to soften/remove scabs then erythromycin spray (can't remember what it's called but it's very bright turquoise!) from the vet to kill off any infection for five days

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I've had my mud fever boy now for15 years and after trying everything I've found the only way , for him, is to leave it alone as much as possible. I dont hose his legs or anything. Once the scabs have dried a put cream of any sort on to loosen then and stop them from tightening up I dont pick the scabs off or anything. I've learnt with this boy over the years that less is definitely more!

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

I just slap thick sudocrem on any scab as soon as I see and it softens and eventually it either falls off or you can gently rub off. Do be careful of the pig oil and especially sulphur as that could cause a reaction in itself. Luckily where I am now we don’t seem to get it but last yard was a nightmare and it took a couple of years for his legs to really recover and stop getting it. I think feeding micronised linseed helped too.

 

[dollymix]

Stumbled on this when googling “mud fever turnout boots” but thought I’d leave my tips for getting ride of scabs, as my poor girl really suffers.

I clip to the skin, wash and then slather on copious amounts of sudacrem..then I wrap the area in clingfilm and bandage.

These stay on 24/7 with regular removal to pick the now softened scabs off and reapply.

It works a great to get rid of it.... preventing it in the first place is what I’m struggling with ?

 

[Chocoholic]

Thank you for every ones replies!
I have kept him in for a while to help it to heal and have been using sudocrem which has helped and his legs are looking so much better. I have ordered some mud fever boots to see if they help to keep his legs a bit cleaner and have started a supplement which is aimed at preventing mudfever x