mud fever help?

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polopony

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I wont bore you with all the details of my long list of problems with the horse! :L
But basically my horse (12yo tb gelding) has mud fever; as soon as i spotted it I've been spending hours washing with hibiscrub, lathering with muddy buddy barrier cream and after a couple of weeks i thought it was about cleared up, until today we had to have the vet out as he's lame with it! :( any tips on what to do, i need to remove the scabs especially? any help much appreciated :) x
 
polopony said:
I wont bore you with all the details of my long list of problems with the horse! :L
But basically my horse (12yo tb gelding) has mud fever; as soon as i spotted it I've been spending hours washing with hibiscrub, lathering with muddy buddy barrier cream and after a couple of weeks i thought it was about cleared up, until today we had to have the vet out as he's lame with it! :( any tips on what to do, i need to remove the scabs especially? any help much appreciated :) x
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OK - removing the scabs is important to treat fully, but is very sore. I've found the best way is to try what I call a cling film wrap. Basically take some cheap cream...white paraffin is what I usually use from the chemist and slather the affected areas in it. I mean big time. Loads of cream. Then wrap the leg in cling film, firmly not tightly; and then put a stable bandage over that to keep it in place. Leave that on overnight, or all day.

Next day, or that evening, undo bandages and the scabs will be "melting" away and will be much more amenable to washing.

I tend to advise that you use Malaseb shampoo (from the vet ;)) as it is far less drying for the skin...hibiscrub is pretty abrasive stuff long term TBH. You need to use this as a normal shampoo, but once it is in a foamy lather leave it on the legs for at least 10 mins to work, then rinse off well and DRY. Pat dry with some cheapo kitchen towel and throw it away.

Then I recommend an antibiotic/antifungal cream which is also very soothing called Flamazine (also from the vets! :p)

TBH if the horse is lame, you will find bute is going to help to treat the legs, but if there is obvious limb filling as well, then some oral antibiotics may also be useful. There is no substitute for topical treatment though.

Hope that helps,
Imogen
 
Brilliant advice, thank you very much. I'm off to the yard tomorrow and will be trying your tips out, thanks again :) x
P.s. The vet has given us some Bute.
 
i had a friends horse get mud fever and she definatly didnt no what she was doing and i am a novice owner (but not rider). the horse was surverly lame. i did the three basic things.

clip legs (very hairy cob)

wash legs with salty water and dry them of and keep legs dry

pick scabs of when he let us and keep repeating the washing and drying.

it only took a week to sort out
 
I had a TBX mare that used to get mud fever, even though she was in at night and I put vaseline on her heels before turnout. My horse, who was then just 2 and is now 12, also used to get it when the mud was very bad, although he wasn't nearly as susceptible.

I changed my feed to TopSpec Balancer and realised a few weeks later that there hadn't been any sign mud fever, and she never had it again all the time I owned her. It seemed to work when feeding the TopSpec Comprehensive Supplement instead of the Balancer.

Just an annecdote really. But I think there was some research to show a connection to nutrition.
 
Simplest, easiest and kindest way to deal with it is to buy a bottle of Nizeral from the chemist. Dilute it with warm water and lather up well with a face cloth, wash the affected area and a good distance beyond it too leave for at least 10 mins, scrape off excess water and leave to dry - no need to rinse. No need to bandage or smother with sticky creams. One or two treatments usually kills it off completely.

Nizeral will kill the fungus that starts the mudfever and so long as you don't forcibly pick off the scabs he will be souond, rarely swollen and far happier than when being treated with other products.

Mud Fever, Greasy Heel & Rain scald are very common in the Waikato area of New Zealand and this shampoo knocks it down so fast. To prevent it feed a supplement that contains Copper & zinc, both are required by the body for strong skin structure.
 
I second what imogen says. My mare had it bad a few years ago, she was so miserable and was in foal at the time. She it got in after an attack of harvest mites in August so no muddy conditions to start with. I tried all sorts, eventually got the vet they prescribed flamazine. Its expensive so be warned!! It has silver in it. I got a price on the net and my vet matched it saved a lot of money. Sofened scabs with udder cream cling film and stable bandages then washed off what i could dried very thoroughly then applied flamazine a wrapped. It cleared very quickly and hasn't come back. Just checked, ( needed 2 500g tubs of flamazine) About £35.00 a tub from chemist direct prescription required. I think at my vet it was over £50 a tub!!!!!
 
I've recently taken on a loan mare who came with mud fever. I tried all the usual hibiscrub/sudocrem treatment but it just got worse and spread. In desperation I spoke to the vet and they gave me a 10 day course of ABs (1 sachet twice a day)and told me to leave it completely alone. That seems to have knocked it on on the head and the crustiness/scabs are coming away with what looks like nice pink skin underneath. I'm not going to touch her legs now unless I really have to.
 
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