Mud Fever Nothing is working

Crugeran Celt said:
We had a mare who had severe mud fever and we had tried everything the vet had recommended, our farrier gave us Keretex mud shield powder to try and we never looked back. It was brilliant but when we went to buy more it had to be ordered by our local feed store as no one seemed to stock it. Legs have to be clean and dry before applying and it has to be applied daily until the legs are cleared but it is worth the hard work.
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i have nought this with the intention of usings as a barrier product once he had healed up was worried about suing it before he healed incase it irratated the sores, ive been a fan of kerratex hoof products in the past and always liked the results,
 
A change in management is essential.
I keep my boy in his stable for a day if I see it starting, this worked this summer, but biggest change has been since feeding 100-200gms of micronised linseed meal every day, he also gets a balanced mineral mix every day, 25gms per day.
At the moment he is out 24/7 and seems fine, the girl who has him at the moment swears by something called Red Biddy, it is a waxy, waterproofing potion.
All people with chronic MF in my experience, have owners who wash the legs every day with Hibiscrub, which is much overused imho, it should be used very dilute and infrequently. I also bandage overnight, covering the affected area with clean dry bandage, usually animalintex, as it is available. If dry, clean and not infected, you could use stable bandages as long as they are clean. This will help circulation and dry out any wet areas.
PS when stabled overnight, I don't wash the legs. When coming in from field, I don't brush till next morning [when dry]. ......... he has had no serious flare up since I bought him, he was bad when I bought him.
 
Hawks27 said:
i have nought this with the intention of usings as a barrier product once he had healed up was worried about suing it before he healed incase it irratated the sores, ive been a fan of kerratex hoof products in the past and always liked the results,
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It did not irritate our mare's legs at all just dried up the sores and we would then brush it out each morning and the hair would come away with it. We then used it as a barrier during the winter and she never suffered with mud fever again. It was brilliant stuff.
 
Cant quote as on phone - wherever the pig oil was the hair fell out and the skin was sore so suspect he had a reaction to it. They recommend the boots are used from autum time onwards to prevent mud fever - they're used on clean dry legs in the stable. I've used them with mud fever present - nothing was working and believe me I tried all sorts for quite a while. Don't agree with hibiscrubbing all the time so was either just washing wet mud off and drying thoroughly or brushing off dry mud. He had very bad mud fever on one of his hind legs, very sore and lots of scabs all round his fetlocks. Used the boots and now after three weeks he's totally free of it. I don't put any creams on at all even out in the field. He came in with an overreach - it's healed beautifully very quickly. Honestly the equimed ag boots are fab - I watch other liveries washing, scrubbing, drying, applying creams every night - and they still have mud fever!!
 
Cob had mudfever on the front of his hind legs this year and he lost the majority of his hair:( The current routine seems to be helping to clear it: a THOROUGH shampoo of the legs, I don't use brushes just hands and simply use human shampoo with tea tree oil in it. He had an allergic reaction to nizoral shampoo when it was left on overnight but I've shampooed him with it, left it a few minutes and hosed off with no problems. Put him to bed on a deep shavings bed. Walks out next morning completely dry and fluffy so I can inspect skin and progress. On his heels and currently the baldest bits I've slapped on sudocrem. Then from the hocks and knees down I've mixed zinc and castor oil with baby oil into a paste and smothered him in it till the oil is dripping off him. I then don't touch his legs all week, gets put to bed covered in mud and the majority of it has slid off by morning.

The legs look SO much better. He was literally bald and his latest leg bath showed he now has a covering of hair so its growing back:D. I think a week of snow gave his legs a good break from the mud! You really need to avoid touching/washing the legs so much as it damages the skin and allows the infection to keep working its way in. I'm certain bandaging made my cob's MF worse, as he was hosed off and bandaged to keep his arthritic legs warm.
 
I had very good results using the Muddy Buddy products. The Mud Kure Kreme can be rubbed on over the scabs and after a week or so they just fall off. I kept my horse out of the mud whilst using the MKK until her legs were completely clear of the MF (around 2 weeks) and now she goes out every day with the Muddy Buddy Ointment rubbed around her pasterns, heels and lower fetlocks before she goes out. So far, after about 4 weeks, there has been no recurrence and the fields are very wet. Good luck!
 
Miss L Toe said:
A change in management is essential.
I keep my boy in his stable for a day if I see it starting, this worked this summer, but biggest change has been since feeding 100-200gms of micronised linseed meal every day, he also gets a balanced mineral mix every day, 25gms per day.
At the moment he is out 24/7 and seems fine, the girl who has him at the moment swears by something called Red Biddy, it is a waxy, waterproofing potion.
All people with chronic MF in my experience, have owners who wash the legs every day with Hibiscrub, which is much overused imho, it should be used very dilute and infrequently. I also bandage overnight, covering the affected area with clean dry bandage, usually animalintex, as it is available. If dry, clean and not infected, you could use stable bandages as long as they are clean. This will help circulation and dry out any wet areas.
PS when stabled overnight, I don't wash the legs. When coming in from field, I don't brush till next morning [when dry]. ......... he has had no serious flare up since I bought him, he was bad when I bought him.
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Ive never been a leg hoser my horse is private kept and i dont show its 12 acres of good grazing and a basic clean dry stable no facilaties etc hes out 24x7 spring to autumn and in at night in winter, he gets brushed most morning sbut i never clean off wet mud. when he got the mf i washed the legs with dilute hibiscrub fully the first day then after i only washed any areas he had got dirty overnight in the stable he is into his 5th week in now so his legs have been kept dry and clean. I started him on basic unmollased chop with minerals and micronised linseed when i bought him in october and he developed this at the begining of the year.
 
I've had amazing results thus last couple if weeks using athletes foot spray :) I did also wash his legs 2/3 times a week in hibi scrub. His hair is now growing back lovely :)
 
*IMPORTANT INFO*
Further to my earlier posts on this thread my mare had to go to the vet yesterday as her leg suddenly looked quite infected (swelling having been down and looking better with the bandaging and box rest and various lotions and potions we have used over the past week or two). It turns out that although the lower fetlock scabs are mild mud fever the bigger aggressive ones further up her legs are actually UV PHOTOSENSITIVITY and not mud fever at all. Hence why treatments have not been working. She has been prescribed steroids and a couple of different creams and will (once cleared up enough to turn out again) need turnout boots on over her white legs to prevent.

Thought it was important to post this as perhaps some of you others with persistant cases are actually battling the wrong thing as I have been.
 
When my girl had it late last year I was advised by vet to use hibi scrub just once. I think wetting infected area can aggrevate the problem with some horses. Once cleared & going out again it might be worth putting udder cream on before putting out
 
I cannot speak form experience because thankfully mine have not shown any signs of mud fever,despite being in a wet field. However a friend of mine has claimed success smearing the affected area with goose fat. I wonder if anyone else has ever tried this? Certainly cheaper than other products,especially if you happened to cook a goose for christmas! (I have 4 jars of the stuff in the fridge if anyone near me wants to give it a try-I'll roast my tatties in sudocreme instead!:D)
 
Billabongchick said:
*IMPORTANT INFO*
Further to my earlier posts on this thread my mare had to go to the vet yesterday as her leg suddenly looked quite infected (swelling having been down and looking better with the bandaging and box rest and various lotions and potions we have used over the past week or two). It turns out that although the lower fetlock scabs are mild mud fever the bigger aggressive ones further up her legs are actually UV PHOTOSENSITIVITY and not mud fever at all. Hence why treatments have not been working. She has been prescribed steroids and a couple of different creams and will (once cleared up enough to turn out again) need turnout boots on over her white legs to prevent.

Thought it was important to post this as perhaps some of you others with persistant cases are actually battling the wrong thing as I have been.
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I was going to suggest it was something else as in theory, if the horse has been removed from the conditions that are suspected to have caused it and has not made improvement then it is unlikely to be mud fever.

But I was going to suggest straw mites and dectomex (or whatever it is called - spray it on the area affected) to get rid as I had this with my boy in the first winter I had him, initially though MF and only when I noticed the agitation after fresh straw I looked to see if it was something else.
 
sorry to write this if it's already been mentioned here but we are having an issue now with probable mud fever and were advised in very strong way to use Hypocare . Several people in the shop at the same time said it was a miracle worker. I can not say yet how I feel it works personally because we only bought it today and tried it on our horse tonight. Just wanted to let you know.:)
 
Hypocare is good - a friend bought it and it sorted my old share horse out. Also if they are sore then you don't have to scrub/get wet. In our case it obviously wasn't going to help the problem but I have used it on ripped pad on dog and just sprayed it on myself where a thorn got me today and where I sliced my toe on swimming pool filter yesterday!
 
Billabongchick said:
*IMPORTANT INFO*
Further to my earlier posts on this thread my mare had to go to the vet yesterday as her leg suddenly looked quite infected (swelling having been down and looking better with the bandaging and box rest and various lotions and potions we have used over the past week or two). It turns out that although the lower fetlock scabs are mild mud fever the bigger aggressive ones further up her legs are actually UV PHOTOSENSITIVITY and not mud fever at all. Hence why treatments have not been working. She has been prescribed steroids and a couple of different creams and will (once cleared up enough to turn out again) need turnout boots on over her white legs to prevent.

Thought it was important to post this as perhaps some of you others with persistant cases are actually battling the wrong thing as I have been.
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He is finally showing slight improvement and it seems to be settling down but is now on his 5th week in and is still along way from haing clean scab free elgs the vet is coming back to do skin scrapings and blood tests to confirm we are defintely battling mud feaver. I have bought him the boots ready for when he can be turned out also as he is a pink skinned overo i got him a uv full coverage fly sheet just to be on safe side ready for the warmer weather and i have now seen they do uv leg wraps too which might be better in the warmer weather if his legs are going to be as prone to the sun as the rest of him as he is loud overo colouring so is sorel and white wiht lot sof large white bits
 
abitodd said:
I cannot speak form experience because thankfully mine have not shown any signs of mud fever,despite being in a wet field. However a friend of mine has claimed success smearing the affected area with goose fat. I wonder if anyone else has ever tried this? Certainly cheaper than other products,especially if you happened to cook a goose for christmas! (I have 4 jars of the stuff in the fridge if anyone near me wants to give it a try-I'll roast my tatties in sudocreme instead!:D)
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I oculd imagine the goose fat would work as a barrier jsut fine being something similar too the pig oil but would be slimey messy and probably a bit smelly. Not sure sudocream roasties would taste to fabulous neither! :-)
 
Time for a bit of an update thankyou to everyone for you advice where still trialing it all, he is now on a course of steroids form the vet and the inflamation has gone down and he has stopped developing new scabs but still has plenty of solid scabs that seem to be going no where.
FOr those that use mudy marvel nowhere does it tell me how often in the directions to repeat the process i have done the descab and disinfectant on the last 2 weekends seems to have soothed his legs and washed off the loose scabs but other than that can't say its worked.
Bought a bottle of the hypocare spray this weekend but as it makes the legs quite wet and as i am suppose to be keeping them as dry as possible is this really a godd idea to use? applied it morning and night since Saturday but am not convinced its a good idea but have seen no change iether way as yet but i have been giving everything new 2 weeks before trying something else.
Am happy for now that it has at least stoped getting worse so going to see what happens over next couple of weeks keeping him clean and bone dry and see how he goes when the steroids stop
 
I think you've posted in the other thread about Leuko V but I'd really be looking into this as sounds very similar to how things went with my girl. Not all vets seem familiar with it...
 
Hi,
I found hibiscrub made it worse. I used a mix of crushed fresh garlic, tea tree oil mixed into udder cream- worked a treat
 
Nugget La Poneh said:
I was going to suggest it was something else as in theory, if the horse has been removed from the conditions that are suspected to have caused it and has not made improvement then it is unlikely to be mud fever.

But I was going to suggest straw mites and dectomex (or whatever it is called - spray it on the area affected) to get rid as I had this with my boy in the first winter I had him, initially though MF and only when I noticed the agitation after fresh straw I looked to see if it was something else.
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^ These . It's vital to check for other conditions as feather mites and other sensitivity can break the skin and look just like MF ... and you can actually have multiple conditions at once.
 
Orangehorse said:
Look to nutrition as well - although this isn't a short term solution I know.

I had a mare that used to get mud fever and I changed her to a feed balancer and after some time realised that she hadn't suffered from mud fever since. She came in over night and I put vaseline on her legs every day before turnout as well.

My present horse came to me with mud fever as a 2 year old, in fact it was noted on the vetting. Since then he has always been fed a balancer - now Top Spec - he has never had mud fever. I check him regularly as I can hardly believe it, considering the conditions he is turned out in, and he comes in with soaking wet, muddly legs every day.
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Absolutely agree with this. Bought my mare in late September with chronic mud fever which she had had all Summer! I treated it and it abated to a tolerable level but then had another flair up. 6 weeks ago I started feeding chelated Rockies to all of mine for another reason and I can only attribute this for her mudfever now going! She is out 24/7, I have no dry fields for her now, so she is in the muddiest field she has been and it rains constantly here yet its getting better. So it has to be diet. Either the Rockies and or micronised linseed.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Absolutely agree with this. Bought my mare in late September with chronic mud fever which she had had all Summer! I treated it and it abated to a tolerable level but then had another flair up. 6 weeks ago I started feeding chelated Rockies to all of mine for another reason and I can only attribute this for her mudfever now going! She is out 24/7, I have no dry fields for her now, so she is in the muddiest field she has been and it rains constantly here yet its getting better. So it has to be diet. Either the Rockies and or micronised linseed.
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I started him on Linseed when i bought him as i am a barefooter so always feed a low sugar and starch diet and all though 6 hasn't been backed and never been shod so was already working on improving his hoof quality he has unmollased chop and sugar beet with this was he was a bit thin. I also intend to add pro hoof one to improve his feet and 2 for the zinc and copper to help with his skin ive never herd of the rockies but will have a look at them
 
diet is vital use a good balancer and if you can go on UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN website they did a 5YEAR study and seem to be getting good results I found it trying to help a friend The boots sound like a good idea as this removing the cause I have fed linseed that I cook my self its great for improving skin and hair it is full of anti oxidants anti inflamatorys and high in omega 3 essential fatty acids its cheap the horse s love it and it helps skin from the inside Hope this helps you all
 
Hawks27 said:
I started him on Linseed when i bought him as i am a barefooter so always feed a low sugar and starch diet and all though 6 hasn't been backed and never been shod so was already working on improving his hoof quality he has unmollased chop and sugar beet with this was he was a bit thin. I also intend to add pro hoof one to improve his feet and 2 for the zinc and copper to help with his skin ive never herd of the rockies but will have a look at them
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They are just mineral blocks, any agricultural shop sells them. I would get the chelated ones, they are suitable for feeding to all stock. Hope it works!
 
FfionWinnie said:
They are just mineral blocks, any agricultural shop sells them. I would get the chelated ones, they are suitable for feeding to all stock. Hope it works!
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I'v ehad a quick look at them onlien will order them if my local tack shop doesn't stock them am more than happy for him to have a mineral lick in his stall hes already got toys galore in thier to entertain him bless hate have them in all the time i feel rotten as we havent a school so can't even lunge just been jogging on the lane with him but i've a dodgy knee so running is not a good idea for me lol
 
Twinkley Lights said:
^ These . It's vital to check for other conditions as feather mites and other sensitivity can break the skin and look just like MF ... and you can actually have multiple conditions at once.
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I had an underlying mite problem which led to an infected leg as the mudfever got in. Think the mites did continue to cause a few problems/damage to the surface of the skin since then but think we are rid of them now with treatment and his legs/heels are improving rapidly. He's never been one to suffer from mudfever in 8 years of owning him until last/this year so I'm just wondering if what weakened his overall resistance to mudfever were the underlying nibblers! I'm just being a bit cautious about how much mud he's exposed to on a frequent basis at the moment until the skin is fully healed from the mite damage.
 
Agree about the nutrition.
I was already balancing to my forage but moved yards recently. I continued to feed an average level while I was waiting for the analysis of the new fields.

Within two weeks one of mine who lives out got terrible mud fever, I had to bring him in for a week to get on top of it.

In the meantime, my analysis came back with off the scale manganese, this stops the absorption of copper and zinc. I adjusted the amount of these two and fingers crossed he seems to resisting mud fever better.

The problem is you can't just feed high levels without knowing there is an issue as you can overdose but it is an angle to consider.
 
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