Mud Fever or Photosensitisation?

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Wondermare

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So I'm having a neurotic horse owner moment.

Took the wondermare on hols this summer. She lived in a lovely field and ate grass.

When we got home she started losing patches of hair from her back legs. Since then, I've been treating her for mild mud fever. Am now on remedy number four: Pig oil and sulphur. Still no change - mild hair loss, a little redness, no swelling, but no better.

And now I've just read about photosensitisation and I'm going to have to have a large glass of red because it's all a bit scary. Is there anyone out there who's had it treated successfully? Because my brain just skipped to the bit that said "liver damage" and "ragwort poisoning".

She still only has symptoms on her back legs, and none whatsoever on her body. I know I need to get the vet down now, just to check, but is there anyone out there who can calm me with wisdom till then? I can't believe I'm actually hoping it's mud fever...

Dear me, the internet is a dangerous thing.
 
Firstly calm down and breathe!!! tbh sounds just like when my sec a had feather mites -he had sore patches and hair loss on his lower back legs only. you can have jabs from the vet ,but i used dermaline lice shampoo and that seemed to cure it . :D
 
I wouldn't be washing - bacteria want warm wet places to live ;)

I would be checking for mites, lice, canon bone keratosis (find thread on here), lymphangitis, or a kind of dermatitis.

Perhaps a steroid cream like betnovate would be worth a go.
 
I have seen this in a horse, socks were affected and it's blaze (face marking) were also affected horse was moved out of the field it was in assuming it had ate something dodgy and all fine. My boyfriend's father had a black and white cow that lost all it's white hair but none of it's black, it's still around two summers later.
 
well if yo are wondering a blood test will reveal all. photosensitivity is shown as a liver imbalance. have you got mud? have you got sun? has your horse access to bushes and hedges?
 
Yes, she was in a very lovely meadow in Sussex for a month over the summer. She is big and coloured, but none of the white patches on her back or neck or face or front legs have been affected - only her back legs, and the patchiness has travelled up her legs past her hock and into the black patches.

Vet is coming next week, so blood test should reveal all. The lack of any other symptoms is comforting - no apathy, no loss of appetite, no swelling, no heat, she's working as well as ever.

Thanks for all your advice! As soon as I know I will post it here.

:)
 
My horse has been suffering from pastern dermatitis, similar to mud fever but affecting her hind (white) pasterns. Started during the warm dry weather and has taken ages to shift.
 
horserider said:
My horse has been suffering from pastern dermatitis, similar to mud fever but affecting her hind (white) pasterns. Started during the warm dry weather and has taken ages to shift.
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Same as above. My mare is a dutch warmblood with a very fine coat. She has a huge white blaze and 3 white socks. Every summer she has to be covered from head to toe in a full face fly mask, fly rug and her white heels and cannons covered in either sudocream or equimins udder cream as she suffers from ' sunburn' If I do not adhere to this regime she gets what looks like mud fever on her white limbs and nose. Cracks or sores that oooze serum and her legs will swell slightly if she is left in.

Despite it being generally dry in our paddocks I am struggling to get rid of the mild sores that she developed at the end of the summer but almost on top of the problem now.

Zinc and castor oil cream or sudocream is the best way I have found to treat her condition. I do not wash her legs un necessarily with antibac washes or anything like that as it is a problem from within and will only irritate the sores. I manage her condition. I also put equimins udder crean on her legs everyday during the winter when she goes out as it is a good barrier cream that doesn't go all sticky.

Does your horse have white legs? Is it standing in mud all day? when did you first notice the problem?
 
My TB got it this summer.. it's not as bad as it sounds! He is very thin-skinned with four white socks and white blaze - he got it on all four heels and on his nose :( like sunburn really but one of his legs swelled up because i didn't notice it quick enough (ooops!) It was mis-diagnosed as mud fever by the vet originally, but can treat the same as really...

I just treated with hibiscrub (wash and dry the legs) then sudocrem.. it cleared up in a couple of days. I put sudocrem on his heels before turning out in damp conditions, this keeps it at bay! Oh and he has a fly rug and some turnout boots (cashel i think - made out of fy rug type material) to keep the sun off. He hasn't had it since and (touch wood) hopefully wont get it again! :D:D
 
I would not wash or use hibiscrub. I would apply a thick layer of Zinc Oxide cream to clean, dry legs and reapply daily. Sudocrem also has a high zinc content and is also waterproof.
 
Just a qualifier . . . the horse I have with a similar condition (coloured, KWPN breeding, allergic to life) reacted very badly to both Sudocreme and Hibiscrub. When he originally developed it we finally got it under control with occasional iodine washes and Furacin dressing (old style but effective). When he was turned away after an injury this late summer the change prompted a full blown resurgence - hind legs, then nose and front legs - and I went with a anti-fungal/anti-bacterial post-surgical oral rinse followed with coconut oil. I have no idea if it actually helped it clear up but it did manage any secondary infection. Interestingly, after getting quite large and severe, the lesions started to heal "backwards" from the inside to the outside of the affected area. His legs are now completely clear and the hair has regrown. He recently got a rash from his rug (see above - allergic to life!) which then behaved similarly but hasn't really got to the hairless stage, more just to the dry scabby stage. Still pretty grim though!

Someone else recounted a story of a horse they turned away with no hard feed who followed a similar path - at first worse, then healed up on its own, has not been afflicted since, although still turned away. I will be curious to see how mine fares next year.

The thing is, it's systemic, not topical, so although you can protect the skin the horse is the one who has to do the healing.
 
Fascinating stuff - there are so many conditions out there like mud fever.

Anyway, Dave the Super Vet from Bell came yesterday, took one look at her and said "Mites". One invermectin shot and £23.16 later, it looks like we may have found our culprit. Got another visit in two weeks, fingers crossed.

Having spent nearly a ton on mud fever remedies, the vet, strangely has turned out to be a cheap alternative. You live and eventually you learn...

Thanks all, again, this really is the best horsey forum. :)
 
Yahoo! thats wonderful im so glad its just mites, they are pesky blighters i always wash the legs with dermaline lice shampoo every couple of weeks too just to make sure they dont come back.x:D
 
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