Muddy legs - what do you do?

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now_loves_mares

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I've been pondering this for weeks now! Every night when I bring the horses in, their legs are (surprise!) caked in mud. Sometimes it's very wet and runny mud, and other times it is massive heavy clay on their legs.

I can never quite decide what to do. Cold hose, just leave and brush later, wash with warm water, leg wraps etc. So many choices!

My current thinking is I leave them to dry if it's the thin layer of mud on the basis that it's probably drying underneath anyway. However if it's the really thick lumps I tend to hose it as I have discovered that otherwise it's not dry hours later.

What does anyone else do? Does anyone use leg wraps, as I am also considering this? However isn't it better for their legs to stay cool if possible?

In my head this is also complicated by the fact that one horse has tiny skinny legs with no winter fluff, and the other is sporting quite fetching curls with her extra woolly legs
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We never wash legs off. Horses come in and have Thermatex leg wraps on, dried mud is brushed off in the morning. The washing machine is on a lot, but the horses enver get mud fever which is the most important thing!
 
I don't think washing is a good thing to be honest as it softens the skin too much and leaves then vunerable to infection and mud fever. I leave the mud and when the weather dries up it tends to disappear again. But then I am not bothered about hacking out with a bit of mud on him wheras some people like their horses clean before riding. But I would let them dry naturally and brush it off in the morning.
 
We never wash off, the only winter we did and they all get mud fever. We just brush the mud off in the mornings, usually not much left and am sure the bed cleans their legs.
 
I'm at a racing yard & they're washed off (cold hosepipe) every night with their hooves scrubbed! I barrier cream (udder cream) mine a couple of times a week keep the skin soft. Touch wood he's never had mud fever in the last 4 years I've had him & I got him pretty much straight from racing.
Another horse on the yard (he's 18 years old though) has had mud fever but this cleared straight up with some cream from the vet. His legs / feet were still washed off every night.
My belief is it depends on a couple of things - is the horse susceptable to mud fever & is the soil in their field susceptable to the bacteria that cause mud fever?
 
Well, mine who live out 24/7 don't get them washed off ever. I've never had a single problem so my advise would be to leave well alone
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My lad has feather too and I leave well alone.

I was using wraps on dry or damp clean legs but it resulted in an itchy flaky skin complaint on the cannon.
 
I do wash legs at night, mainly because our field has a really muddy strip near the gateway where a drain exits, horses come in with thick black mud caking their legs. I dry and use leg wraps. I have a sensitive skinned grey and have never had mud fever. I think nicky jakey is right though - it depends on susceptibility and your soil, not so much your routine.
 
I use sportabac turnout boots ,so only the boots get dirty and I wash them and dry them on the radiator each night .He had really bad mudfever before I started doing this and I used Keritex mud fever powder inside the boots to cure it. Now his legs are always lovely and clean and dry
 
I don't do anything to their legs when they come in, unless they've been in stagnant water/mud.
They had a bout of mudrash one wet winter that i couldn't shift no matter what i did. An old farmer told me just to leave their legs alone. Had only one small patch of it over the last 2 years and i used Dermobion on it (old tube).
 
It is a hard one!!!There will be lots of different views,but.....it is trial and error,what works for 1 will not work for another!!Sorry if this is long!!
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!Own tb,got chronic mud fever when i moved im to essex,lame as hell needed antibiotics etc(was in the middle of summer,due to believe it or not,dew and long grass cutting his legs)!!Moved home,every night he had legs hosed off with cold water,Nothing for 2 yrs(stabled at night)!Moved,turnout 24/7,couldnt wash off,mud fever in 1 field,moved him to bottom field,hibiscrub and protocon gone within a wk(if you have the option move fields,mud holds the mud fever germ,you can have it in one paddock but not another)!!Now on yard stabled at night,all this wet weather,signs of mud fever(never washed off)!!!
I have had good results with the washing off and wish i had done it this yr!!!Fortunately i saw mud fever early,washed off every night to soften,left overnight to dry and creamed in morning,just about gone now!!!
Like i said you will get sooo many different views you will learn what works for your horse!!!
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Ours are in so don't have as much of a problem, but after a muddy ride i wash with water and hibiscrub, then towel dry. He's fully clipped so legs dry quickly, and he hasn't had mud fever since I've had him (although been told he got it every year before).
 
Our chaps have natural leg wraps - I coat the feather in pig oil and sulphur every couple of weeks.

Don't wash out until I show - have just done Chancer and he came up snowy white after a good scrub and equine blue applied.

Now oiled up and left until the next show in April.

Less blessed horses can also have P&S applied to create an oily barrier and the mud slips off as it dries out.
 
Thanks everyone. I know perceived logic is not to wash off, but when it is an inch think I just can't believe a night spent like that would be good for them... but perhaps that is attributing to much of a human trait to them.

I should add that (touch wood!) I haven't had a mud fever problem for years and that was on a very different yard. It's more about comfort and general wellbeing that I'm curious about. Don't have a problem in theory with riding with mud, but that doesn't work when I need to put boots on!

Oh I should also add that when I hose them I also towel dry as best as I can! I have to say that I don't believe a cold hose would do any more damage than 24 hours a day spent with wet muddy legs.

Carthorse, interesting re the turnout boots, do they REALLY work? I have to take my horses through two gateways and even if they weren't filthy before, they are by the time I get them in. That would be really useful for going show jumping after work.

Of course none of this addresses the mud under their elbows, on their ears, high up their flanks (yes, under the rug). What a pair of monsters
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We hose our horses legs off then towel dry them and it keeps the mud fever away. Try some long turnout boots or you can get a spray, i think its called '7 day mud away', never tried it but it might be worth a look.
 
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