Opinions ...... (please)

[Gentle_Warrior]

How would you, or do you, treat mud fever, said horse has lots of feather and lives out 24/7.

This is just out of interest, I have my own management routine when it flares up but interested in other opinions.

Thanks
x

 

[smellyellie741]

trim ferther wash with hippy scrub then dry after this keep in for few days to keep legs dry when tuning out a gain use turn out socks if cant keep away from mud

 

[kerilli]

move horse to a yard with no history of mud fever!

 

[the watcher]

The horse wouldn't be out 24/7, would be clipped out and the mudfever treated and kept dry

 

[Lou_bert]

when one of our horses had mud fever the farrier told us to smother it in honey, then bandage it with gamgee and vet rap . . . and to our suprise it worked over night!

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

GENERAL REPY - NOT AIMED AT lucy1993

Stabling is not an option, would be ony horse on yard and gets far to stiff being in.

This is the first time he has had it since moving to this yard !!! so no I am not moving - although they are moving to winter field in October which will help

 

[Rowreach]

Yes, one or two of those replies were not very constructive I thought

"Mud fever" is a general term which covers a number of skin complaints - my first question would be, have you found out which one it is? The treatment will be different for different things.

Clearly it would be ideal if you could keep the horse out of the mud, but if this is not possible, then turnout socks can help as a preventative, as long as you are treating the problem. If you do use them though, be careful that they don't make the legs too hot or cause other problems like pressure and sores where they get muddy.

As for the feather, it is very difficult to treat any skin condition without clipping the hair off.

You say you have your own regime for dealing with the problem - does it work?

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

Thats what I thought !!!!!

it seems to be working at the moment, I hibi scrub and then apply sudo cream and he has been seperated out of main field for 2 nights on the drier part, which is not ideal and can only do as the yard is closed at weekends. He will return to normal field tomorrow, I will be hibi scrubbing again tomorrow and then applying vaseline.

I understand people wanting to take feathers off as the skin is warm etc and creates things like this, but feathers also protect the skin.

On this ocassion, taking hs feathers off will not actually help as they have obviously been doing their job as it is not in his heel, it is just about the hoof. !!

I thought that you can not use those chap things for 24/7 use ?

thank you

 

[clairel]

Oh I became a bit of a mud fever expert recently!
As far as I'm aware *prepares to be corrected* the most effective way to get rid of it is to "suffocate" the bacteria causing it. I always washed the affected area with hibiscrub quite roughly (as much as the horse could stand) to remove scabs and covered in either vaseline or aqueous cream to create a waterproof barrier. We bandaged over it as horse were stabled most of the time.
The only problem I can see with sudocream is that it has only very low levels of antiseptic in it as it is designed for baby
skin!
My own mare who has pink skin legs never had mud fever for 4 years until I moved to england and then she got it almost overnight all up 4 legs and on her belly! It literally was fine 1 day, there the next!

 

[hadfos]

[ QUOTE ]
move horse to a yard with no history of mud fever!

[/ QUOTE ]
very valid point

,i usually move my lad to another field,he got it 1 yr when he was living out,thought christ how am i gonna deal with this...moved him down 2 fields and it cleared,i generally use hibiscrub and sudocrem

,he in at night through the winter now so a hell of alot easier,have always washed my lads legs off with cold water when he comes in at night and never had it return

 

[Booboos]

Camrosa can help with healing and softening the scabs and Keratex have a product, Mud Guard I think or something similar that is very good for prevention (it's a powder and seems to keep the area drier).