Preventing mud fever do you, don't you?

shannonandtay

shannonandtay

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We are now on restricted turnout unfortunately, and the field he goes out in has turned onto a swamp around the gate area as I'm sure most people's are at the moment. So a lot of liveries don't bother to turn their horses out, but I like ours to go out as much as possible and he enjoys it, theres still some grass and he will let you know when his ready to come back in. Now my question he has never had mud fever since we've had him, but lately his been coming in with mud splattered up to his knees where we have to traipse through the gate. I've never put any preventative creams etc on his legs as being as he has always been ok I thought maybe best leave alone, but now I'm thinking should I put maybe pig oil or something just in case? Do you use anything on your horses even if they've never had it?
 
I've only ever had one case of mudfever years back and that was following hosing the legs down and probably not drying properly.
Now I leave the mud to dry and brush off. I do put pig oil on the feathers to stop the marbles and balls of mud collecting.
 
Mine had some scabby mud fever around her fetlocks. Washing and treating made it worse so I left it alone and it cleared up on its own. I don't wash legs, especially not in winter.
 
I have one with 4 white legs who gets all sorts of dermatitis on them, and this year the mud has been awful. So far he has no signs - I have kept his heels oiled with Neem oil and will carry on doing so.
Incidentally, a well respected vet once said to me that dermatophilus (the bacteria that causes mud fever) much prefers WARM and wet to cold and wet, so bringing them in isn't always the best thing to do.
 
In your circumstances I would use a chippings bed as it dries off the legs better than straw, and leave horse in once a week so the legs can dry off properly. Then you can give them a thorough brushing and treat any signs of mud fever quickly. I don't wash legs in winter not even with just water. I treat any scabby areas with a thick mud fever cream which will last at least a few days turnout.
 
We have a horse with 4 white legs and very pink skin. Like yours, he enjoys going out, whatever the weather and as we have lots of land he gets turfed out every morning and comes in about 5. We don't do anything to his legs when he comes in but every morning they are brushed off with a soft by brush and we use the nettex mud barrier cream in his heels. Touch wood so far we are keeping it at bay. Also if my husband rides through loads of mud he stands in unil he's dry and we repeat the brush/cream. He is on a woodchips bed, mainly cos we get it for free and it seems to a great job as keeping his leg clean, and dry :)
 
check out aromaheel its the only thing that i found worked with horses living out, no fuss and bother just smeared it on and went within days, then put pig oil and sulphar on the legs... my horses have lived out for years ,,, was onlywhen i listened to someone elses advice and used sudocreme i had problems, it sealed in the bacteria and leg blew up like a balloon. lot of pain for horse and big bill for me... so now i order aromaheel online and have a pot spare to start with when the weather turns...
 
Mine live out 24/7 in horrible mud at the moment, none of them (including a thin skinned tb) have mud fever and almost never get it in the winter, summer is usually more of a problem.
 
I apply pig oil once a week to my gang and it keeps there legs mud fever free. So that's a Welsh A, TB and WB. They come in caked in mud and as it dries it just slides off by morning.
 
The dermatophilus bacteria may not be present on everyone's grazing - I am told it is most prevalent where there have been cattle in the past. Without the bacteria you won't get mud fever so some of the remedies may not actually be doing anything really. How many sufferers have land where there are or used to be cattle?
The summer dermatitis my horse had was in the dry and a skin scraping revealed nothing other than e coli from the poo - I'm not taking chances though, it was a nightmare to clear up and needed expensive prescription cream.
 
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