preventing mud fever when theres no mud

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catherine22

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Theres no mud in my horses field at all, even when its not frosty yet he seems to be getting the start of mud fever, scabs round his fetlocks and the fringy hair round his coronet band starting to shorten! normally i'd put a wash them and get the scabs off but it seems silly to me to make his legs wet when they always are clean and dry.

He does have equi chaps but doesnt have them on at the moment but not sure whether its worth putting them on as theres no mud for them to protect him against!
Or is there anything else it could be? was thinking cracked heels possibly?
 
Hi, he might be suffering from good old chapped skin. Mine have it at the mo. It's caused by the cold chapping the skin. Mine wear Equiboots too but I've started leaving them off whilst it's frosty since I cannot imagine putting the damp boots on around their pasterns is helping. Invariably better than them standing in thick mud, but whilst the ground is dry and hard I prefer to use something soothing like Sudocreme on their heels before they go out to keep them from getting chapped. E45 cream, rubbed in to the chapped areas, when they come in for the night helps too.
 
Mine started to get similar before the mud appeared. Just put it down to last winter's mud fever lurking where i couldn't see it. I started using pig oil/sulphur mix and it's cleared it away within a week and will hopefully keep it from returning. Did a skin test first mind to make sure no problems occured.
 
Mud fever is incorrectly named unfortunately, its just the slang name where people think its caused my mud....although the mud certainly does not help and only adds fuel the fire and keeps the bacteria thriving away.

The bacteria can lay dormant under the skin for months because it breaks out, hence why it is important to take good care of their legs all year round, even in the dry conditions.

Some horses are prone to it and will always get it if you don't manage their legs and stay one step ahead of the game.

You need to keep the area clean, washed with antibacterial shampoo every day and then thoroughly dry them so you are opening the pores of the skin, washing and then by closing the pores in the skin again by drying and keeping the area free from warm/damp/sweaty conditions or indeed mud. Keeping the skin soft and supple by also massaging a cream in (twice a week) to keep the skin in good condition.

Buy a big tub of Smith and Nephew Flamazine cream from your local vet, it contains silver sulfadiazine which is an antibiotic that is active against a wide range of bacterial infections such as mud feaver.

Horses with feathers should have their legs clipped off ...well it helps and certainly is alot easier to mange and prevent.

smile.gif
 
Since starting to feed Top Spec to one horse that was very prone to mud fever, and continuing to feed it to my present horses, I haven't had a case of mud fever since (touch wood!)

I used to put on ordinary clear vaseline before turnout and that did work well but not 100%
 
My horse got really bad mud fever at the beginning of December. His legs got really sore so I put on sudocrem which was a big mistake. The mud stuck to the cream and made the legs really hard to keep clean and dry. I bought some wound powder which helped the scabs dry up and I took him out of the field. A month later all the scabs have nearly fallen off and the hair is growing back.
 
My horse gets really bad "mud fever" in the summer months because it lies dormant under the skin, i use Keratex powder and it clears up in a few weeks especially if it is dry in the field. To be honest there is no correct way you just have to find what works
 
My horse has had mud fever since August.

I managed to reduce the affected area but there has been a stubbon area that just wouldn't clear up but this cold weather has done the trick and it's all gone now.

I'm reluctant to put anything wet onto the area now like sudocrem now it's gone.
I think sticking with the equiboots sounds a good idea.
 
I find my horse gets it anytime of the year, just when ever it is wet and it lasts a long time.
As Giner Nut says each horse is different. I found Sudocream and MSM didnt do anything and Keratex made the scabs very dry and very sore.
I ended up getting the vet out and they recommended clipping the hair off of the infected areas/scabs and then they gave me a cream/paste that was vaseline mixed with an antibiotic. It only cost about £9 for 500g so not bad price.
My vet recommend clipping the hair off and using the cream until the scabs started to fall off then to stop using the cream and let the air get to the skin/bacteria to kill it. It seemed to have worked *touch wood* scabs all gone.
When it rains now I just use a little vaseline and wash it off in the evening when he goes in his stable and this has worked so far.

I hope you find what works for your horse
smile.gif
 
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