supposed mud fever sufferers

[bucksdaphne]

to all the owners who have horses still suffering supposed mud fever! as the owner of a chestnut mare with 4 white socks i know how you are suffering as i did for about 10 yrs. absolutely nothing would touch it at all, it always started aug bank holiday weekend to the day almost and rendered my horse unrideable as she grew older as she was in so much discomfort until i came across a diagnosis in an excellent book called...Practical Equine Dermatology printed by Blackwell Publishing and put it to an equine vet and he confirmed it. the cause is being out in the sun for long periods ie 24hr turn out as mine was and the accumalitive effect of it over a period of time and also being in contact with a certain type of plant that causes it through an effect in the liver. it is called Pastern Leucocytoclastic vasculitis. his simple and cost free treatment was simple...treat her like a child and keep her out of the bright sun ie midday sun but i get her in early morning and turn her out evening during summer time and since this we have had absolutely no problem at all..simple! and as i have since found out ...mud fever is only a loose term for any skin probs on the legs not necesarily caused by mud as many of us assume! a bit like hay fever in humans..not always caused by hay pollen. hope this helps as much as did for my mare. TIP. for getting scabs off legs, cover scabs in a product called equi salve(get from vets only i think) wrap loosley in cling film, wrap in stable bandage and leave overnight, in morning just run hands down leg and all the softened scabs wil peel off just like that!

 

[the watcher]

Your poll was a little confusing but I do agree that there are many more causes for scabby legs than simply mud and it is always interesting to hear different solutions

 

[alleycat]

I think BAGGY is probably right. I was reading the mud-fever posts and wondering why so many people were getting this problem in the summer, as I associate mud fever with the winter; the skin of horses legs becoming chapped and broken by wet and cold so that germs from the skin or the soil can invade the underlying tissue.

On the other hand I have seen something very similar in appearance that happens in the summer and its important to distinguish this, as the cause, and therefore the treatment will be different. It usually affects horses with white socks, starting in the hollow of the pastern / heel where the pink skin is not protected by hair and needs to flex and fold with the movement of the foot, then spreading. It is connected to an over-sensitivity to light; I'm told this can be due to eating St. Johns Wort, but there are other causes, and I've seen this in a horse that was supposed to have reduced liver function through poisoning from ragwort in hay. The summer following the incident she had this problem on all four white legs plus sunburn on her white muzzle, but the following year she had recovered sufficiently to have no problems (although forewarned is forearmed, so she was "sun blocked" etc. and kept in during the day).

One of my horses also had it for two years on her one white sock; the three dark legs were OK. She hadn't eaten anything damaging, so I don't know why; except that it was connected with hot weather and pink skin. She was a fine skinned anglo-arab and quite young; she seemed to just outgrow it.

Sorry thats not much help as regards treatment but I'd certainly approach this from the angle of photo-sensitivity and just possibly liver damage of some sort; I'd ask your vet to look into this.

I suppose the resultant infection where the skin is compromised is much the same as mud fever, but the initial damage is caused by something very different, and its this that you need to establish and tackle. Protecting the legs against wet if the problem is down to light / liver function just won't help much.

 

[alleycat]

Just to add I see that Panda and (I think) Gonetofrance have also suggested this.

Turnout socks? What are turnout socks?

 

[Shilasdair]

I thought mud fever wasn't strictly to do with mud, but was caused by a bacterium called dermatophilus congolensis, which also causes rain scald.
It's quite common to get both from water treadmills and swimming pools if not properly chlorinated...
S

 

[Faithkat]

My mare is prone to mud fever but only her two white legs. However, hers is actually nothing to do with mud as such. She gets it if it's just wet. She came back from the stud in August with terrible scabs on her two white legs. At no time was she actually in mud but the months of accumulated rain was just too much. The only way to prevent it with her is to keep her dry. Like Alleycat's horse she is fineskinned Anglo Arab.