Those of you with horses that live out over winter

Aidey

Aidey

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Especially foals/yearlings how do you prevent mud fever?

And deal with the extremely rock hard frozen ground? (eg sharp edges on the frozen mud, cuts etc)
 
my foal lived out over the majority of last winter. the ground was either frozen or covered in snow, so we never had any issues with mud fever.

she did cut her foot, but it was not a result of herd ground. ive never known any of mine to injure themselves on hard ground? ;)

if mud fever was going to pose a threat i'd just do what i do with the older ones- clean and dry legs and apply an oil based barrier.
 
mud fever, clip away feathers coat the skin not just the hair with a water proof product such as pig oil,lard or similar. bring horse in onto a deep bed of straw or shavings to dry off legs if you can for a few hours each day. Watch out for mud fever appearing under the belly if the horses coat says wet there for any length of time.
frozen ground. make sure horse is unshod and you can put dirty straw down,the urine helps melt the ice a bit and the straw gives some grip.
 
All mine have lived out, unrugged including last 2 winters. (including suckling foals, yearlings) I've never had an issue with mud fever yet. Nor with the frosty ground causing damage. I don't handle them though so perhaps there is a clue in this - no grooming so form natural barrier? Or perhaps just been lucky
 
Horses out 24/7 need the protection of hair, so don't be tempted to clip any off.

Your best prevention is attention.

Check them daily and any hint of any MF get some udder salve on them.
 
If the ground is frozen or covered in snow you won't have to worry about mud fever anyway :)

To prevent mudfever I simply sponge legs off with MTG or babyoil. Much cleaner than zinc oxide and does the same thing.

Most horses are very sensible on hard ground and learn very fast to watch where they are putting their feet, unless they are brainless they won't do something that hurts twice on purpose.

My foals fall over on ice once or twice, then they learn to do the tippy toe thing like the grown ups do. Perhaps I have the advantage in that my ground is never poached and rutted before it freezes so there are no frozen pot holes for them to fall in. That's when the problem arises, frozen poached ground is lethal, best avoided if possible. Put the horses back out on rested/rolled pasture when the ground is frozen, they aren't going to ruin it if it is like iron.;)
 
I have one who gets mud fever, but never in the middle of winter when there is mud!
RE hurting themselves, you cant wrap them in cotton wool, you just have to hope they dont.
 
Hair on their legs is ther for protection so do not clip, or wash. If they are in a really muddy place and I mean over fetlock deep all the time I make them a island of straw where I feed them. This gives them a chance to dry out, but if they are healthy and have plenty of munch now matter how wet it is if you part the hair on the legs its clean and dry underneath.
 
Mine have *touches wood* never suffered from it.

Mind you, one of my fields has good drainage with a ditch round it and the other is on a slope so the water tends to run off into nextdoor's field :D so there's little mud about except by the gates and troughs.
 
My two dartmoors are notorious for catching mud fever, sometimes even in summer when its wet for a period of time. Last winter was hell I tried vaseline, e45, other various barrier creams but had to keep bringing them in to heal the scabs until they got more! It was a horrid circle.

This year I'm trying the pig oil route alongside a supplement designed for it, fingers crossed so far only one has had a small amount of scabbing on only one heel and it was all very clean and he came in for a day and had some cream on it and then more pig oil. But I don't know if this is working or the fact that the weather hasn't been so bad that they're doing so well!
 
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