Treating mud fever - advice please

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LHIS

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This has been done hundreds of times, I know, and I have asked for advice about this prior to moving to the yard where my horse has now contracted it, but circumstances dictated that I couldn't not wash his legs.
Long story short he has mud fever, I have come back from a week-long holiday where he has been on full livery to find him scabby and sore, I don't know if he has started with it before I went away, but he's definitely got it now.
I've never had a horse with it before (because I haven't had winter turn out before) and I want to get a hold on it before it gets worse.
I have read old threads and have ordered a few things including some pig oil & sulphur, some udder cream, a big pot of sudocream, and some leg wraps to try and get his legs dry more quickly (he is brought in at 3pm and I work FT so someone does this for me - they won't towel dry his legs for me but I could get them to put leg wraps on to quicken up the drying).
There seems to be so many methods in what works for some and not for others, but without trying a few things I won't know what works for us.
What I want to know, beside how to make him comfortable and any other treatment suggestions you might have, is is there any point keeping him in for a day or two to give him some respite - would this help at all? I feel awful for him and like a bad mother for putting him out in a soggy and muddy field. The mud is so thick and sticky that leaving it on his legs wasn't an option as even dried it was nigh on impossible to get off, its like its been mixed with glue.
I am moving him soon when we move house and am trying to find somewhere with better winter fields, but need to do something to help him now before I can remove him from the situation.
Help please :(
 
If you have an equine hydrotherapy spa nearby, then just one or two goes in there could resolve the current flare up. It's relatively cheap (£15 - £25) per session and i've seen some amazing results. That should help you get top-side of it, but you'll need an action plan to manage it moving forwards. Keeping the legs dry is critical - with the better weather, hopefully your fields will start to dry up, which will make everything easier. Apparently barrier creams just trap the bacteria/infection in, so they're no good to put on if you've got an existing issue, but could work to protect the skin once it's healthy again.
 
If he is bad then keeping him in for a few days will help. Gives him a chance to dry completely. You can also treat the patches more effectively. If you can clip the legs that will make it easier to treat - and easier to spot another time.

For us I found using any form of leg wrap etc make things massively worse. We use pig oil alone if he is scabby - with sulphur if not. And we don't wash legs daily - we found that made him worse too.

For this outbreak - see if you can get some flamazine or silver sulphide cream from your vet. Its the same stuff used to treat burns in humans (although its prescription only for humans too..).
 
I think everyone has to find the best way to cope with their version of mud fever. There are so many variables, type and depth of mud, type of horse, allergies etc etc
I have not had mud fever on my horses for years so I will not offer advice on curing it.
My horses are clean legged and I have deep clay in my fields. As a preventative I find that wool leg wraps ( they breathe and let condensation to the outside ) on top of mud to dry legs then brush off when dry and use sudocreme or similar on pasterns and baby oil on legs. This works here but would not be right for somewhere else.
I hope you can find an answer that works for you and your horse.
 
This is what my own vet advises after obviously seeing a lot of it..
Clip legs. Don't wash. Towel dry and use plain talc to speed the drying. Leave scabs alone. Keep in for a few days if necessary to heal.
He is quite anti lotions and potions and tbf it works. At most he will prescribe a very cheap antibiotic cream normally used for cows udders if there's inflammation and infection. Dryness is key. Think of it as trench foot (again his advice).
 
Thanks all - so for letting it clear up no more washing, try and brush mud off, then baby oil on the legs to presumably help the mud come off when brushed and maybe a mild antiseptic on the scabby bits?
He's not going to be a happy bunny being left in but is it the best thing to do? Then after a few days let him go back out but no leg washing from then on?

Not sure about clipping his legs, mostly because I doubt he will let me, I should think I'll need to mildly sedate him as he's never been clipped before and can be a wuss.
 
Meredith said:
Definitely no washing!
Click to expand...

Gentle washing with bicarbonate of soda solution. The bugs that cause mud fever are acidophilic and absolutely hate the mildly alkaline PH.Even a slight shift in the PH will drasticly change the microflora of the skin. The Beauty of this treatment is that it doesnt kill all the healthy skin flora. I have had good results by mixing it with E 45 cream and then LEAVING it ALONE except to add another layer each day for a few days.
 
Mike007 said:
Gentle washing with bicarbonate of soda solution. The bugs that cause mud fever are acidophilic and absolutely hate the mildly alkaline PH.Even a slight shift in the PH will drasticly change the microflora of the skin. The Beauty of this treatment is that it doesnt kill all the healthy skin flora. I have had good results by mixing it with E 45 cream and then LEAVING it ALONE except to add another layer each day for a few days.
Click to expand...

Interesting, any idea if the same works for LV ?
 
amymay said:
If he's sore you may well be at the point of needing the vet.
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Watch it doesn't become cellulitis if it's really bad then antibiotics will be needed. Also don't underestimate how painful it is someone I know had a nasty accident treating a horse with mud fever.

I wouldn't put pig oil on a badly affected leg it's ok for a barrier but you need to treat the infection first. If the scabs are difficult to get off I've found putting on Sudocreme and wrapping with cling film and bandaging overnight will loosen all scabs gently. I would personally keep him in until the scabs are healed, you can keep them nice and dry then. If they are bad getting wet and muddy everyday will not heal them.

I'd be interested in trying Mikes solution for cleaning. I used Fungatrol shampoo rather than hibiscrub and that worked well unless really thick scab then used the cling film approach.
 
my boy has mud fever in the winter AND leukocytoclastic vasculitis in the summer *rolls eyes*

I manage it with a combination of equi med ag boots, silver whinnies sox for horses and filtabac
 
Tiddlypom said:
You'll need to get the feathers off to locate and deal with all of the mud fever areas, unless it's very localised. You can chop the feather off with scissors initially, and tidy it up later once he's not sore.
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yep I agree, as much hair off as possible and comfortable
 
Another vote for Flamazine, this was the only thing that shifted a bad bout with my old one

Luckily I haven't had to deal with it since
 
Rather than wash with hibiscrub - try Nizoral. It is an anti-dandruff shampoo that you can only get in the chemists, they only sell little bottles as it's strong stuff. I used this on my chap, and it did certainly helped -
 
Meredith said:
Definitely no washing!
Click to expand...

Mike007 said:
Gentle washing with bicarbonate of soda solution. The bugs that cause mud fever are acidophilic and absolutely hate the mildly alkaline PH.Even a slight shift in the PH will drasticly change the microflora of the skin. The Beauty of this treatment is that it doesnt kill all the healthy skin flora. I have had good results by mixing it with E 45 cream and then LEAVING it ALONE except to add another layer each day for a few days.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike007. Vet told me no washing i.e. shampoo but I will try your remedy if needed. Hoping of course that I never have to use it!
 
I am on livery at a yard with clay fields and lots of horses on not very much land. So nothing but fetlock deep mud from November to March. I think it's trial and error as to what works depending on your soil, horse, setup, routine etc.

I check legs like a hawk daily, and the slightest touch of mud fever I keep the horse off the field until it's completely healed. Fortunately we have a walker so that helps. If I do find a little patch I wash once with hibiscrub and then keep legs dry until it's healed. Fortunately we also have an indoor school so I don't have to worry about abrasive wet school surface aggravating things.

I also swear by keratex powder, although I hear plain talc works just as well. Rubbed in over scabs it gently lifts them when they're ready while keeping everything dry and I apply daily until everything is healed.

At my yard the staff hose legs and feet as standard when bringing in, and it's difficult to get them to towel dry consistently. What works for us in terms of prevention is those mud socks, with keratex powder underneath especially on the heels. The socks do really need to be put on very snugly to stop the mud working up underneath and it can be difficult to get the staff to do that when they're in a hurry. I wash turnout boots every time they are used, so they are always clean and dry when they're put on. I also get through quite a lot of laundry disinfectant over the winter. When the fields are really bad I only turn out for a couple of hours every other day, use the horse walker on the other days and try my best to make sure he gets plenty of ridden exercise.

This winter we have got away without a bout of mud fever, and last year he got a tiny touch in September and was in for a week while that healed, but was okay for the rest of the winter. So that routine seems to work for us in our situation.

If the fields were better and he was out for a lot longer, I might be tempted to try ditching the turnout boots and trying pig oil or something as a barrier instead.
 
Getting the skin to heal up and getting the horse properly dry seem key. What has worked, due to the conscientiousness of my sharer, is simple baby oil this year. None of the usual sore red, cracked skin I see in winter/wet weather. Simple stuff.
 
Meredith said:
I think everyone has to find the best way to cope with their version of mud fever. There are so many variables, type and depth of mud, type of horse, allergies etc etc
I have not had mud fever on my horses for years so I will not offer advice on curing it.
My horses are clean legged and I have deep clay in my fields. As a preventative I find that wool leg wraps ( they breathe and let condensation to the outside ) on top of mud to dry legs then brush off when dry and use sudocreme or similar on pasterns and baby oil on legs. This works here but would not be right for somewhere else.
I hope you can find an answer that works for you and your horse.
Click to expand...

cinnamontoast said:
Getting the skin to heal up and getting the horse properly dry seem key. What has worked, due to the conscientiousness of my sharer, is simple baby oil this year. None of the usual sore red, cracked skin I see in winter/wet weather. Simple stuff.
Click to expand...


Agree
 
I seem to be getting on top of it quite successfully thank goodness - healthy looking skin is back. The dry weather we have had recently has been a godsend, the field he is out in during the day had nearly dried up. The leg hosing has completely stopped too, it's hard to say what has sorted it but the combination of the above has.
Sadly I had to cut off some of his feather, I couldn't get the dried clumps of mud out of them. Also the leg hosing, of which he wasn't a fan, seems to have now created an issue with being washed in general, which is understandable. I tried to loosen up the clumps in his feathers with warm water but had little success and he was getting really wound up. I will have to spend some time with him getting him used to being washed again, he used to stand quietly good as gold.
 
I've had to clip my lad's feathers for the first time in 6 years due to moving house and field with no facilities (long story and all being sorted this summer) He had bog burn and mud fever (just a little I've seen worse) I have to say he looks lovely (I was dreading it I've never seen his lower legs!) and I'm able to treat him.
Our pony who is prone to it has been ok as I used Flamazine and she hasn't has any major flare ups.
 
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