What do you do with muddy legs?

NicoleS_007 said:
Hose them. I am a mean person so if theres mud right up the legs then i'l hose right to the elbow and the bottom :o ... My boys legs were hosed every day and never had any problems.
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Loool me too! :o mean mummies! I scrub my boys feet with hibi scrub every other day anyways due to deep cracks in his frogs so I just hose off and scrub the legs aswell whilst i'm doing it. I then dry his legs and feet with a towel touch wood this year he hasn't even had a hint of mud fever... every other year he has got it bad enough his legs looked straight all the way down from swelling!

Everyone at my stables thinks I'm crazy giving him a pedicure and leg wash :o
 
Nothing. If I part the feather, when she has muddy legs, the bottom 1.2" next to her skin is clean and sparkly white.
I leave it to dry and brush the mud out.
 
Thankfully we don't get any deep mud in our fields, Macker's legs have never seen mud...and the fact that his feet are so big probably helps.:D

If there the sort to get mud feaver and have feathery type legs I'd clip them out and spray them with mud repellant type sprays that you get or bob some chaps to keep as much mud off if there in fields where their sinking into mud when walking about.

If they come in with wet mud but the legs are usually warm/sweaty between the feathers then I'd cold hose off, quick wash with an antibac shampoo and dry off with towel to prevent mud feaver, prevention is better than cure.

If there the sort that it doesn't bother the skin, leave it to dry off and then brush it off.

Really depends on the horse.
 
My fields dont get too bad....but when I was on livery they used to wade around in the stuff:eek: Its was terrible.

Pig oil and sulphur.....mud just slips off. Deep straw beds means the legs get dry and clean overnight.

Never had mud fever either *touches wood* despite 2 of them being hairy featheries.
 
Nowt. Mud doesn't melt legs or cause feet to drop off! Sensitive skinned mare has never had mud fever with this management despite being a total bog pony. Hosing and rubbing dry is bound to give skin probs.
 
If I'm going to ride, I hose them off if they are too wet to brush and dry them with a towel to prevent the heel's cracking. If it's dry mud, I just brush it off and if I'm not planning on riding, I just leave them to dry naturally. Also, when I do wash then, I don't scrub them, I just use a sponge. I try to avoid washing them as often as possible as too much washing/scrubbing weakens the skin and makes the horse more susceptible to mud fever.
 
Mine live out 24/7/365 so, apart from the bits covered by rugs, are permanently muddy. Muddy legs are only ever brushed off if I ride - and only then if it's dry enough to brush off. I never, ever wash or hose their legs (unless for injury/treatment purposes).
 
Leave them. Ours live out all year so they've often got filthy legs in winter. If the weather is really manky they come into the barn overnight so I'll brush any dried mud off in the morning.
 
I used to hose my horses legs. He was a coloured and I could be a bit of a neat freak. He was always white! Lol. Never had any problems. Though when we moved and he went on full livery they would leave them and I would brush them off when I got down. I would usually wash them down after riding though, so still was always clean :P

(Note: I always dried with towels afterwards to stop from getting too cold in the winter and I like to think it helped in stopping any mud fever from taking root if I dried them off) :)
 
I have horses with a lot of feather, so they are covered in pig oil and sulphur to prevent bog burn and mites first and MF/chapped heels second. We have very thick sticky clay, and if they do get any large lumps on the hair, I crumble them off or if really bad use a little cold water and a brush on the ends of the hair. In winter I only wash out if going showing.

Touch wood, never had any mud fever on the hairies as as if you part the muddy oily top layer of hair, underneath is white, dry and clean.

When I had TBs, I would if the clay was really piled up, ie so thick that the mud was still wet the next day, I would give them a quick hose off, rub with towel so they were dry. I used to use a bit of oil on their legs so most of the time, if left the mud dried and fell off.
 
At college we are told to hose the legs and most girls return the horses to their stables ringing wet. I however dry their legs with a dry, clean towel as much as I can. One girl said to me that I don't need to dry them as I don't need to worry about the lower legs and that anything below the top half of the legs is fine and you don't need to worry about :/ correct me if I am wrong but she is wrong right? I mean they aren't numb and guarded in that section so why would it not matter? why did she say that? would be great to have replies on this one as it baffled me and was quite irritating!!
 
I always hose with warm water. I don't dry the legs. None of the horses have mud fever here. However, when the fields are really wet I turn out in the all weather because we are on clay here and it just gets thoroughly unpleasant for both humans and horses.
 
I always used to hose and then dry with a towel but then my one horses got mud fever. My vet told me not to hose & just leave him muddy in his big straw bed and touch wood never had a problem since.
 
When mine was in livery her legs were washed off. Now at home, I brush off once dried - she has arthritis so I think this is kinder than hosing with cold water.
Do the same with pony.
 
chestnut cob said:
Generally just leave them to try then brush the mud off. I only wash it off occasionally, if I need him to look presentable for something and the mud is wet.
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Ditto basically.

I think there was a thread recently about mud fever which covers this topic also. Mixed theories and opinions as with a lot of things horse related! But I'm on the leave to dry itself unless you need them to look pretty or have another underlying issue.
 
Kub said:
Pig oil and sulphur. Was dubious at first but this stuff really works. I have a hairy with LOADS of feather and this is brill, comes in at night covered, practically all gone by morning and nice white legs left behind. Provides a great barrier against moisture and helps prevent mud fever, no need to wash and cause unnecessary problems. Love it :) now he just gets a hoof rinse lol.
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Agree with this wholeheartedly! We use it on the 14yo ShirexTB, who has always been very prone to mud fever and he has been free of in all this winter; and my TradxWelsh rising 4yo who has never shown any signs. (We were also very sceptical about it, and only started using it at the beginning of this winter)
 
When its very muddy we will hose the mud off their hooves as this is really the only bit that gets muddy, with the pressure hose, but not their actual legs. I tend to hack when its wet, so no boots as i would with schooling or jumping (only have a field to school in) so he only has knee boots on and i give his legs a good wash on the way home by cantering through the puddles on the track :D
 
Mary Poppins said:
What do you all do when you bring your horses in and they're legs are covered in mud. Do you wash them off or leave them to dry on their own? Mixed reactions at my yard with regards to what's best ::rolleyes:
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leave them well alone and let them dry naturel

I see no point in wetting his legs just for the sake of it and risk mud fever.

Unless injury or already have mud fever - I think its for the humans interest not the horses.

Horses have lived wild in muddier places than the UK and survived why change it now, my horses' are not dead yet and have never had mud fever = I have never washed his legs off unless an obvious bleeding injury.

Legs take longer to dry if washed than if left with just surface mud.

Just to add I Never wash his hooves off either NO point at all. They just come in from the field and go to bed period.
 
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Mine are out 24/7. I never wash their legs unless they are embarrassingly bad and going to a clinic or something. I have never has a horse with mud fever with one exception and she was bought with bad mud fever. The first winter I had her (as she already had it) was difficult as she was a complete pig. I still didn't hose her legs I used the scab removal cream then washed with hibiscrub then sprayed with Terramycin spray a couple of times a week. They improved over that winter. It went over the summer and I never touched her legs the following winter.
 
During the week I ignore the mud. At the weekend I usually hose off legs and muddy patches,done it for nearly 40 years with no problems, horses seem to survive it and no mud fever. My little gypsy cob gets a coat of pig oil and I have to say it makes a huge difference. Until I got my little cob I had poo poo'd it, having struggled with all that feather I decided to give it another go. What I found was that it takes a couple of weeks to really embed and start working, now I wouldnt do without it. Imo you are more likely to see mud fever if the legs do not dry out. So if you hose and then stand in until dry it makes little difference over all to their chances to getting mud fever. I usually hose off and then leave in over night. I tend only to really wash with soap etc if I have a show.
 
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