what would you do?

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We have a 16.1 cob x on loan atm. He is a lovely friendly chap completely bomb proof for a novice to ride but forward going. He is currently on steroids for mudfever which had cleared and we were just weaning him off. Unfortunately a couple of tiny scabs appeared yesterday so we have put him back up to 160 5mg pred tablets a day. He was on lwvtb but today the owner offered to give him to us for free once mudfever cleared or insurance runs out.

The steroids are about £10 a day with a prescription and about £25 from the vets. So any future flare ups could be very expensive especially if he needs injectable antibiotics too. If he wasnt so perfect for my partner too ride and such a nice horse on the ground I wouldn't even consider taking on such a potentially huge problem not covered by insurance. He has been on steroids several months and all the scabs had gone, he is in a mud free field and apart from the rain his legs have been completely dry and they are clipped. He is stabled at night but even with almost the perfect environment the scabs came back when on 80 tablets a day only very mild atm but not taking any chances so back on meds.

So really would you take the chance? Before last August he had never had mudfever we have all his vet notes and hes been fine. Or do we cut and run? For his equivalent without any problems I think we could be looking for a while....also to add we are small animal vets so can get medication cheaper than the average person and no call out fees and can sedate for clipping but 70 a week for medication is still alot and that wouldn't include antibiotics. ..

Home made chocolate fudge cake for anyone who made it to the end.
 
Hmm it's a tricky one. I suppose it really depends if you can afford to keep up with his treatments long-term and if you think he's worth the cost. It's all relative really, for some this would be a complete no go and others it would be feasible.

I would think about how much he was for sale for take in to account you have saved the purchase cost and what it would cost to buy the equivalent without mud fever. Also, there's no guarantee that any horse you buy won't develop problems that need life-long meds.

Is it better the devil you know? Did he only start getting MF once he went to yours? Seems strange it's come with so much vengeance, might be worth looking at environmental conditions and feeding / what's changed?! Maybe the grazing isn't giving same nutrients or lacking some vits and mins. Maybe it's as simple as supplementing vits etc.

Just some thoughts.
 
How well has the current owner managed the mud fever?

If he has long feathers - can you clip them
If he's washed off often - can you stop that immediately makes it much worse
WIll you be keeping him on the same yard - mud fever is actually caused by bacteria in the soil some yards seem more prone to it than others so I guess that mud has a higher bacteria concentration - you might find if he's moved to a different area it goes away again
Have you/ they tried the more simple remedies like NEVER brushing, using udder cream and cow salve? or pig oil (but never tried that personally)
 
The yard he was on previously was terrible in that the horse were knee deep in mud. It first flared up in August but wasnt treated by a vet until sep/oct they are with just oral abs but had to up to injectable abs and pred it had cleared up with restricted mudfree turnout and stabaling. We offered to have him on lwvtb to get him out of the mud and have turnout hes been with us 2 weeks. In hindsight perhaps with the stress of moving (hes 10 and this was the first time he moved yards) was not the best time to be reducing steroids.his legs are already clipped but I suspect it got so bad as he wasnt treated straight away. Hes beeen tested for cushings had skin biopsy and culture and sensitivity routine bloods and all that came back was a nasty ecoli infection which looked like it had completely cleared....he looks to have some heavy breed in so more prone to nasty immune mediated mudfever perhaps? Anyone any experience of this?

Thanks for the replies so far!
 
If he's only been with you a couple of weeks I'd suggest you loan a little longer (when does insurance run out) and see if you can get it under control will less expensive treatments.
Sound a lot to do with the enviroment so you could fix it and stop it returning with better management.

£10 a days plus prescription is £4k a year !! a lot if you saved that you'd certainly be able to afford an equivlant (I'd have thought)
 
One of mine has had mud fever several times, including several years ago a time she needed steroid tablets to get rid of it. She has had it since, but never as badly, although this winter it has got out of control, and she is half way through an antibiotics course, with steroid cream. She lives out, and needs to for various reasons. Strangely, one of the reasons it was so bad before the vet now feels could have been due to the fact she had stomach ulcers at the time. He did question whether she had an auto immune problem, and linseed oil has helped hers in the past, but she won't eat it. If he has been fighting a low grade virus or similar, this could be why the mudfever has taken hold.
 
Personally, the mud fever is totally manageable without steroids and used too often can cause laminitis. I would go easy on the pred as I found out the hard way.

The bacteria in mud that causes it really only attacks weak tissue so first off make sure the horse has high vit e and calcium in the diet and cut out any cereal based food. This will help the skin get stronger. Even try MUDX from global herbs, it has those ingredients in. Then, stable and use flowers of sulphur with pig oil until it clears up. Then Vaseline when dry before turnout. Keep up the supplements all summer, keep the horse off high cereal or sugar diet and it likely will not come back. It hasn't since I did this with my gelding and another mare who had it hasn't had it since she changed her diet like I said.

It's not a disease. It's an infection. Once the skin integrity is restored, its gone.
 
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I bought my horse from holland, he passed a vetting etc then when he arrived I noticed flaky skin in his feathers and found some sores. Got the vet out and shaved the feathers off and found lots of sore skin, scabs etc which had never been treated so we treated with an iodine wash and antibiotic cream. He also had the dectomax injections just incase. The vet thought that once we had treated it and he had settled in then it would be fine and touch wood no flare ups yet and my fields are muddy and soaking. I have been putting NAF mud guard in his dinner and keeping his legs trimmed so I can keep an eye and clean off mud easier and we are doing fine. If it flares up again I'm going to buy him some silver boots from equi med ag as they are meant to be great for keeping it away.

Vet also said that I could wash his legs with head and shoulders completely dry them and put baby oil on if required.

You may find that once he settles in and you have gotten this bout cleared up he never suffers from it again.
 
Hard one as I have never met a mud fever that cant be managed .
What's your yard like ?
If its a good yard with faculties that make it easy to manage him well?
Is the horse happy stabled if not I would not consider him .
Can you get a big barn type place to keep him in bad weather that would good.
If he's in bad condition a proper diet and a good mineral and vit supp could help a lot .
My ID is immune suppressed and I have to be careful with him I keep his legs close clipped wash with head and shoulders and use oily barriers and he easy to manage now, but the first winter was very very hard.
 
tallyho! said:
Then, stable and use flowers of sulphur with pig oil until it clears up. It's not a disease. It's an infection. Once the skin integrity is restored, its gone.
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I will second that. Sulphur mixed with pig oil to make a yellow paste and apply it on the affected areas with a brush applicator pack every day/other day:

http://www.trot2.com/lincoln-applic...ir?cName=for-the-horse-grooming-brushes-tools

I know there are books and people that say pick the scabs off to let the air in, but it is much better if you leave the scabs alone and allow the skin to grow back.
 
If I understand this right, you've been offered the almost ideal horse for free, the only downside being that he's got mud fever?

I haven't had a mud fever problem that couldn't be managed using good management and topical applications of suitable product. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I'd be having a word with the vet as to whether there is something particularly special about this horse's case. If there isn't anything that the vet can identify, I would be taking on the horse and making sure that I stayed on top of the infection once it's cleared so it doesn't get bad again.
 
Darremi said:
I will second that. Sulphur mixed with pig oil to make a yellow paste and apply it on the affected areas with a brush applicator pack every day/other day:

http://www.trot2.com/lincoln-applic...ir?cName=for-the-horse-grooming-brushes-tools

I know there are books and people that say pick the scabs off to let the air in, but it is much better if you leave the scabs alone and allow the skin to grow back.
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This

However I wouldn't take him on. Mostly because I have such bad luck with horses he would end up lame with it. There are others out there without problems but come at a price.
 
It's a no brainer, take the lovely horse and manage the mud fever. There is nothing that would cause me to give any horse of mine steroids. Move yards if necessary, no washing of the legs, no picking off scabs, slather on the udder cream every day.
 
He did have mud fever in both his hind legs but now its just his one white haired leg affected so could definitely photosensitivity initiating the problem or something else to do with the colour predisposing it? Our concern really is he has been in as near perfect environment for the last 2 weeks no mud at all, but the scabs which had gone have now returned only very mild atm. I hope it is just the steroids being reduced at possibly the worst time given hes likely stressed moving yards, (although he is so well behaved youd hardly know) we are definitely trying to get him off the steroids but given the scabs returning his vet just said put the dose back up:( were really worried he is a lami case waiting to happen especially come spring.

I think well probably keep him on loan for the time being, but change the loan agreement to include a token purchase price a month after steroids finish if both parties happy. His legs are currently being sprayed with antibiotic spray daily. His diet is definitely not ideal and could be something to work on, he is a very good doer, he is on mollased chaff and a mollased mix and garlic (all the sugar is not our choice just what he has been on with his owner) so definitely think cut out the sugar, my horse is on thunderbrook base mix (lindseed based) and unmollassed chaff so we'll gradually change him over to that. Which skin supplements have people found work best? Selenium and vit e or something else?

Thanks for all the comments!
 
These might be interesting reads.

http://www.arabianlines.com/forum1/topic_new.asp?TOPIC_ID=48626&SearchTerms=photosensitivity

http://www.arabianlines.com/forum1/topic_new.asp?TOPIC_ID=37227&SearchTerms=photosensitivity

http://www.arabianlines.com/forum1/topic_new.asp?TOPIC_ID=25593&SearchTerms=photosensitivity

It might be worth talking to your Vet to get a firm diagnosis as if the problem is Photosensitivity (maybe caused by something he's ingested?) rather than Mud Fever, the preventative management will be different.
 
My horse had a history of very bad mud fever when I got him. He got it mildly last year, and had a very bad bacterial infection in August on the same leg (not photo sensitivity as reacted to antibs). This winter so signs as yet but have moved yards.

Best thing it have found for mud fever/ bacterial infections is the blue alamycin spray for cattle. Its not licensed for horses, but my vet recommended it and its the best thing ive found so far.
 
Faracat said:
These might be interesting reads.

http://www.arabianlines.com/forum1/topic_new.asp?TOPIC_ID=48626&SearchTerms=photosensitivity

http://www.arabianlines.com/forum1/topic_new.asp?TOPIC_ID=37227&SearchTerms=photosensitivity

http://www.arabianlines.com/forum1/topic_new.asp?TOPIC_ID=25593&SearchTerms=photosensitivity

It might be worth talking to your Vet to get a firm diagnosis as if the problem is Photosensitivity (maybe caused by something he's ingested?) rather than Mud Fever, the preventative management will be different.
Click to expand...

There is also in addition to the above as a possible cause is something to do with clover. Either ingested or the flowers of the red clover touching the heels causing an allergic reaction.
 
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