What's the best treatment you've used on mud fever?

abi31

abi31

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 March 2010
Messages
307
Location
Suffolk
Visit site
We have got through a winter of boggy, muddy fields with no problems. Now we've had a dry stint my horse has taken to standing in the ditch to eat the first signs of spring grass and has got mud fever.
What have you found the most effective treatments?
 
We had an arab mare that had terrible mud fever and we were given Keretex Mud Shield Powder by our farrier, it was brilliant. We would put the powder on her legs every morning, making sure they were dry and mud free before applying it. Never looked back and she never had mud fever again but we did use it for the rest of her life in the winter.
 
Pure aloe vera, no washing, keep in until mud fever is gone. We really battled with a nasty case last autumn and that's the only thing that worked.

I HATE mud fever.

P
 
I battled mudfever last year that my mare had for around 4 months. After 3 months and various treatments, my vet gave me a product called Equi-oxcide and within a week it was almost healed up. 2 weeks later it was gone. My mare came in at night and was out in the same field during the day. Best thing I have used by far.
 
I have used the Lincoln Muddy Buddy Powder, same as the Keratex mud shield really, been brilliant. My mare had it bad, lost fur on her legs. All gone now and Im really pleased with the results.
 
Thanks for the suggestions I'll see if they stock any of them at my tack shop. Don't want to waste time on products people have used and wouldn't recommend.xxx
 
Copper. In their mouths.

Once I discovered that I had high manganese and iron levels, and that prevented copper absorption, and started supplementing copper (which is known to improve skin quality) I have never had any problem with mud fever since. Most people supplement zinc as well, or use Pro Hoof from Progressive Earth on eBay which contains more copper and less iron and manganese than the big commercial supplements.
 
I struggled terribly this year with mudfever, and pretty much used everythng on the market. The ones I found worked best were:

Muddy Buddy (works brilliantly but is very expensive!!); Pigs oil & Sulphur (with no other treatment); and (randomly :D) Canestan Dual Athletes Foot cream
 
My mares cleared up lovely with hypocare, naf mudguard and a kbf99 brush. Not sure what worked but cleared up quickly and not returned despite field being really boggy x
 
Mollie got a bit of mud fever (in the middle of summer :rolleyes:) last year. My farrier told be to mix sudocreme, vasoline and powdered aspirin.

Whether because of this or despite it, it went very quickly and she's been fine since.
 
Going off topic a little (sorry) but I also supplement with copper from Progressive Earth. Not only does it improve skin but is supposed to be very good for feet too. It doesn't cost a lot either and lasts for ages! :)
cptrayes said:
Copper. In their mouths.

Once I discovered that I had high manganese and iron levels, and that prevented copper absorption, and started supplementing copper (which is known to improve skin quality) I have never had any problem with mud fever since. Most people supplement zinc as well, or use Pro Hoof from Progressive Earth on eBay which contains more copper and less iron and manganese than the big commercial supplements.
Click to expand...
 
Ok, quick update, when I went in to the shop they had just taken a delivery of Hypocare products which I think Mudmonkey recommended. I'll give it a week and see if it has any effect, otherwise I'll work through your other recommendations. I have to report back to the shop owner as to my findings as they want to know if they should recommend it to other customers. Thanks again to everyone who replied.xx
 
udder cream is probably the cheapest and best ointment Ive found for mud fever. I was using pig oil for a while but I found it very expensive and my horses feathers all fell out using it.

I was leathering the legs in uddercream twice a week and a big farmer sized pot was lasting me months :)

Ive also used Zinc and Castor oil cream with good success but went through a pot every 3 weeks so not as cheap.
 
've been battling with a really nasty case recently - he had a few scabs two weeks ago, which got steadily worse. I messed around with various miracle creams, thinking I was doing everything by the book, but he got a staph infection, which exploded his legs literally overnight. I cast aside all the over-the-counter stuff, and got the vet out. Fuciderm gel, then Flamazine - cleared it up in two days. Stopped using it, and a few spots popped straight back up - but I zapped them with Fuciderm, and they are virtually gone. I've got some pretty gruesome pics that I'll happily post as a salutary lesson - if anyone wants to know what happens when mud fever goes bad.
 
Stand by! Warning though - they are pretty unpleasant. A useful lesson for even the most experienced horse person, that sometimes - you need to call the vet rather than flogging away DIY'ing it.

Nasty, but not worried at this stage.

IMAG1750.jpg


After a week of treatment

f3dd480b-b9fb-44ac-9749-dc2a6510e6bf.jpg


over a 24 hour period - turned to this!

IMAG1826.jpg


After three days of antibiotics/steroids/Fuciderm and Flamazine

IMAG1839.jpg
 
firstly I would check with the vet first

Then wash warm water with hibi scrub - dry thoroughly and i use keratex
sudacreme or aqueous creme
 
I had my first case ever in 18yrs of workign with horses this year, i got lots of lovely advice of this forum but for what ever reason veyr little worked for my lad, am quite confident different thinks work for different horses and it also depends on just how severe the case is as the pictures on here descirbed as bad look mild compared to my poor horses legs he was clean on the saturday and by monday great big patches of flesh came of his legs i treated with hibiscrub wash and sudocream for 2 weeks and it just got worse so got vet out and he had antibitoics and steroid injection followed by 3weeks of fuciderm gel it settled down but far from went away (bare in mind he was on box rest and legs kept bone dry from day 1) he then had 10days of steroid injections and he continued to improve. in total he was in for 6 weeks. he has now been out for 2 weeks using the keratex mudshield powder and close contact chaps. his front legs which were mild have completely leared up and he just has the keratex mudsheild powder on these hes still booted behind wiht kerratex as well and still has a couplke of scabs refusing to budge so am going to try the atheletes foot cream on these last ones as i fear the condition becomes resiliant to products after a while in severe cases like my lad. am 8 weeks in now an dnot completely out the woods. I tired the hypocare for 2 weeks but sadly i cant say this did anything at all. after the intial disater with cream i am reluctant to try another cream product or anything that is moist incase it makes it worse again, am not sure if the kerratex has helped clear it up or just stoped it coming back but i prefer it as it sa dry product. I have also changed his feed supplements so i am going to keep my fingers crossed that it never comes back use the close contact chaps when ever its muddy and the kerratex all year round just to be safe as i dont want my lad to ever have to go through this again as looked so uncomfortbale and sore
good luck it definelty appears to eb trial and error which can be become quite expensive i think with vet bills boots and lotions and poitions i've probably spent near 500 do far!
 
Hawks27 said:
I had my first case ever in 18yrs of workign with horses this year, i got lots of lovely advice of this forum but for what ever reason veyr little worked for my lad, am quite confident different thinks work for different horses and it also depends on just how severe the case is as the pictures on here descirbed as bad look mild compared to my poor horses legs he was clean on the saturday and by monday great big patches of flesh came of his legs i treated with hibiscrub wash and sudocream for 2 weeks and it just got worse so got vet out and he had antibitoics and steroid injection followed by 3weeks of fuciderm gel it settled down but far from went away (bare in mind he was on box rest and legs kept bone dry from day 1) he then had 10days of steroid injections and he continued to improve. in total he was in for 6 weeks. he has now been out for 2 weeks using the keratex mudshield powder and close contact chaps. his front legs which were mild have completely leared up and he just has the keratex mudsheild powder on these hes still booted behind wiht kerratex as well and still has a couplke of scabs refusing to budge so am going to try the atheletes foot cream on these last ones as i fear the condition becomes resiliant to products after a while in severe cases like my lad. am 8 weeks in now an dnot completely out the woods. I tired the hypocare for 2 weeks but sadly i cant say this did anything at all. after the intial disater with cream i am reluctant to try another cream product or anything that is moist incase it makes it worse again, am not sure if the kerratex has helped clear it up or just stoped it coming back but i prefer it as it sa dry product. I have also changed his feed supplements so i am going to keep my fingers crossed that it never comes back use the close contact chaps when ever its muddy and the kerratex all year round just to be safe as i dont want my lad to ever have to go through this again as looked so uncomfortbale and sore
good luck it definelty appears to eb trial and error which can be become quite expensive i think with vet bills boots and lotions and poitions i've probably spent near 500 do far!
Click to expand...

I didn't post the worst pics - because I'm a coward! I'm quite relieved to hear that other people have experienced the 24 hour breakdown from ok-ish to horrendous. I don't feel like such a bad owner now!

I've never really had much to do with mudfever before, as I've mainly worked on comp yards where the turnout was limited to an hour a day, and not in the mud! Did have a winter of youngsters with it about 20 years ago, but that was back in the days when you washed, picked scabs off, dried and smothered with Dermobian.
 
Someone on my yard uses EquiOil (on rainscald atm) but I've used it for mud fever on my mare and its brilliant! It is more expensive than others mentioned on here but has cleared the pretty bad rainscald up in a week (not being used everyday as it should though) :rolleyes: worth a try, has worked for me and them :)
 
Auslander said:
I didn't post the worst pics - because I'm a coward! I'm quite relieved to hear that other people have experienced the 24 hour breakdown from ok-ish to horrendous. I don't feel like such a bad owner now!

I've never really had much to do with mudfever before, as I've mainly worked on comp yards where the turnout was limited to an hour a day, and not in the mud! Did have a winter of youngsters with it about 20 years ago, but that was back in the days when you washed, picked scabs off, dried and smothered with Dermobian.
Click to expand...

yeah was really scarry hes in at night in winter and if i havent time to groom every evening i always run my hands over legs to make sure theres no heat or bumps so couldnt believe it when i was brushing the mud of 2days after id given him a through groom and found it i rubbed what i thought was a patch of stubborn mud with my fingers and a strip of flesh pealed of his leg i thought it was a cut at first till i finished washing is legs and relaised he was covered he had to long 3-4 inch by 2'2 wide patches that jsut fell awway on the same hind cannon and was riddleed with smaller clusters of scabs all over his hing legs and a little on his fronts.
Ive worked on large livery ayrds / riding schools and private yards some very muddy all with good turnout and have never seen a case in my life herd lots of people talk about it but never seen it
 
Aromaheel- bad case cured in 3 days and no need to pick off scabs.You can also smear it on to help prevent it happening again.
 
Auslander - I also had a really bad case of it a few winters ago.

My mare never had it before so I wasnt particularly looking out for it, She also lived out 24/7 so her legs never really dried off at all.
One day she just went lame and after clipping her feathers off found her heels and part of her legs to be red raw and bleeding :(
Felt like the most terrible owner in the world. Unfortunately it had gone so far I had to have the vet and oral steroids to clear it up.
The winter after she was at a different yard, and in overnight. Each morning when her legs were dry I applied keratex powder and she didnt have any problems that winter.
This winter she has been out 24/7, and a few times a week iv been drying her legs and applyiong the powder, touch wood , even being out 24/7 in all this flooding/mud weve had she has been ok this winter too.
Really love the keratex powder.
 
Another one here that had fab results with athletes foot product. I used the spray tho as it was easier. I guess fuciderm is similar
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top