Will she suffer without her feather???

[chickeninabun]

I am very VERY tempted to clip all my mare's feather off but am worried she'll suffer in all the mud if I do.
She has had bad mites and I am struggling to keep on top of them, mainly due to the sheer amount of feather I have to get through to see skin! The vet said there was no need to clip her, as she's having Dectomax injections and this should sort it out without the need to clip, but she looks so terrible with all the mud!
I don't like hosing every night, but if I don't she just has huge dreadlocks of mud hanging off her legs. I can't brush them out in a morning when they are dry as it would take hours! And is completely pointless as they look just as bad by night anyway.
What should I do? Obviously the feather keeps the mud off her skin but keeps the mites happy. No feather would be easier to keep clean, either hosing or just brushing, but would she be susceptible to mud fever etc with the protection??

Any ideas??

 

[Chellebean]

Mine does miles better without feathers I can see what I'm dealing with a lot better too

 

[wildcard]

my old boy has long feathers and ive always clipped his legs off and tbh they are soooo much easier to look after, having long feathers wont prevent him from getting mud fever will just make it harder to spot and treat. try it see how you get on it really dosent take long for feathers to grow back if you dont like it or find it hard maintenance!! I love it and so does my boy, specially in summer when feathers make his legs warm and sweaty clipping them makes him much happier

 

[YorksG]

We had to clip sisters Big Mares feathers off this year We just couldn't get the mites out any other way. She has had no more skin problems without them than she did with, and we have been able to get rid of most of the mite problem with Coopers. I doubt that clipping would do her any harm, but it can make big legs look silly

 

[suestowford]

Mine's lost all his feathers in the mud which is making my life easier - it's much easier to keep any eye on mites & stuff like that without all the hair.

 

[FfionWinnie]

I don't think feathers actually protect them from much and if there is an issue whipping them off will help that plus make her easier to keep clean.

My mare admittedly has no feathers but I have clipped her legs to get rid of mud fever and this has worked a treat!

 

[chickeninabun]

Ok then, so I decide I am going to clip them all off. Couple of questions...

1) Do I attack with scissors first to remove most of the length?

2) Do I then clip then from bottom to top, against the hair like you do on their bodies?

3) What do I do near the top of her leg, as her body isn't clipped and I don't want her looking too much of a fool??!

 

[chickeninabun]

Oh and a recent (very grubby) photo, in case this helps...

 

[popeyesno1fan]

I have to clip off all my boy's feather AGAIN in the morning, second year running he's got bad mud rash. Last year, he was away being schooled and was living on bogland, so put it down to that. This year, the fecker has only been out in good weather, but the land is soft, so he has it again. Got cream this evening, but it hair needs to come off. He looks so stupid without it, as he is quite bulky, so he looks like he's wearing skinny jeans. I'm sure you can just picture it. Hope he gets better soon and it grows back real soon. How good is miracle grow?

 

[chickeninabun]

Ok, so I did it!! I took all her feather off on friday!

Well I started on Thursday evening, when I hacked away with scissors and then washed what was left, so it'd be nice and clean for clipping the next day.
The next morning so bits, underneath, were still damp! Bet the bugs love it warm and damp down there!!
Anyway, I did a bit more hacking with scissors then fired the clippers up. Well they wouldn't even touch the feather!! I'm not sure if there was somethings very wrong with them but they really weren't having any of it. So I carried on with scissors for about another hour and then tried to tidy them up with my trimmers, which did much better than the clippers .

So here's the result, bearing in mind this was a scissor and trimmer job, done by someone with very little experience clipping...