Managing Mud Fever

Try to keep her legs dry (bring her in at night and refrain from repeated washing of the legs, this softens the skin and makes it easier for bacteria to get in

Don’t wash it if you possibly avoid it, as that will remove all the new cells!

Stop washing it – The washing irritates it.

My vet told me not to use hibiscrub for washing as  it is too harsh

No scrubbing or washing and dry mud on a stabled horse should be gently brushed off.  A deep bed of barley straw dries legs and gets rid of overnight mud.

Instead of washing, my vet recommended baby oil to remove scabs which worked, then treat..

Bathe it in very strong salt water to kill the bacteria then dry it and put sudocreme on it. X

 

Pig oil is great as a barrier,and leaves the skin in great condition, contains sulphur. Not to be used on legs with scabs and open wounds as it stings..

We use a mixture of pig oil and sulphur powder, mix it so you have a yellow paste, and apply either once or twice a day. The pig oil softens the scabs to help them drop off, and sulphur powder has excellent antibacterial qualities, it’s an old fashioned method, but proven it’s worth time and time again.

Make sure you use gloves to apply it as it does stink and it’s hard to get the smell off your hands!

Keep the legs dry – I bought turnout chaps and boots which are advertised for mud fever – they worked with my regime and they have sulphur in them

Can get worse under boots!

I recommend using keretex mud powder as a prevention it is easy to apply and leaves a slightly oily residue in the hair which you can feel when you brush/rinse off and which protects the skin

We use keratin or alum powder on clean legs before turn out.

Those that don’t mind get pig oil on their heels before turn out and anything living out gets sprayed with iodine or cyclo spray twice a week. The key is not to trap the bug on the skin and be aware of what Dermatophilus is sensitive to.  It only takes a thorn scratch or an open hair follicle for the bug to claim it.

Avoid legs getting filled as stretching the skin causes cracks.

I started planning for prevention, so since late spring she’s been on the gold label Equinacea and since late summer on the equine answers mud warrior powder too and this week I’ve started using Net-Tex Seven Day Mud Away. So far she’s been mud fever free but I’m sure my battle will start once the real wet weather kicks in.

I’ve decided to keep her feathers on rather than clip.

 

Move yards – The causative organism is known to survive in soil for at least 42 months.

Make sure there’s no clover in her grazing! I’ve had my mare for 9 years never had mud fever until we moved to a yard where the clover was rife and she suffered mud fever all summer. We’ve since moved yards and the mud fever has cleared!

It’s in the soil. I tried everything then moved yard and it never returned.

Apply flamazine daily

No single cream works on all horses. Fucidin H will reduce inflammation, but only use for a few days then change. Germoline ointment often works well.

After a couple of vet visits at the beginning and late spring this year, antibiotics etc, the final thing that cleared it up was forever living aloe vera gel

Our mare has pastern dermatitis- looks like mud fever but does not respond to same treatments. Once the infection was cleared with antibiotics, vet advised controlling it by feeding milk thistle, using B-panthen not sudocrem, occasional use of Betnovate steroid cream.

Zinc and castor oil nappy cream is a good barrier and sulphur