mud fever, and what to do if you've got it.

...this is a mud fever post...

........ a one-stop shop, let's beat it once and for all.

TCJ blog's most popular posts are all the mud fever ones (all year round), and ragwort advice. 

Tom and Henry are of course, in at night still, so they have hours with dry feet, this helps.

*It doesn't just happen in the muddy conditions of winter, Henry had it after a wet summer, as you can clearly see from the photo above. 

*don't be ashamed to ask for help, call your vet, I did, and my vet was brilliant, we couldn't have gotten through it without her help. your vet will give you pain killers and anti-biotics to fight it from the inside, whilst the creams fight it from the outside.

*ignore stupid advice from yard types who think they know everything, it's mostly passed along bad advice, and treatments have changed so significantly in the last few years your vet with have creams most people won't have even heard of.

*be super-vigilant, catch the small scabs and treat them before anything serious occurs.

*mud fever can cause terrible swelling resulting in incapacity, terrible lameness and pain.

*Wash the area thoroughly, use a diluted soloution of water/hibiscrub to pick the scabs completely off.  wear gloves, and disspose of them afterward.

 


*Without rinsing the hibiscrub away, dry the area completely.  The vet advised me to use throw-away blue paper roll to dry it, and not a towel as I had been using.  mud fever is contagious, and you need to be clean, work clean and throw everything away afterwards.

*Once dry, add a light coating of fuciderm cream, again wear gloves for this and throw them away after.  lay a dressing over the area, and hope your horse is as good as Henry here, not tied up, just standing and waiting for me to finish.

*Wrap the whole area in vetwrap, black is the correct colour for the season.  be careful not to make it too tight, your horse will need to move in it.

*Make a neat job, it'll be more comfortable that way.

*Slide the hoof-boot on.

*If your horse, like Henry, had secondary infection which casues the leg to swell, that's what your vet will give you equipalazone for, bandage the leg too.

*Fuciderm cream, it has a picture of a dog on the box, but trust me, it really works.  get it from your vet.

*Hoof-boots, very handy indeed.

*Above, after a week treatment, it's sore, but the vet told me to leave it alone unless a large amount of scabs returned, which they didn't. Henry was on anti-biotoics, bute and fuciderm cream. then after two weeks no cream, no anti-biotics, no bute.

 CHECKLIST:

• check the pasterns ever day, even the smallest scab can be very painful.
• clean the area with lots of water or if you can, stand your horses foot in a bucket of water to soften the scab.
• wear rubber gloves, the sort of thing you see at crime scenes on the telly.  mud fever is contagious, you don't want to spread it from one leg to another, or to another horse either. throw everything away afterwards.
• add a cap-full of pink hibiscrub to a 100 parts water, it's weak, that's what you want. wash the area, use this to help remove the scabs.
•  pick the scabs completely off, be gentle it'll hurt your horse.  be patient with him, he'll be in pain. if the scabs are many CALL THE VET.
• this part is important:  use disposable blue-roll to absolutely and completely dry the area.  you can throw it away. 
• give your horse an hug and a handful of well-deserved treats.
• once dry, put more gloves on and add a little cream from the vet to the area.
• add equipalazone or equibutazone to his dinner, alongside anti-biotics, and breakfast, usually for about three days. that's why calling the vet is important, it'll only last for weeks longer if you don't.
•  then, if your horse is going out, put a clean gauze over the area, with gamgee over that, held in place with vet wrap.
• and use hoof-boots, I promise you, once you get some, there'll be no going back, they're brilliant.  

LESSONS LEARNED:

• CALL THE VET, IT'LL SAVE YOU TIME AND YOUR HORSE PAIN IN THE LONG RUN, the mud fever infection will be treated from within with drugs, and without with cream and barrier methods.

Henry's pastern after three weeks:

 

TCJpart21 Rugging Horses

TO RUG OR NOT TO RUG...THAT IS THE QUESTION:
...and one we ask ourselves everyday once we've checked the local weather...it's tricky, but there are some checks you can make to be more...'scientific' about your choices...

Tom & Henry rock the snowsuits in FALPRO silver interactive well-fitting rugs.  They cost me a fortune, but they're so worth it.

I strongly believe in keeping my horses as naturally as possible, I don’t trim them at all except their tails but only because they get so long the boys tread on them getting up and down!

Horses are designed to be outdoors with only natural shelter from sun and rain. Obviously if your horse was designed for arid dessert environment and you keep him in the UK, or your horse is clipped, rugs are a very useful tool.

Mine are happy rugless, they cope with extreme cold as their natural temperature control is better than any rug can provide.  

They grow good hairy coats and provided I keep the mud roughly brushed off so the hair can stand up they have a brilliant personal heating system, there is hardly ever any need to rug them.

Having said all that their are certain 'triggers' in the weather, which mean I can  be flexible with rugs, since I would much rather them be out with a good rug on, than shut away indoors where space is restricted.  If there is one important lesson I have learned keeping T&H, is that being outdoors, with freedom to roam in safety is the most important thing to a horse.

**I keep their stable doors open all year round full of clean bedding and fresh haylage, the only times they consistently choose to use the shelter of their boxes is in hot and sunny weather.  They never go inside in the rain.  They might stand together with their bums toward the rain or wind backs against the hedge of their boundary looking, we believe, miserable, but this is extreme anthropomorphising - they are not us - we'd rather have a hot bath, get into jamies and sit by the fire with a cuppa - horses want to be outside...end of story.

Tom and Henry looking all snugly in the cold.  rain was forecast overnight, hence the rugs.

Triggers:

I spent a lot of time analysing my horses at different times of the year.  Measuring their temperatures, noting their behaviour during a variety of weathers.  And I learned to my surprise that I had been rugging them far too much, and the effect of this ultimately meant their natural defences (their coats) were never fully winter ready. Now they are.

I do however rug them when certain markers are reached, triggers in the combination of elements.  With a temperature + rain + wind strategy, it’s easy to work out the rug situation.

Spend time outdoors with your horse in lots of weathers and understand what his needs are. I set temperature goals for certain scenarios and stick by them. I have a thermometer in the feed room which I check twice a day, and I keep a careful watch on the local weather forecast too, find one that is as accurate as possible for your area.

The triggers I have decided to use to decide whether rugs go on or not are:

Temperature.

Rain/Snow/Sleet,

Wind

...and combinations of all those.

I know for example at what air temperature Tom and Henry begin to get cold (put your face up against your horses body, feel the warmth coming through the hair...or not - this  also means you don't need to take your gloves off either). 

It's very rare that I will rug against cold only. 

It's 2 degrees today, sunny dry mid December morning, they are naked.

When I do, it's because it's dropped below a certain marker/temperature.  You can find this out about your own horse by noticing how cold it needs to get before he is cold. It's really worth doing this groundwork, because you might be surprised like I was how few times they actually need rugs on - we like them to be snugly when we leave them at night in the winter...but that may not be what they need, and in certain cases, might also be unhealthy. 

 In the rain too, as long as its not below 4degrees I keep them naked. When I do rug is if the combination of wet + cold happens, when the rain is heavy and prolonged: IE, it’s unlikely there will be time to get dry and warm before another downpour, or if it's very windy. This will mean the moisture will evaporate off their bodies and keep them at a lower temperature,

IE: rain + wind, means cold = rugs. The wind changes everything, because if they’re wet, wind can make a happy horse very cold, very quickly.

wet + cold = rugs

If its just prolonged wet, a lightweight sheet goes on, well fitted of course so it doesn’t hinder their natural movement (and for T&H that’s means galloping about like mad things).

Cold/wet/windy they have a medium turnout for that extra snugly quality.

And in the snow, they have a heavyweight, because I don’t want them freezing in combination with the wetness of the snow, and they roll about in it, gallop about in it and eat it too!

Tom & Henry xxx

Consider the long-term effects of deep mud - not just for mud fever. Wet mud is very cold in winter, and your horse might be standing in it all day, getting cold from the feet up. This is another trigger for me bringing Tom & Henry in at night. Their feet get a chance to be clean, dry and warm.

When the weather always has my fields wet and muddy, and it’s cold and windy too, they come in at night. Above 5degrees they remain rugless

Neck covers: I buy rugs with them because I like the options of being able to be flexible with my weather protection, but rarely use them. Tom & Henry LOVE to roll and the neck covers just seem to lessen their enjoyment of getting as filthy as possible!

ahhhhh...Henry xxx

I sometimes rug indoors too, because the restricted room disallows them to move about and get themselves warm as they would do whilst out.

So indoors + extreme cold (minus2 degrees for eg (you decide what your own level is for your horse)) = rugs. 

Choosing rugs can be tricky.  I have found a brand that fits my boys perfectly so I buy all their outfits from that brand.  They don’t rub, they never slip, are fully, easily and quickly adjustable, marvellously waterproof, modern and lightweight and have silver interactive linings, which to my surprise really do make cuts and knocks heal quickly!

Be fussy when you buy rugs, assume you'll spend a fortune for a good one, it'll be worth it - I have had mine for years, and only needed to buy more because the boys grew!!  check they fit your horses body shape well - there are so many shapes and fits - because they will be spending all day in them, they have got to perform.

happy rugging.......or not! xx

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