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Mud fever: Do’s & dont's – step by step

Mud fever: Do’s & dont's – step by step
Mud fever: Do’s & dont's – step by step

Mud fever – probably the horse owner's worst enemy at this time of year. Especially this year, where there has been very little frost and lots of rain, the soil bacteria are thriving out in the Danish muddy fields. If the horse has even a tiny scratch in the skin, the bacteria can take hold faster than you can blink. Fortunately, we have a cure that really works.

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We know it…

Even here at the editorial office, we have a horse with four white socks, which is affected by mud fever every single winter. In this mild winter, where the soil bacteria thrive wonderfully, it has suffered from severe, antibiotic-requiring mud fever on all four legs twice within a few months. In other words, we know all too well how frustrating it is to have to fight such a stubborn condition

Mud fever: Do’s & dont's – step by step

In the picture, you see the editorial office's severely mud fever-affected horse when it looked the worst. And that's just one of the legs. Fortunately, the horse – two weeks later – has become fit for fight again. It required a double antibiotic treatment, a zinc cure, 7 days on a paddock without mud, an ointment specifically selected by the vet and finally a thick layer of vaseline to protect the horse's legs when it was time to get back into the mud. A proper treatment, but it worked.

After having taken up the fight and spoken with vet after vet, we simply feel that we have to share the experiences with you. We dare to promise that our do's & dont's and step by step guide work if you just follow everything closely. When it comes to mud fever, there is – unfortunately – no shortcut. It's just hard work to get rid of the small microorganisms.

Mud fever is many things

Mud fever is actually a collective term for an infection in the horse's legs caused by bacteria, fungi, mites, or dermatophilus (which is also a bacteria). The type of mud fever we deal with in this article is the one caused by bacteria in the soil. By the way, you must not compare mud fever with the mold found on spoiled food – it's something completely different. Precisely because mud fever covers many infectious diseases, it can be difficult to find the right cure. What works on one horse may not work on another when they are affected by two different bacterial or fungal infections.

Do’s

Here are a handful of good advice, which we dare to say you have to follow if you want to have a chance to get rid of your horse's mud fever attack.

Dry, dry, dry!

The absolute keyword when it comes to treating mud fever is: Dry! The less the horse's legs are exposed to moisture, the less the mud fever has to "live off". Therefore, it is always good to cut the hair as short as possible (preferably with a machine), and dry them with a towel followed by a hairdryer if they are wet.

Wash only every third day

When you wash and scrub your horse's legs, you are wearing on the skin. If you do it every day, you risk making the skin so porous that even the tiniest grain of sand on the muddy paddock can create a tear, which can lead to infection. Many vets therefore recommend not washing and scrubbing your horse's legs more often than every third day. When you do scrub the leg, it's good to use, for example, an old, washed (but clean!) towel, which can easily scrub off the soaked scabs.

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Bring out the hairdryer

Of course, we understand that if your horse still comes in from the paddock every single day with mud over the fetlocks, it may be good to rinse it off. Here it's just about avoiding scrubbing too much. Instead, bring out the hairdryer when you have rinsed off the mud. If your horse is terrified of hairdryers, you'll have to go for a ride or walk with it so that the legs can air dry.

Use a good, disinfectant soap

When you wash your horse's skin thoroughly about every third day, remember to do it properly. Cold water and regular soap are not enough. Use a good disinfectant soap and hot water, which can better soften the scabs. The Equine Surgical Shampoo from NetTex is good - in contrast to, for example, Medi-Skrub - because it does not need to be rinsed out again. It can be purchased in many online shops with horse articles.

Let the mud solidify

If you only come out to your horse many hours after it has been let in, then don't wash its legs to get the mud off. This will only provide better conditions for bacteria. Instead, brush off the mud that has solidified. Then you can go for a ride on dry ground and brush off the last mud.

Feed with zinc

Last but not least, don't underestimate the effect of a good quality zinc cure. Zinc is one of the most important building blocks for the horse's skin and hair. Therefore, a leg attacked by mud fever will have difficulty fighting bacteria - or fungal spores - if the horse is deficient in zinc. A supplement with zinc is therefore a good investment, both in terms of prevention and fighting mud fever. We recommend the zinc cure HestaPlus Zinc from St. Hippolyt, which is made to quickly restore zinc balance.

Let the vet culture a sample

To properly get rid of stubborn mud fever, it's important to get your vet to culture a sample of it. Only then will you have the opportunity to get hold of the right preparation and get an answer on whether the horse needs penicillin or perhaps even stronger antibiotics to get well. Some mud fever simply cannot be removed without antibiotics. Many have good experiences with prescription drugs such as Socatyl, which is available as both a paste and an ointment. However, it is only effective against a certain type of organisms, which is why it makes sense that only the vet can prescribe such products when a sample of the infection has been cultured.

Read also: Malgré Tout’s checklist for the summer

Dont's

And then there are all the things that we absolutely advise against doing...

Don't pick all the scabs off

Even though we mention that you should gently scrub the scabs off the mud fever affected areas about every third day, don't think that you should do everything you can to get all the scabs off. If you end up tearing off a scab that is not 'ready' to come off, you risk creating a new entry point for the bacteria, much like if you were to tear the scab off a regular wound, leaving it wide open. You should simply let the towel do the work when you scrub and not remove more at a time than it can handle. As the days go by, the scabs will gradually become smaller and smaller, and eventually, the mud fever will be gone.

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Do not apply ointment to damp skin

Another very important point is that you should never apply ointment to your horse's skin while it is damp. If you do, you essentially trap the moisture and create favorable conditions for bacteria to thrive under the ointment. The horse's legs should be completely dry (and we mean completely dry) before you apply your - no doubt expensive - mud fever ointment.

Use Honey Sparingly - Prefer Vaseline

You might have heard that honey can be beneficial for mud fever due to its antibacterial properties and ability to repel water. Although this is true to a certain extent and it's the reason honey is often found in some ointments you can buy, you should avoid common edible honey. It can contain soil bacteria and fungal spores that can exacerbate the mud fever and potentially even cause an infection. Instead, you can use fragrance-free Vaseline or Vaseline supplemented with antibacterial properties, which very effectively seals the horse's skin and protects it from moisture. Unless you resort to classic Vaseline which can certainly handle the task, we recommend the Vaseline products Protection Plus from Carr, Day & Martin, and Mud Gard Barrier Cream from NAF.

Note:

When you coat your horse's fetlocks with water-resistant ointment like Vaseline, they'll become a bit sticky, and it can be challenging to rinse or brush out all the dirt from the coat the next day. But don't worry about that - just clean the legs as well as you can.

Give the legs a break from the mud

If your horse suffers from mud fever caused by soil bacteria, you can almost guarantee that you won't eliminate it until the horse gets away from that bacterial flora and potentially gets onto antibiotics. When you start fighting mud fever, you should avoid immediately sending your horse back to a muddy paddock, but give it a 5-7 day break from the bacteria. You can do this by keeping the horse inside the stable or better yet, put it on a grass or sand paddock until the worst mud fever is gone and the antibiotic has started to work. A horse with severe mud fever caused by soil bacteria won't benefit from getting back into the mud before the treatment starts to have an effect.

Mud fever: Do’s & dont's – step by step
A horse with severe mud fever caused by soil bacteria should not be exposed to mud before the treatment begins to take effect.

Forget mud wraps in deep mud

Something else you shouldn't do is put mud wraps on your horse and think that it can then go back into the deep mud. Mud wraps can be useful, but definitely not when the mud reaches above the fetlocks. Instead of keeping the moisture out, they will keep it in along with the bacteria that inevitably make their way under them when the mud is that deep. However, mud wraps can be a wonderful help in the first few days if you've put your horse out on a sand or grass paddock that is also wet, to avoid the mud. Just remember to remove the wraps from the horse as soon as it's brought in so the skin can breathe.

When the horse has been on a non-mud paddock for about 7 days and has been under correct treatment, you can - if you have no other options - return it to a muddy paddock by protecting its legs with a water-resistant ointment. We speak from experience when we stress that Vaseline or other water-resistant ointments are far better to use than mud wraps when the mud is as deep as it unfortunately is in many horse paddocks around Denmark.

Step by step: Get rid of mud fever

Day 1

  1. Rinse the horse's legs clean.
  2. Lather the leg in warm water with a good, disinfecting soap and let it sit for a bit.
  3. Dry the leg and rub the mud fever affected area vigorously with a clean towel.
  4. Trim the fur entirely down in the affected area.
  5. Blow dry the entire leg until it is completely dry.
  6. Ride, if you want.
  7. Apply a bactericidal cream to the mud fever affected area.
  8. Coat the entire fetlock with a water-resistant ointment.

Day 2 or 3

  1. Allow the mud to dry completely (if you want to ride at this point, you can - it will help air dry the leg)
  2. Brush off all the mud thoroughly - first with a coarse brush and then with a soft one.
  3. You may also choose to ride now.
  4. Apply bactericidal cream to the mud fever affected area.
  5. Apply a water-resistant ointment to the entire pastern.

Day 2 or 3

  1. Rinse the horse's legs clean (and do not dry them)
  2. Ride, if you would like to - it will help the leg air dry.
  3. Dry the part of the coat that is not yet dry after the ride with a blow dryer.
  4. Apply bactericidal cream to the mud fever affected area.
  5. Apply a water-resistant ointment to the entire pastern.

Repeat this procedure until the mud fever is gone.

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