Mud/Mud Fever Avoidance Tactics!

[kermie]

I'm very impressed with the Net-tex Muddy Marvel Barrier Cream. I've been keeping my guys in for one night a week each over the past month so their legs can dry off.

Before I've turned them back out, I've been using the Muddy Marvel cream and it is DEFINITELY making difference. Each winter my ponies lose their spat (hair round their fetlocks - important with Fells!) and some of their feather......despite me using pig oil and sulphur.

The MM stuff is waterproof but breathable and it is doing the bizz. Last weekend I didn't manage to bring Polly in, so it was a fortnight since she had last had her cream on. Her legs looked filthy when I brought her in, but the next morning they were dry and hardly needed a brush......fab stuff!!

[katie]

Good to know, before we moved yards all the horses were plagued by mudfever, was an absolute nightmare.
I found washing with the alva medicated shampoo then applying the alva miracle cream really helped. But you would obviously still need a barrier type cream for turnout.

[kermie]

katie said:

I found washing with the alva medicated shampoo then applying the alva miracle cream really helped. But you would obviously still need a barrier type cream for turnout.

There is a Muddy Marvel shampoo and scab cream too. Thankfully my ponies don't seem to get mud fever - they just lose lots of feather, etc. The good thing about the barrier cream is that it is breathable so it seems to be more effective than the likes of udder cream.

[katie]

Is the muddy marvel stuff from alva too? Have not seen it before, will have a look through their catalogue.

[kermie]

katie said:

Is the muddy marvel stuff from alva too? Have not seen it before, will have a look through their catalogue.

No it's a company called Net-tex that make it. They do some other stuff too, which I will give a go now that I know the barrier cream is so good.

[Emma!]

A cheaper alternative which has worked for all the horses at the yard I'm at is to buy hibiscrub and a standard antibacterial shampoo for horses. Mix the two together and dilute to required stength for horse, and was the horses legs with it as often as your horse requieres. For annie thats once a week. Has a worked a treat, and one mixture has lasted a good 2 months.

[kermie]

misssbird said:

A cheaper alternative which has worked for all the horses at the yard I'm at is to buy hibiscrub and a standard antibacterial shampoo for horses.

Tried that for the first couple of years - absolutely no use for my ponies...maybe because they live out so their legs are wet for most of the week. I definitely feel they need something that stays on their legs as a barrier as opposed to something to wash the mud off.

[bangle]

Im lucky dont seem to be bothered with mud fever, I put it down to deep straw beds...but I did have a mare who got it one year as she was on shavings, i used stuff from IV horse think it was called MPF like an oil used to put it in a sprayer and spray on her legs and rub in, got rid of the scabs and stopped them coming back.

[Emma!]

I used MFP before the hibiscrub idea and that also worked very well.

[Kath the Magic Dragon]

When our horses have had mud fever - the joy of all those white legs - we tried everything - camrosa etc and nothing seemed to help much, apart from time. BUT i've found that gently rubbing sudocrem into the scabs works wonders - it softens the scabs gently and acts as a barrier to the mud too. Luckily they've never had it really seriously, and thank goodness not for the last few year - the advantage of having a small number of horses in a a field!

We also never wash legs unless going to a show - this helps keep the skin tough. However we're lucky in the fact that we have very little mud anyway - famous last words, as it pours down outside!

[furrynumnah]

Wills has had a bout of mud fever at the beginning of the winter for the past two years and the only thing that fixed it was box confinement.

However, my old eventer used to get bad rain scald in his stifle area (even under a heavyweight rug...work that one out) and the best thing I found was to wash the area with Hibiscrub then apply Dermobion (RIP ).

[rhummy]

furrynumnah said:

However, my old eventer used to get bad rain scald in his stifle area (even under a heavyweight rug...work that one out) and the best thing I found was to wash the area with Hibiscrub then apply Dermobion (RIP ).

Thats how I fixed Rhum's back, washed it with hibiscrub, then applied Dermobion (although Its not available anymore). Also used to put a thick layer of Vaseline on the sores to protect them from the rain, and it has healed perfectly. Also put some Sudocreme on it aswell.

[kermie]

rhummy said:

Thats how I fixed Rhum's back

I think this Muddy Marvel stuff could be ideal if Rhum's back suffers in the future Scott. I'm going to try it next year when the youngsters get rainscald to see if it will prevent me having to rug them up

[Emma!]

For rain rash, when Annie was on boxrest I put baby oil over her back, then rugged her up. The next day washed her back and it brought it all pretty much off. A week of this and there was nothing left!

[rosie]

never had mud fever since using keratex powder it is great just put it on at first sign of wet conditions summer or winter as one of the worst episodes i had was in summer