We have had snow, rain, sleet and freezing rain since before Christmas and we're suppose to have more tonight into tomorrow. So you can imagine what our horses are living in here in Oklahoma....

My 9 month old colt has I think mud fever. His back hind leg fetlocks are swollen, and on his front legs on his pasterns he has no hair. Yesterday after washing off all the mud I found that all the skin on his pasterns are gone the skin is pink, but he does not have scabs or puss. I did give him bute paste last night around 4:30. This morning I have washed his legs and put on a thick layer of Corona cream on his pasterns and I gave him bute.

There is no place where he can really go get out of the mud, but I do have the option of keeping him over at a friend barn, but it would be maybe a little bigger then a 10 x 10, I really don't want to do this becuase he's about to jump out of his skin as it since he's had no running/playing exercise since the weather turned so bad.

Can any one give me any suggestions?

Please, I'm worried about him. And is this going to make him lame for the rest of his life?

Yikes!

I'm not real familiar with this problem, but from what you've said and what daisy chimed in with, I'd say get the horse to your friends place and get a vet out there immediately.

Let us know how this turns out, we're shaping up for a very wet and muddy spring where I live, so I'd like to know more about this.

I would definitely get him to the Vet. Only a properly trained Vet can tell you for sure what it is and how to properly treat it as well as prescribe the correct medications for your horse in the quantities needed.

You can promote quicker healing by keeping the horse stalled, keeping the stall clean, and medicating the wounds frequently. Along with Mud fever comes what is called proud flesh and the wounds have got to be cleaned regularly and thoroughly to promote good healing. Contrary to what most people think, circulation is very very poor in a horses lower extremities and healing is much slower because of it. Hoof and leg injuries on a horse need to be aggressively treated like yesterday to prevent long term problems.

Good luck!!

I did get him stalled, my barn owner offered one of his stalls at the last minute. I stalled him from Monday afternoon(2/8) to Saturday morning(2/13) at which time my barn owner had turned him out for some much needed exercise. Before that the swelling had gone down from his back fetlocks and he was on a 7 day regimate of Tucaprim. When I brought him in from his little pasture run I did wash down his legs and dry them off. And yes the hair was gone not the skin!!!

He's much better, I did turn him back out into his paddock where it was dry (no mud) Tuesday morning. We are suppose to get more rain this weekend so we'll see how he does. I will be watching him closely from now on, from what I understand from reading a bunch of article on 'pastern dermatitis that it's something that I will always have to watch for. So he will just have to get use to being stalled from time to time if I see that he's having a reaction from the mud.

Thank you all for your advice and sending me those articles....

I checked up on him this evening - and his legs are still doing good. Tomorrow I think I'm going to hose them down just to be on the safe side and plus it gives me an excuse to play with his legs more.... and desensitize him more to me touching his legs...

He's doing good, though... I am really hoping that the rain/percipation that we're suppose to get this weekend will not be bad at all...

If swelling occurs again I might have to stall him again....

Which after seeing how it was making him crazy and really active to say the least I really understand why people don't like to stall their horses... free is better

Glad to hear your horse is doing better! If you had a friend with an indoor arena you could give him turnout in that would have been more ideal than a stall but I'm glad you have the resources to help him. Sounds like you've got the situation under control!

I would love to have an indoor arena. I tried to walk my soon to be 4 year old MFT and he's so full of energy that he reared up and struck out and his hoof got the tip of my thumb... It hasn't turned purple yet...but it did hurt

So, that round pen might be a priority so I could just get my horses some exercise...my barn owner has the pasture tied up with his long horn cows (who's going to have babies at the end of March, maybe - I might get to see a baby being born!!!) anyway...

I'll keep you all informed how my little stud colt is doing....

Grrrr

It's raining again so I took Scout out and washed is feet off - dried them off and put some Desitine on his pastern the best I could with all his dancing from side to side - it was kinda hard to get anything done on that baby

But I got it accomplished and I didn't get kicked. But I really need this weather to dry up - he was standing in his lean to shed, so I thought well I'll go and put his hay bag in there so it'll keep him there... well so I climbed over the fence so I wouldn't have to undo the gate (very heavy gate) and when he saw me in his paddock he come running up towards me, and I waved the hay bag at him to get him to stop, and he did and he stood there shook his head at me, bounced up and down on his front legs - took off running with his head down and just kicking and bucking...I finally backed my way to the lean to shed - I had to keep my eyes on him because I didn't know what he was going to do....I hung the bag and he come running in there - rearing and turning his butt towards me - there were moments where I really thought that he was going double barrel me with both back legs...I got out of there and climbed the fence over to my older horses paddock...and Scout was running up and down the fence bucking and kicking and rearing...man that colt has energy... I honestly don't think I can take care of his pasterns/fetlocks in this mudstuff safely... not until he gets some of that energy burned off of him...

He's got personality but it's not funny when he's coming at you....

So if any of you have warm weather send it this way please
Need my round penn but then again it's too wet to work them in the round pen!!!


Anyway, had to tell you about my advneture...

Scout sounds like any colt with tons of energy and not a lot of knowledge and/or respect of his handler. He will profit from any groundwork you can do with him once it warms up and dries up. Until then, stay safe. If a horse is coming at you front first, throw your arms up at the horse's eye level and speak gruffly for him to stop it, maybe a "Hey, get back!" kind of warning. You could also swing the hay net or whatever you have in your hand at the time at him. At this point he's just playing games with you, but you do need to keep the upper hand and remind him that you're not to be trifled with (or charged at!)

When a horse is threatening to kick (turning his hind end, humping up his rear, or bucking too close for comfort) you should respond with the gruff warning, "Hey, stop that!" and a smack with a lunge whip (only if it's long enough you can swing it at him without being too close to his heels) and an automatic step back to keep yourself safe.

Kicking is so dangerous in a horse that it's never okay, and it would be a good practice to react like an older dominant mare in this situation. Scout threatens, and the mare lunges at him with teeth bared. If he dares kick, she wheels and strikes out with both hind feet. The quicker your response and the more shocking the better. A good smack with a lunge whip or even if you have a halter in your hand and you can throw it hard enough to land on his rear end will remind him not to kick at you ever again. Just keep yourself safe.

One other thought: He's still a stud, isn't he? He might profit a WHOLE lot from a vet visit once the ground is dry enough to lay him down and cut him.

I take my CA stick and string in with me now, and if he comes at me with an attitude I use the whip and make him move his feet away from me. And if he comes at me again with his head down low and shaking it at me - or sometimes he likes to get right up on me and I'm afraid that he's going to rear - if he even takes a step until my space I use the whip to back him up. If he gets really onery - I really make him hustle those feet and won't let him come back in until he stops with the attitude.

And yes once the weather gets better I do plan on getting him fixed.