To wash or not to wash?

[midgey]

Don't beleive in washing mud off .Prefer to leave to dry and brush out.

[specialsparkle3]

I never ever washed the mud off their legs. I had deep straw beds which , when the mud dried , used to clean their legs naturally necessitating only a quick brush in the morning. I learned my lesson when I bred a chestnut with 3 white legs and I used to have to wash her legs before shows in the Summer. I used to towel dry them really well , but she still got cracked heels .

[laurac]

leaving mud on to dry i find the best protection

[arabmania]

Hi Luckyred.
I never wash my horses legs off, regardless of what ground they are stood in during the winter wet months. My thoughts are to let them dry off naturally and brush off in the morning and apply field paste ready for the next onslaught. Skin gets softened enough without further water on them. I truely believe that washing them does absolutely no good at all.
To add to this my mares never have problems with any bacteria entering (mud fever) .

[shan]

Re; Pig oil - you can buy it from Countrywide, farmers merchants, ebay... costs vary but around £20 for 4.5 litres which will last ages. It's a synthetic oil, paraffin based (paraffin wax is used on people skin too) so it repels the water (and mud!). We decant ours into a spray bottle, and I spray my mare's lower legsm heels & top of hoof well and rub it round to make sure she's coated in it. You only need to put it on every few days or once a week. I sometimes stick a bit on her hocks. You can put it on manes & tails too

[marvin]

I am trying the not washing off this yr, last yr I washed off every night and dried and put cream on to help spot MF...but he got the worse he had ever had, one hind leg got swollen right up and he had ot have a weeks worth of antibiotics and stay in until all scabs gone, he was not happy about that I can tell you.
This yr I have only washed off once to check if any scabs were there but I did put on stable boots until they were completly dry after. I have not washed his legs at all and fingers crossed no sign of MF (not yet anyway) so will see how it goes.

[KimT]

Jack and Billy used to get mud fever until mum discovered something called protection plus. We would put in on in the morning, leave to dry over night, brush mud off and re-apply the following morning. I did occasionally hose Jack's legs to put boots on (sports medicine boots cover a large area) but I would dry as much as possible.

After having the boys I would aim to wash as little as possible. Jack and Billy were both tb's. Jack is the chestnut in my pic and Billy was bay with 1 white sock. He got mud fever on all legs though. Also, I was told not to use vaseline because it doesn't let the skin breath.

[mags]

I don't wash it off. Mine is out 24/7 with "normal" mud. Even when his legs are very muddy, if I look closely, I can see he's still not wet down to his skin, so I leave well enough alone. I like to use a small slicker brush (dog supplies) to brush out the mud before putting boots on. Never had a problem.
My friend's turnout is clay-based muck to above the fetlock. Hers don't get hosed either (though have the alternative to move onto hard standing if they want to dry out) and while they did get thrush last winter, they don't have problems with mud fever either.

IMO, I would not hose unless you can ensure the legs get dried off completely afterwards.