Pedicure February - Delayed

I had to postpone 'Mr F's pedicure by a week due to his legs. The skin on the back of his pastern is still thick and scabby and he feels uncomfortable if I 'bend' his hooves to clean them because of the skin being so hard.

I change his bandages twice a day after removing scabby skin each time; spending a good three hours each day trying to keep on top of it all. Meanwhile 'Mr F' is enjoying all the extra grooming and company and so do I. I have tried all kinds of things to keep his legs mud free. The back entrance to the cowshed is covered in a thick, deep layer of mud. In fact the entire area at the back, the small orchard, is one big mud swamp. It goes well above my ankles when I step in it and I am no 550kg. But there is nowhere else I can put 'Mr F'. This is the first time where I am learning that having a horse at a yard that is not yours is a matter of constant compromises.

In addition, I don't have a huge budget to just throw at things. Which in a way makes me learn more as I have to do research to find my own solutions. If things do go out of control of course the vet will be called.

I have found a way of bandaging 'Mr f's legs so that they stay clean during turnout in deep mud.

The bandages survived an entire night and have kept the affected skin clean.

To assist recovery I use Iodine solution and Sudocream. The skin irritations are improving and he is much less itchy. I doubt this is mud-fever but perhaps more an allergic reaction to mud. Or rain scald. Short of taking a scrape off his skin and sending it off to the lab, it's impossible to diagnose. I don't fancy having his skin scraped, we seem to be getting on top of it so I hope nature will sort out the rest.

 Please summer ... hurry up! We all have had enough of this rain and mud!