New mud fever treatment from Lincoln

Its that time of year again when the battle to prevent and treat mud fever commences for horse owners throughout the UK.

Once your horse becomes infected with mud fever you need to act fast to treat it to prevent the condition from becoming worse and potentially leading to lameness and in severe cases having to have the horse put to sleep to prevent further suffering.

So here's the good news
Researchers at the University of Lincoln claim to have developed an effective therapy to treat mud fever. They have conducted trials to test the effectiveness of mud fever treatment on horses. The trials were successful, which led to the University having the treatment manufactured through Battles based in Lincoln. The new product range is called 'Muddy Buddy Mud Kure', which specifically treats the lesions and sores caused by mud fever. Frank Ruedisueli, the Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer in Bio-Veterinary Science at the University said: “Over the past five years staff and students at the University of Lincoln have been investigating potential topical anti-microbial treatments for this disease. In-vitro testing of a specific active ingredient under laboratory conditions resulted in a new formulation. This was then trialled on horses with severe or stubborn cases of the condition in a nationwide field study.” The anti-microbial products come in two forms, a powder and a cream. The powder is ideal for puffing onto wounds that are too sensitive to touch and the cream can be applied to the horse once they are less sensitive. The University claims that it will only take a few days for the sore mud fever wounds to become less sensitive once horse owners start to apply the Mud Kure powder.
A customer testimonial
Horse owner Sharon Macadam tried the products on her fourteen-year-old Dutch Warm blood, Punica, who developed mud fever in the Autumn of 2009. Punica had scabs on her back legs which got progressively worse over the following weeks, making it uncomfortable for her to lie down and walk around. Sharon said: “Every time Punica moved her legs the skin would split and it was obvious that this was very painful for her. I tried treatments from the vet and almost everything on the market but to no avail. It was heart breaking to see her in such pain and I was seriously at the point of having her put to sleep.” Within the first week of taking part in the field trials, Sharon noticed a big improvement in Punica’s condition and, after the first month, the legs were no longer splitting as much and she was able to do some light ridden work with her. “From then on it got better every week and Punica’s mud fever has since been kept at bay,” she said.
The price
The retailer's price on Equine Compare starts at £16.50 for the cream and £21.50 for the powder. Compare prices of Muddy Buddy Mud Kure If anyone has tried the Muddy Buddy range and has some feedback please get in touch and we will add it to our Tried & Tested section of the website. Email kelly@equinecompare.co.uk

Prevention is always better than the cure
The best thing horse owners can do is to prevent mud fever occurring in the first place. Prevention of mud fever can include:

• Hosing off mud every day when you bring your horse in, then drying off the legs to prevent chapping.
• Applying a barrier cream or powder or using turnout socks to prevent the mud from sitting on the horse's skin throughout the day.

For more details about sympt0ms of mud fever and how to prevent it, see the Equiportal article on 'The War Against Mud Fever'.

Source: Joni Appleton, PR and Media Manager, University of Lincoln