Mud fever starts with skin kept wet and muddy for too long, so prevention is a ground routine and a leg routine working together. Horses loiter in gateways — waiting to come in, watching the yard, standing where every footfall churns the same patch deeper. That patch is where the work begins, and the legs that stand in it are where the routine finishes each day.
Fix the Gateway Before the Legs
Rotate or rest wet gateways wherever the field layout allows it, moving the waiting and feeding spots so one strip of ground is not poached all winter. Where a gateway cannot move, give it drainage or hard standing where possible: a drained, surfaced pad at the gate ends the daily stand in liquid mud even when the rest of the field stays soft. Scrape accumulated mud off standing areas before it deepens, keep trough overflow from running across the gate, and avoid feeding hay in the gateway itself, which draws the whole herd to stand in the worst ground for an hour at a time. None of this makes a wet winter dry; it shortens the hours each day that pasterns spend soaked, which is what the skin needs.
Inspect Daily While the Wet Lasts
In wet spells, legs are inspected daily — every horse, every day the ground stays sodden, not when someone remembers. Run a hand down each pastern and heel, feeling through feather where a horse carries it, because scabs and sore patches hide under hair long before they show. Look and feel for crusty scabs, broken skin, swelling and heat, and compare legs against each other and against yesterday. A horse whose pasterns come in clean and dry day after day needs nothing more; a horse developing roughness under the feather needs its drying routine tightened and its gateway time cut first. As the standing practice, wet legs are washed rarely and clipped sparingly: daily hosing soaks skin that is already saturated, and close clipping removes the hair that sheds water, so both stay purposeful exceptions rather than daily habits.
Dry Thoroughly Before the Stable
Legs are dried thoroughly before stabling, every wet evening without exception. Mud brushed off dry legs comes away cleanly, so let legs dry, then brush; where legs come in wet, towel them down and give the horse time on a dry bed before the skin spends the night against bedding. Damp pasterns under a deep bed stay damp for hours, and that overnight damp is where sore skin takes hold. Check heels again as the last job of the evening routine, when the legs are dry enough to feel honestly, and note any horse whose skin felt different so tomorrow's inspection starts with that leg.
Signs That Leave the Yard Routine and Go to a Vet
This routine is prevention, and its limits are plain. Scabs that spread, swelling up the leg, heat in the pastern, soreness, a horse reluctant to have a leg handled, or any break in the skin that worsens rather than settles are signs that route to a veterinarian. Established mud fever is a vet conversation: the vet examines the legs, judges what the skin needs and directs any treatment. The yard's job at that point is accurate reporting — when the signs appeared, which legs, what the ground has been like — not home treatment layered under bandages.
Who Does What, Every Wet Day
The routine holds because it is rostered, not remembered. Lee carries the morning leg inspection, hands on every pastern while horses are fed, and Priya carries the evening drying check, toweling and brushing legs before each horse is bedded down. Gateway rotation is decided at the weekend and written into the same week's plan, so nobody guesses which gate is resting. A missed gateway rotation shows up fast when the Care Teams board on KinsLe leaves that day's leg check unticked.