Mud fever (pastern dermatitis) causes painful skin infections in horses' lower limbs. Understanding prevention and treatment reduces suffering during wet weather periods.
Mud fever causes progressive pain as skin infection deepens into the dermis and sub-dermal tissue. Mild cases cause irritation and discomfort around the pastern; severe cases cause acute lameness from deep tissue inflammation that makes weight-bearing painful. The removal of adherent scabs during treatment is painful without appropriate preparation, yet necessary for topical treatments to reach affected tissue. Repeated or chronic mud fever causes skin scarring and increased susceptibility to future episodes. The preventable nature of most cases through pasture management makes mud fever particularly significant from a welfare perspective.