Paul has Mud Fever

Last week, we noticed it in back white socked pastern. He let my barn owner and I iodine wash it and pick the scabs off but now it's on the other back pastern and he won't let me touch either of them now. It must really be bothering him because when I had him lope today, he kept bucking with his back legs and he never does that. I try to wash the area with clean water and then had to fight with him to put corona on it. There was no way I could get to the scabs today. I went to the local feed store and bought some anti-fungal spray called Banixx and will spend most of the day tomorrow trying to clean the corona off and spray the Banixx on. I have a question, if I can't get to the scabs to scrap off, will it heal or do the scabs definitely need to be removed? Any other suggestions for OTC creams I can get.

You will need to pick off the scabs. :c Poor guy.

Desitin diaper rash cream works well. So does Eqyss spray. Betadine also does well. We've had an outbreak at the barn I was/am riding at.

Betadine scrub works really well (more effective than Iodine) to dry up the scabs. We used it exclusively at my barn and it worked beautifully on rain rot too. You can buy it at most major drug stores, and probably Walmart too.

Poor Paul, he must be miserable. I hope you can get it cleaned up quickly.

Thanks so much for the advice. I will stop and pick up those two items tomorrow on my way to the barn. I am hoping that he lets me at the scabs then. I feel horrible because it's probably my fault for taking him out in the snow and mud when it got a little warmer this winter. I feel like a horrible horse mom.

Ryle has made some excellent posts on how to treat scratches/mud fever. The most important (VERY IMPORTANT) thing is to dry *thoroughly* after each daily washing. Keeping Scratches as dry as possible is important. I would also not be riding this poor guy, it is painful for them, wait a few days until it is looking better.

My one horse had 'scratches' on all 4 legs and I tried everything to treat them. I got cream from the vets that didn't do anything, and I tried T-Zone cream made for 'scratches'. Finally I tried MTG and in 2 days of using it all his scabs are gone and his hair is growing back. So if nothing works for you I'd try MTG.

My mare is finniky about her hind legs sp when she got it there was no way I could pull the scabs off. I used to stand her in a bucket of hot water and stroke the leg for a while the pulled them off under water where it was less painfull for her I used sudocream on mine which worked quite well. I second not riding him though.

My Vida has gotten it in the past and all of the above suggestions will work fine. I like Cowboy Magic crud buster but that's just me.
What will work the best, and I know its tough to do, is remove her from the wet pasture grass at night. Keep her in a dry area until the dew is off the grass. That's what I do with Vida. She comes in at dusk to the dry lot and stays there until the sun comes out enough to dry the dew. She also stays in the dry lot when it rains.
I've heard it said that this only happens with white feet but that's not true since she is completely black.