Feathers falling out/Mud Fever

[Moomin]

Curious to know if anyone has ever experienced or seen this before?

Our fields have been really muddy for the last three months or so what with rain, snow and general hoof destruction. Moo had a little bit of mud fever a while ago - ironically before it got too wet or muddy!! - so I know she harbours the bacteria.

She is Irish Cob so has mega feathers. About two months ago I started noticing her feathers on the fronts of her back feet were falling out and growing back really short - even, but about half a centimetre long rather than her normal three or more inches of hair. Her skin wasn't broken and she was never lame, but the skin was extremely pink and quite tender looking. Sometimes it was sore to touch but mostly not. Then the same happened on her front feet - she looks like someone gave her feet a really, really bad clip! It was so quick and dramatic that people thought I had actually cut them - the hair fell out in a matter of hours rather than days.

Having treated it quite agressively with shampooing, and either mudshield powder or wondergel ( when it was sore she wouldn't let me put the powder on), her feathers look like they are coming back as normal, and she's out in a nice new dry field now.

I've never seen hair change like that tho - any ideas??

[MelanieD]

I've seen this in a few horses and mine's smaller feathers have had it happen (welshie feathers rather than hairy cob ones). It's happened in three different fields, all the kind that stay wet a lot and have reeds and stuff growing in there, same horses in more average mud don't loose their feathers. It looks like something rubs the hair off or causes it to break or something as I've seen it happen with no or very little mud fever as well. It does seem to happen quite suddenly rather than being gradual. The feathers should grow back without any problems once she's out of the mud, you don't need to treat with anything unless the skin underneath is still sore or has mud fever.

[Lancashire Lass]

This is EXACTLY what has happened to my traditional's feathers' ... moreso on the front than the back.... and YES it happened so quickly,..it looks like I was drunk and in charge of some hand clippers one night!!!! The hair loss is as you describe and Yes,..his feather,..particular underneath and closest to the underside of his fetlock/pastern area look like they've been clipped! They are growing back and they are about two inches long at the moment,...he just looks so uneven in his feathering now as one foreleg has been more affected than the other!!

I must add as well,...we've had no mud rash and his skin underneath his feathers is healthy. The vet was quite stumped actually last week when I showed him and he couldn't give me a reason either and he actually commented on how clean his limbs/skin were underneath all his feather!!...So you go figure... because I can't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!