What exactly is greasy heel?

M

Mb23

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Apr 6, 2008
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Hi,

I posted a couple of days ago about my sister's horse who has been lame for over a week now. He's been on box rest for three days now and seems a bit better but with all the prodding and poking we have done to find out what is making him lame we found that he has what looks like very bad :eek: sores (raw, broken skin) on the inside heels of both of his front feet. The outside heels of his front feet and heels on both his back feet are lovely and hard and dry but the inside heels are very scaly with areas of broken skin. If we poke the broken skin it feels very, very soft to the touch. Strangely my sister's horse does not appear at all bothered by these sores - we have prodded and poked them, scrubbed and bathed them in salt water and he is not the least bit bothered so they obviously cannot hurt him but they look absolutely horrendous. :eek:

We have no idea what the sores are but doing research on the internet came across something called 'greasy heel' that apparently affects feathered horses (my sister's horse is fully feathered cob). What is greasy heel and could it be what is affecting my sister's horse? :confused: :confused: It seems weird that it is only the inside heels that are affected so the other thing we thought was that maybe he's either overreached and nipped the skin with his back feet or brushed with his front feet, causing the sores.
 
Greasy heel is a term used mainly in the heavy horse world,mainly because as you said it affects feathered horses.

I have a clydie mare who has had 'greasy heel' since I got her.It never goes away but I manage it with monthly applications of pig oil and sulphur (less frequent in summer).

It appears the same as mud fever (which as far as I know is pretty much what it is),but you get a lot of yellow type crud (sorry can't think of a better word!!) stuck in the feather which feels greasy to the touch hence the name.The 'crud' accumulates in the folds of the skin which can irritate and cause soreness.The very thick skin of the heavy feathered types makes them more prone to this condition.The pig oil loosens the 'crud' and helps it come away (I do sometimes pick it out of my mare's leg's,to help it along!!).

Do not repeatedly wash the legs it will irritate them further.I find the wet irritates my mare's legs more than the mud,so if you can keep his legs dry as much as poss.Try the pig oil and sulphur also if you can,it won't do any harm and may help.

If your horse has just the scabs though and nothing else it might just be a touch of mud fever.

Hope that helps (sorry for the essay:o),and that you manage to sort it out.
 
Greasy heel is basically an excessive amount of grease build up anywhere on the legs. Whether it be heel or knee. My cobs is usually worse in the Summer believe it or not...:rolleyes: He has to be different...:p

I agree with not repeatedly washing legs as this will soften the skin too much and then the bacteria will get in to the cracks and an infection will thrive.

Pig Oil and Sulphur helps. Some stubborn areas particularly at the back of the knee can be softened with anitbacterial cream or any cream really that soften the scabs. Never pick the scabs off.
 
magicalmac said:
If Im remembering back to my exams[long time ago] greasy heel is caused by to much feed for not a lot of work, it also usually only affects hind feet. Have you had the vet out?
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Haven't heard of it being anything to do with feed or workload,(as I said I had been told by heavy horse peeps is pretty much same type of thing as mud fever but due to the skin type of heavies you get the grease substance along with it??),but are certainly right about the hind feet thing,my mare only ever get's it in the hinds,I thought maybe this was just her but maybe not.

Not saying you are wrong about the feed,workload thing BTW,just not what I've heard,in fact if you remember anything else (am sure it wasn't that long ago;)) would you mind posting about it,I would be very interested as is a never ending battle with my mare and if it is feed or work related maybe I can cure it??
 
Hmmm…I don’t think it’s greasy heel with my sister’s horse, then. My own boy (fully feathered h/w) suffers from mallenders (kept in check by pig oil & sulphur) which I figure is the same as greasy heel so I know what that looks like and my sister’s horse’s heels don’t look anything like it.

Basically, the areas of broken skin are right down at the heel bulbs (only on the inside of front feet, hinds are absolutely fine as are the outsides of the fronts) and are very, very soft to the touch (a bit like jelly) with bits of flaky skin attached. There are no scabs, it just seems that the skin is for some reason flaking off and exposing the skin underneath. There was a little yellow discharge but that seems to have gone with the salt water treatment. They don’t look like scrapes or cuts as the skin is peeling off, not been rubbed off. Going to get the vet out later on this week if things don’t improve but as the horse seems to be in no discomfort whatsoever we’re going to leave it for a while to see what happens. So far the skin does not seem to be healing at all.
 
Are you sure it's not mud fever, I'd be tempted to Hibiscrub, rinse, get the hairdryer out then get some Deosan Udder Cream on the affected parts!
 
Sounds like ordinary cracked heels to me caused by infection and damp conditions.

My old Haffy used to get it really badly, and it would lame him. The whole of his heel would open up into a gaping crack with lots of yellow crud.

Keeping it dry and treated with a good udder cream seems to be the way forwards.
 
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