Gold Label - Pig Oil and Sulphur

Product Information

Osman, S.A., Hanafy, A. & Amer, S.E. Clinical & Therapeutic Studies on Mange in Horses. Vet Parasitol 141:191-195, 2006.

We used to use flowers of sulphur (comes in yellow or green tubs) from the garden centre in the early to mid 90's. You mix it with lard. It was a messy job to apply but very effective. We used to put ours on Sunday afternoon and take it off the following Sunday morning with copious amounts of hot water and washing up liquid, allow the legs to dry before reapplying in the afternoon. The thought is that the flowers of sulphur (dust you put on plants/flowers to protect them) works against fungus and bacteria found in mud, whereas the lard protects the legs from water and wet mud by providing a very effective water resistant layer. Its great so long as you don't wish the horse to wear boots for riding or for turn out. If you apply to the feathers of cob type horses by rubbing it well in against the lie of the coat as well as in the direction of the feathers it is even more waterproof, but to start you have to ensure the legs are BONE DRY. Then you have to mix the two ingredients together. The green flowers of sulphur is different to the yellow one, I recall the yellow one being more popular amongst us younger generation but have no idea why, maybe because yellow horse legs looked a bit better than green horse legs!! I will try the brewers yeast too. I had wondered about feeding her oil, although she is difficult to keep the weight off so this might be a problem. If you buy a thigh size tubigrip bandage & cut it in half you will have a pair of horsey leg warmers. Pull them on so that they draw the feather away from the hoof. This will make your farriers life easier and yourhorses feather won't be damaged by the rasp. We have used Dectomax (Ivermectin injectable) to treat feather mites in our own herd many times. Our experience has been in line with what the study above suggests – it provides relief to the horses, but does not completely solve the mite problem. Firstly take your mud encrusted beastie, allow the mud to dry over night, or wash the legs and dry with sawdust (rub it in to the feather and then brush it out.) Use a hair dryer f your horse will let you!Because mites also breed in the mane and tail, the bases of these should also be treated. Only the base needs to be covered and just enough to cover the area. This will kill any mites which are breeding and living in these places. This will also help sweet itch as gnats and midges tend to die in the oil and they cannot bite.

Treat all the horses on the property at the same time, thoroughly clean all stables and equipment, and rest any potentially affected pasture for a minimum of 12 weeks. If left in, mud will dry and slip off. I don't brush the legs, but I have very heavily feathered horses. You could then if you wanted, go over with a brush. Udder cream doesn't last more than 5 minutes. I use it for XC as a leg grease, and it has always mostly gone by the end of the course.

You will notice Pig Oil and Sulphur products in our category. The Sulphur is an anti-bacterial ingedient which is also known and available as sulphur powder. Sulphur has a bright yellow colour and has been used to support skin health for hundreds of years. This is not restricted to Mud Fever, Sulphur is also used to support other skin issues too. When a horse has a mite infestation, it’s not just the adult mites that will be present at any one time, there will also be eggs and developing larvae. Eggs cannot be killed effectively with any form of treatment, so whatever method you choose will need to be repeated at least once (although it is recommended to do this several times) approximately 2 weeks apart, to allow the eggs to develop into adult mites before retreatment. For best results, it is advisable to clip any feathers, especially on heavily feathered breeds, and wash/replace anything that could further increase the spread of the mites. We also recommend using a follow-up treatment roughly 2 weeks later, in the form of a topical wash that can be sponged on to the horse’s legs, and can be repeated a few times over the following weeks. The thorough cleaning of the horse’s surrounding environment should also be repeated after every treatment to drastically reduce the chance of re-infestation. As mites only feed on the surface of the skin, it’s possible that they don’t experience the full effect of drugs given to the horse either orally or by injection and thus are not completely eradicated when such treatments are used.