When autumn arrives and the paddocks turn to mud, the period that wears hardest on hooves and skin begins. With a well-planned mud routine \u2014 ten minutes a day \u2014 your horse comes out of winter as healthy as it went in. Here is the routine we follow ourselves.<\/p>
Prolonged moisture softens both skin and hoof horn, and the constant cycling between wet and dry makes the structures brittle. At the same time, everything that breaks down horn and irritates skin thrives best in damp, oxygen-poor environments. Dry, clean and airy are therefore winter’s three most important words.<\/p>
1. Pick the hooves<\/strong> \u2014 every day, remove all packed mud, extra carefully in the frog grooves. Drain or gravel the zones where horses stand most \u2014 around gates, feeding areas and shelters. Move feeding spots regularly so the ground can recover, and make sure there is always a dry resting area. Every hour on dry ground is an hour of recovery for hooves and skin.<\/p> A sharp smell from the frog, black smeary material in the grooves, bumps or crusts on the pastern and small skin cracks are all early signals that the routine needs stepping up. Read more in our guides on thrush<\/a> and mud fever and scratches<\/a> \u2014 and for open sores, lameness or rapid worsening: contact your farrier or veterinarian.<\/p> Everything for the winter routine is in our hoof care<\/a> and skin care<\/a> ranges \u2014 from Zinc paste and pH Minus to caring pastern salves.<\/p> This guide is general knowledge and does not replace your farrier’s or veterinarian’s assessment of your horse.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dry, clean and airy \u2014 the daily ten-minute routine and environment tricks that take your horse healthy through mud season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[205],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vi-tipsar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equnique.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
2. Feel along the pasterns<\/strong> \u2014 run your hand over them checking for bumps, crusts or heat while you are already bent down.
3. Dry wet legs<\/strong> \u2014 pat dry with a towel after washing or truly wet days; avoid rubbing.
4. Drying hoof routine<\/strong> \u2014 in wet periods: a drying hoof and frog paste in the grooves and a pH-lowering spray for a healthy hoof environment.
5. Barrier support for the skin<\/strong> \u2014 a caring, moisturising salve on exposed pasterns helps the skin withstand wet and dirt.<\/p>The environment tricks that halve the problem<\/h2>
Watch for the warning signs<\/h2>
Routine products for the season<\/h2>