Hi my husband has just bought him self a baby Clydesdale who will have a lots of feather as he get older I have never looked after a horse with feathers but want to adopt a good routine while he is young I think they can suffer with mites and skin problems if not properly cared for so any advice on keeping there legs healthy gratefully received

Get them used to having their feet well-handled, and feathers washed, early in life! Dry feathers as thoroughly as you can (kitchen roll is much better than a towel for this), and give the feathers a generous squirt of mane and tail de-tangler or QuickShine to keep them really easy to brush through with a body brush when they're tiny, and a dandy brush when they're older. Check hollows of heels on a daily basis as this is the area where most problems start off.

Ivermectin can get rid of mites, but some horses get a funny reaction to it, so discuss with your vet if you get heel mites!

Working a bit of athlete's foot powder into the feathers from time to time can help prevent any fungal problems, and if you do get any real problems, Seleen shampoo (stinks, but works) is good.

Could you not ask the breeder? I'm sure the heavy horse people have their own routines, but I know a lot of the Dales and Fell people use a mixture of pig oil and sulphur.



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yeah pig oil or veg oil an sulphur powder is commonly used to assist in ridding the mites.

they tend to start banging their feet on the ground if they have them.

as said earlier keeping the feathers well sprayed an nit free helps a lot so it;s easier to check for ahy skin probs, like the mites or eczema etc

I have known people use human-type nit shampoo for mites, but don't know how successful it was! Apparently citronella spray can deter the mites from taking up residence in the first place, too.

Pig Oil and Flowers of Sulfur! As said earlier....can highly reccomend...old ashioned but the best

Seleen shampoo is sulphur-based (selenium disulphide, I think) which is why it stinks to high heaven - and also why it works!

My cob had a terrible problem with mites a few years ago. I tried all sorts of things suggested by the vet, all totally unsuccessful. I eventually asked someone who shows Welsh cobs, she said spray with Frontline. My vet was not happy about it because it wasn't licenced for use on horses but boy oh boy it cured the problem. Funnily enough my boy has hardly any feather but there was a heavy horse in the paddock behind us who used to itch his legs and when the heavy horse was moved the mite problem with mine started, as if they had run across the grass.

i have had draught horses and worked whith them for 21yrs now the very best is pig oil& sulpher also when drying the feather use woodflour its the best and oldest used by the old heavy horse show people also if you going to show your baby make your own flyers its so easy all you need is a little bit if garden wire and knot up the ribbon on it insted of paying over the odds from a mail order ect

Pic of baby Clydesdale would be nice?

Hi thank you for all your advice I have ask the breeder by email on how she looks after hers as well, so should be able to get a good routine from all this advice I get him in the next 2 weeks I will post a picture of him as soon as I get him unfortunately he is not showable as he has swollen hocks we are giving him a permanent home hope fully he will out grow it by the time its time to brake him as we want him for hacking the breeder believes there is a 99.9% chance he will be fine for hacking but not sure if he will be able to be shown and jumped. If any of you have come across the swollen hock problem if you could let me now how you got on any info on this as it is scarce at best as a lot of the foals are sent for meat with this problem thanks Ruth

Also what is woodflour and where would i get it from Thank,s

Hi where would i get pig oil from Thanks Ruth

Pig oil and sulphur is definately the way to go . I have several hairy coloured cobs and it is the ONLY thing that really works and believe me i have tried absolutely everything in the past .When you mix it up it looks and smells truly revolting and turns the feather yellow ....dont be put off by it though ... leave it on and the colour will go in a day or so and you will have the softest ,silkiest, cleanest feather . If you do it regularly from a baby you will have no trouble with mites. I do mine once a fortnight or once a week if they already have a problem . I will also put just pig oil on once a week between treatments , this helps prevent the hair breaking too. You can buy pig oil at scats , wessex equi-products , lockyers and probably any farm product shop. you may have to ask for it as it may not be obvious on the shelf , its usually in a 3 litre (think thats the size ) plain white tin. 1 tin usually does 2/3 treatments of very hairy legs . Hope this is of help . Good Luck with your baby

Thank you, you all have been really helpful looking forward to clean mite free feathers Ruth