(4/2020) This time of year, when you ask horse people and farmers about the weather, you'll probably hear them complain about the mud. They'll joke that when wet this ground is too soft to walk on and too thick to swim in. Not only can you barely walk without sinking, but good luck trying to drive a tractor across the field without getting stuck or tearing up the field. In addition to the mud being dirty and annoying to deal with, it can also pose hazards to your horses.

Even if you have several acres per head of horse you are still likely to have mud around the gates, water source, hay, and shelter. While most horses enjoy a good roll in the mud, standing in mud for prolonged periods of time is not good for them. The continuous exposure of the skin and hooves to wet mud can damage the tissue. Hooves that have been standing in water and mud become weaker resulting in lost shoes, bruised soles, and abscesses. If the mud is deep enough to go over the hoof and up the leg, continuous exposure can lead to dermatitis, bacterial infections, and skin sloughing. Even if the mud isn't deep, a horse can be running around n the field, slip in the mud and strain a tendon or ligament.

For those reasons many people try to control the mud in their horse pastures. I have seen numerous methods to try and control mud and each has its pluses and minuses. Putting mulch down in areas where mud forms is nice because it is relatively cheap and relatively safe if the horse eats it. The downside to mulch is that it doesn't last long and as it breaks down, it creates more organic material and more mud. Rubber mats are nice but expensive and frequently shift and become uneven with the weather and the horses walking on them. Putting concrete everywhere has the advantage that its one of the more permanent solutions. However, it's expensive, it tends to get slippery and the firmness creates too much concussive pressure on the horses legs and can contribute to lameness.

Because of the downsides of the other management methods, stone dust and gravel is one of the most frequent solutions chosen to control mud. If applied at the right depth it tends to last well. If you do get mud in certain areas, it is easy to top it off with some additional stone. Unfortunately stone has a major downside. If horses eat it they can colic and die. While you'd think horses would be smart enough to not just stand there and eat rocks, you'd be partially correct. They don't intentionally eat the rocks. Its more that the rocks and stone dust are accidentally ingested when the horse is sifting around looking for food.

Sadly I've seen gravel impaction colics somewhat frequently. Owners are at first happy that they have the mud under control. Their horses are no longer getting abscesses or skin infections, and then they call me because their horse is sick and not wanting to eat. I, as well as my colleagues, have all done rectal exams where we reach in and find gravel. While a handful of poop-covered gravel makes for an easy diagnosis, sometimes treatment isn't always successful. One of my saddest cases was a horse that died from a gravel impaction. The owners had battled mud associated skin disease for years.

The constant bathing and treating of legs during the muddy times of year had gotten time consuming and frustrating enough that the owners decided it was worth investing in stone dust. They didn't own a tractor so they hired a guy to come in and spread gravel around the gates, in front of the run-in shed, and along the fence-line when they hung buckets to feed the horses. Everything was going well and even as other farms were complaining about the mud, their horses were out of the mud and none of them had any skin disease. Then one evening, one of the mares was sick and didn't want to eat her dinner. While she wasn't in horrible pain, she was in a fair amount of discomfort that didn't resolve after the owner gave Banamine.

At this point the owners decided it was best to get the vet out and I was called. During the examination I discovered that the horse was suffering from a large impaction colic. I administered fluids and laxatives through a nasogastric tube but as the mare remained uncomfortable, it was decided it was best to send her to the hospital for continued care.

Unfortunately the mare did not stabilize and the decision was made to humanely euthanize her. The hospital also did a necropsy and determined that the impaction colic was from the horse eating multiple pounds of stone dust and gravel. The owners were devastated. In their attempt to keep their horses healthy they had inadvertently contributed to one's death.

So while I personally use gravel to control mud in my pasture, I try to be very careful about where I feed my horses. I will put the hay in hay feeders so that it is not directly on the gravel. I also do not feed grain on top of the gravel. Instead they either eat on the concrete floored barn or on rubber mats. This way when the horses are licking up little bits of grain that they dropped on the floor, it is not near pieces of gravel that they could also ingest.

Mud is a concern for horse owners in Maryland. Unfortunately, there are no perfect ways to deal with mud.