22/06/2026
Have had a few enquiries recently about Mud fever...
☘️Is your horse struggling with recurring Mud Fever?
Time to stop chasing your tail with lotions and creams and look at what’s happening internally. 🐴✨
When mud fever strikes, our first instinct is often to grab ten different topical lotions. We approach things differently, from the inside. Mud Fever is frequently an external symptom of an internal imbalance. While one horse might stay completely clear, another gets severely affected. Why? It all comes down to what is happening under the hood - specifically mineral balance, toxin load and liver health.
The HHIO Approach
🧪Correcting the Mineral Balance
Many don’t realise that NZ forage is naturally high in Iron and/or Manganese (both heavy metals), but heavily deficient in Copper and Zinc. When you feed mass produced premixed feeds with added iron and manganese or feed large amounts of feeds naturally high in iron (Feeds higher than 250mg Iron per 1kg of feed - Copra 964mg, Beet 677mg, Soya Hulls 669mg, Lucerne 544mg, Soybean Meal 201mg, Sunflower 271mg)*. A horse needs 400mg of Iron and 300mg Manganese per day, slightly more when in heavy work or breeding.
The Fix: Horses thrive on an optimal 4:1:3:3 ratio of Iron:Copper:Zinc and Manganese. Copper and Zinc are essential for a strong immune system and healthy, resilient skin integrity. By eliminating feeds with added Iron/Manganese or limiting/reducing feeds naturally high in Iron/Manganese and supplementing with a clean, targeted formula like HHIO Foundation or HHIO Performance, you give the skin the celluar strength it needs to fight off environmental bacteria when dealing with wet, muddy and moist conditions.
🌱Eliminating Pasture Toxins
Mud Fever often goes hand-in-hand with seasonal grass growth and seasonal flushes, which introduce harmful mycotoxins (fungal toxins) into your horses systems. When these toxins flood the bloodstream, they can trigger skin photosensitivity and inflammation, paving the way for skin issues.
The Fix: Bind them before they cause harm. HHIO Assist specifically targeting toxins combining premium proven binders Mycosorb and Elitox. These safely lock onto both polar and non-polar toxins in the gut, neutralising them before they can wreak havoc on your horses skin, immune system and behaviour. Toxins can be a year round issue with our tepid often humid temperatures, sunny days even in winter. We utilise a toxin binder all year round for the health of your horses liver and you will find maintenance coverage in HHIO Restore and soon to be HHIO Support.
🧼Supporting and Cleansing the Liver
Think of your horses liver and kidneys as the washing machine filter. Over time - whether from pasture toxins, chemical exposure or past/current medications - that filter accumulates “gunk” and becomes congested. When the liver is sluggish, it can’t process toxins efficiently, and the body pushes those toxins out through the largest organ available: the skin.
The Fix: Keep the filters clean! We recommend a periodic internal reset using high a quality herbal cleanse (our go to- James Hart Detox tincture) a couple of times a year and especially before Spring and Autumn when toxin loads are at there highest. Helping the liver clear out accumulated waste dramatically reduces your horses overall toxic load, allowing their skin to heal rapidly.
🔥Reducing Inflammation and Oxidative Stress
When a horses system is constantly under attack from toxins, imbalances and seasonal conditions, it triggers oxidative stress - an overload of free radicals that damage healthy skin cells and amplify chronic inflammation. Feeding high sugar, high starch or pro-inflammatory high omega 6 oils (soy, canola/rapeseed, sunflower, vegetable) - acts like pouring fuel on that fire, making the skin highly reactive and prone to allergies and infection.
The Fix: Cool the system down from the inside. Our feed protocol centres on a low sugar, low starch, balanced omega and high forage fibre first diet. By adding cean, anti-inflammatory omega 3 fatty-acids (crushed linseed, cold pressed flaxseed oil) you help to neutralise free radicals, reduce systemic inflammation, and protect the skin barrier from cellular damage before mud fever can take hold.
What HHIO product?
CHOSE ONE EVERYDAY MINERALS that best suits your horses needs:
HHIO Performance
VITAMINS + MINERALS + AMINO ACIDS + DIGESTIVE
Suitable for hard working equines; all equines that are harder to keep condition and muscle on, in any level of work or not including those with more ‘major’ issues and who travel regularly.
$1.15 - $2.00 per dose
HHIO Foundation
VITAMINS + MINERALS + AMINO ACIDS
Suitable for all equines - Breeding, young stock, Metabolic and specifically those that hold their weight easily up to light work level and have no ‘major’ issues.
67c-97c per dose
THEN ADD, if needed:
HHIO Assist
TOXIN RELIEF + BEHAVIOUR
Assists seasonal challenges that targets toxins (both polar & non polar) and general behaviour associated with seasonal grass growth. Use this for mud fever and photo-sensitivity issues.
$1.03-$1.67 per dose
True skin health starts on the inside. By switching to clean, whole feeds, balancing your minerals, binding seasonal pasture toxins, supporting liver health and reducing oxidative stress, you can stop fighting mud fever from the outside and prevent it from taking hold in the first place.
PREVENTION VS REACTION
Full blog available https://www.healthyhorsesinsideout.co.nz/blog/2249151
Time to stop chasing your tail with lotions and creams and look at whats happening internally!
