Fly Wars

Mosquitoes, black flies, horse flies, no-see-ums, and too many other insects to name, all plague us and especially our horses during this time of year.
Horses are seen twitching, rubbing and even running, just to get rid of the little pests. Some horses are affected worse than others, and they are so covered in bugs it’s amazing that they don’t go totally crazy! So how can we help out our horses and wage war on these little flying attackers?

There are several options out there.
The most popular and common method by far, is bug spray for horses. There are many brands to choose from, and many with varying levels of effectiveness, and you need to read labels and chose carefully to find the fly spray that will best suit your horses needs. Once you have chosen a brand, fly spray can be applied liberally on your horse’s body, with focus on the areas most affected by the bugs. Avoid the face and eyes with the spray bottle, rather put a little bit on a cloth and apply carefully on the face, or use roll-on fly deterrent. Also avoid open sores as the bug spray will sting, sores can be treated with ‘swat’, which is a wound cream that will help the healing and repel bugs too.
Fly masks are just that – a mesh mask to cover your horses face and protect his eyes from insects. Make sure you have the right size and it is adjusted properly so there are no wear marks where the mask sits, and your horse will learn to genuinely appreciate the facial protection.
Flysheets will also protect most of your horses body from insect bites, however it is helpful to still apply bug spray to the vulnerable areas not covered by the sheet, such as the neck, legs and underside.

If you have a barn, there are several ways of keeping the bugs out of the barn. Fly tapes work well, they are two sided sticky tapes that flies get stuck to, but if you have a lot of flies they will fill up fast. If you can set up a fan in your barn, it will help deter bugs, as most such as mosquitoes, really dislike wind. If you want to get even fancier with your fly control, there are auto-misting systems, which will disperse fly spray at regular intervals.

As per usual, make sure there is no stagnant water sitting anywhere, and any other possible breeding grounds for bugs. We do what we can to keep the bugs off our horses, and us, so hopefully this year; we can win the fly wars.