Pesky flies! Help needed

Cremola Foam

Cremola Foam

Well-Known Member
Jan 11, 2005
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Scotland
hope this is in the right place!

Pedro gets incredibly annoyed by flies. He tosses his head, chops at the bit, snorts and eventually his behaviour deteriorates (stamping feet, spooking, throwing himself about) this is all while ridden. There doesn't have to be many flies around him, one fly will set him off. I always douse him in fly spray (using phaser power fly spray at the moment but it's nearly finished) and he gets naf garlic granules in his feed (one scoop)

I'm thinking of trying him with a nose net or bridle fly mask or ears, but I'm not sure what to try first.

Does anyone else have a horse that gets terrorised by flies? What do you do?

It can make riding in the summer miserable for both of us :(
 
Is it having them around his head he doesn't like, or is he wound up by them landing on his body?
Mouse ignores flies on his body but hates them around his ears so I use a bonnet (ear covers) on him and it makes a big difference. With Annie it's when they land on her face, so she has one of those fly fringes you attach to the browband - the pieces of the fringe move around with the movement of the horse's head and it stops the flies from landing as they are constantly being swatted by it!
You could also ride with a fine-mesh fly hood over the bridle if you want to protect the whole face and muzzle.
For the horses who get wound up by the horseflies on their bodies out hacking we have a couple of fly-mesh exercise sheets. Ours are just behind-the-saddle sheets but you can get them with chests and full necks as well.
I think fly spray should be considered an industry in its own right - so many products, all with more or less the same ingredients, none of which seem to work, and people spend a small fortune trying to find one! Citronella products were quite effective but citronella is banned now. I've found neat lavender oil is quite a good repellent if there are specific areas you want to protect.
 
It's round his head. I'm never sure if it's them at his ears or near his nose that bothers him as he tosses his head and snorts. They don't even seem to manage to land on him he gets so aggressive with his head tossing!

Maybe I'll try a bonnet first. At least they are cheap-ish!

A friend had also suggested that yellow fly cream you get, to put round his eyes. But it stains, mind you. If it makes him more comfortable on a ride I'd probably put up with having a yellow spotted appy!
 
Jess hates flys round her ears so its a bonnet for us in summer, but if the flys are really bad I will just ride with her normal turnout mask under her bridle, I always did that with Bo too as they drove him nuts and canter to stop & head down to knee to scratch was never a fun manoeuvre ;) plus on really hot days ot saved his nose getting burnt as he had a full face and nose one.

If he's snorting could it be pollen irritating him? Vasaline round the nostril is meant to help catch it

Out of interest I tried out geranium oil yesterday and the horse flies didnt come anywhere near me all day, they were driving the horses nuts still so I know they were out so it must work.
 
Ha we do the vasaline round the nose, bex and me. I use Switch, get it off the vet. Also some herbal stuff to put with shampoo. But I think when there's a lot of flies around no horse is ever gonna be fly free !!
Just keep trying different things until you find one that works the best for you.
 
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I have a personal fly swatter (OH) and Naff Citronella spray. She still gets annoyed and fed up but is now desensitised to someone running up behind her and clapping (OH's enthusiastic way of catching flies!)
 
Definitely try an ear bonnet, can't take Belle out in summer without one, well not unless i want a very miserable horse, you can also buy fine mesh face mask things that cover eyes and a lot of people use nose nets too.
 
@newforest 's Tilley gave Ziggy a cute ear bonnet, and that helps, though he is very phlegmatic about flies, as most things.

I really want one of those lovely horsehair fly whisks that the Bedouin use, I wonder where I can get one?
 
Ebay. I had a real vintage horse hair one. I couldn't use it as she nickered to it. She obviously could tell it wasn't fake. I sold it!

If you have issues around your girth, get a shu fly type item and put on the centre d ring. Bear in mind that's more annoying than the fly to some.

Mine has just been done with spot on.
 
Cremola Foam said:
Thankyou everyone for your replies :) going to try an ear bonnet thingy first! It'll need to be a nice blue one! ;)
Click to expand...
You must have seen our white ears ;)
Actually changed colour because the navy was making her too hot. Since getting white she isn't so.
But people call it her sun hat as it's bright.
 
The vet has always been happy to supply me.

I also use a citronella based product, just before a hack. It's not licenced for flies but it is for use with horses.
 
I got spot on at the local CWG on recommendation from an old vet, its not licenced for horses but I figured if you can put it on 4 week old lambs it should be okay and I've never had a problem even on jess whos allergic to yellow summer fly cream
 
Dectomax is licensed via your vet for mites. It's an injection.
Spot Ons TM is Dectomax.
 
newforest said:
Dectomax is licensed via your vet for mites. It's an injection.
Spot Ons TM is Dectomax.
Click to expand...


Our Chloe used to have the decotmax injection for her mites. Now we use the mite wash which works the same. I suspect the secret ingredient is the same. Its from the vets they make it up themselves.
 
The horrid little black buzzy flies are being quite hateful atm. They seem to attach themselves to me and won't go away! Grrrrr. So irritating.
 
This is our new hacking buddy, the cover :rolleyes:
Not sure on fit as she has never worn anything on her neck before. She didn't seem to mind.
PicsArt_1437670851849.jpg
 
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