Hi. I recenly heard about some research that had been done into whether zebras have stripes because the stripes deter flies. I found a summary of this research and the conclusion was that ANY pattern has a significant effect on the number of flies landing on an animal. So a checked or zebra striped fly rug should reduce the number of flies bothering a horse. Does anyone use a patterened fly rug? Do you think a patterned rug really does reduce the number of flies bothering your horse?