Blandford Flies

[Scotsbadboy]

For those who don't know what these are you are very lucky. They are vile, evil little black flies with massive jaws and a thirst for blood ... that blood is currently from my new horse who has been eaten alive by them this weekend, the state of his chest, between his front legs and girth area is a mess!

I haven't found anything that deters them so if anyone has experience with these and knows of a good product i will be eternally grateful if you could share please. My poor, poor boy A fly rug wouldnt have helped him!

 

[dorsetladette]

They are vile creatures - put in the same category as wasps. Its very early in the year for them though. We normally have issues around August/September time. Is his field close to water by any chance?

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I put yellow fly cream on my gelding's sheath or he gets covered in them there. They are such sods going for such a sensitive area and make him really miserable.

You need to apply the cream thickly and wear a glove unless you don't mind staining your hand yellow.

Not sure if this is the latest pot design, but this is the stuff.

 

[Melandmary]

These pesky flies attack my pony's udder and between her legs. I apply a thick layer of sudacrem between her legs and round her belly button area. Works brilliantly, I gave up with fly rugs even with the udder gaurd. A big pot at a fiver lasts we 2 weeks

 

[Scotsbadboy]

No, not near water although i suspect a small wooded corner of the neighbours field holds stagnant water and i know one of her's suffers sweet itch badly!

I've ordered a tub of Battles Summer Cream ... lets see if i can avoid getting kicked in the head trying to apply this round his sheath!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

1. Sick horse's head in a bucket of tasty food.
2. Have cream ready in one hand and a brush in the other.
3. Groom horse, move towards belly area.
4. When he's completely relaxed, quickly spread cream on sheath.
5. Go back to grooming while saying to the now grumpy horse 'what... nothing happened... go back to your food'.

 

[Dexter]

These pesky flies attack my pony's udder and between her legs. I apply a thick layer of sudacrem between her legs and round her belly button area. Works brilliantly, I gave up with fly rugs even with the udder gaurd. A big pot at a fiver lasts we 2 weeks

I use this as well

 

[Scotsbadboy]

1. Sick horse's head in a bucket of tasty food.
2. Have cream ready in one hand and a brush in the other.
3. Groom horse, move towards belly area.
4. When he's completely relaxed, quickly spread cream on sheath.
5. Go back to grooming while saying to the now grumpy horse 'what... nothing happened... go back to your food'.

I shall give it a go but i did try to slyly swipe a sponge of fly repellent on him this morning whilst he had breakfast and he trotted off ... "thanks dad but keep the food, i'll stick with grass or starvation", lol! He's a bit precious so i'll tie him up and try your method, lol

 

[Melandmary]

I find that once the flies have bitten the application is harder because the cream is stingy so you have to be religious about it. May mare likes a good scratch where they have bitten so I slather it on while scratching it in with her head in a bucket of fibre nuggets?.

 

[Melandmary]

By the way, every day is learning day because I didn't know what those flies were called ?

 

[SEL]

My mare was the only one in the field the little b***** attacked last year (through her fly rug!) - 2 huge lumps grew out of her side. I use Red Horse honeyheal but they took ages to go down. She was really grumpy for a couple of days so must have felt a bit unwell.

 

[Gloi]

I hate these. They aren't blandford flies round me but a similar sort of bloodsucking black fly. Poor pony, I also a layer of sudocrem on. I'm glad the season is short.

 

[TinseLeneHorse]

We usually get these wee black flies at this time of year. As well as going for the mares udders they are also attracted to the inside of horse's ears. Thankfully current mare has hairy ears but my old girl was much finer and got plagued every year with these flies. We used to put benzobenzoate (sp) in their ears as a deterrent but that's probably frowned upon these days!