Coopers fly repellant - and other Fly related Q's!

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now_loves_mares

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I bought another bottle of this the other day as have found it good in the past, but just read the instructions. Use 150ml per horse every 2-4 days!!! That's a quarter of the bottle!! So at the maximum rates, with two horses, I could spend £25 on fly repellent in 4 days
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Needless to say I am not using it like this, but does anyone else use it? Am I wasting money by using it at a "low dosage", or should it be used once in a while in conjunction with other fly sprays?

I've yet to find a fly spray that works so any suggestions??! I have skin-so-soft on order for the midges, but they aren't the big problem right now.

Also, both my horses get weepy eyes with the flies. I have given up with the full face masks as that seems to make them rub them even more, so am now using cowboy-style fringes. Do you find these actually help?

They are both covered in swellings from horse-flies, so much so that I am considering taking them in during the day, but want to try every alternative first
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Honestly, if it's not winter and mud-fever and weight-loss, it's summer and fatness and flies and buttercups
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I don't use it at anywhere near the recommended rate for that very reason!
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What I've done with mine is to put it into a big spray bottle along with a good slosh of NAF Deet and topped it all up with benzyl benzoate solution and a few drops of citronella oil. It's quite a potent combination so be sure to test it on the skin before use, as I know some horses react to the deet especially, but I've found it quite effective. The benzyl benzoate is a skin conditioner reputed to be effective against sweet itch.

I've also found that each application of Cooper's doesn't last 2-4 days as it says, and I just apply it every day anyway.
 
I also put it in a spray bottle generous splash of water and if its really bad some citronella aswell. I spray in the am and if its still really bad do them in the evening also
 
Are you sure that is not the recomeded use for when using it to treat lice etc?

I just spritz it on like any other fly spray.
 
I used to own a tackshop and went on a personal crusade to find the ultimate fly repellent to stock. I tried loads, some which seemed to work and some which didn't so were discontinued. In the end we had a fine selection, however when people asked me to recomend one I found on more than one occasion I would point to a bottle only to be told that they had tried it previously and it was useless. This of course made me look like an appalling liar and sham of a sales person, but these were tried and tested products on my own sweet itch ridden mare. So whats going on? I developed a theory that flies in different parts of the country were imune to different types of repellent and/or upon application, the repellent took on different properties upon contact with different horses skin!!???!! No scientific evidence to back this up of course, but thats my hypothesis. Anyway - I liked using Horsewise fly repellent - good value and seemed to do the job after taking a couple of days to build up. I also found it smelt so potent (not badly) that the stable seemed to become a fly free zone too. We got lots of good feedback about that one too!
 
years ago I worked as a polo groom at the Guards Club - our ponies were sprayed with sheep dip!!! I don't know enough about the chemicals etc to say if it's a good idea or not, but it seemed to work well enough when they were in the sun waiting for chukkas, bearing in mind they didn't have manes or forelocks to swish about. I can't remember if it was diluted or not either - but it was more economical than coopers. It might be worth investigating other products.
 
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