Flies are just as bad at night

[Wagtail]

I have noticed that the flies that annoy my horses the most seem to come out mainly at dusk and through the night. Yes, we have the horse flies during the hottest parts of the day, but the flies that appear to cause most distress to the horses here come out around 9 pm onwards. These are the mosquitos that many horses and people are allergic too. These are the flies that resulted in my boy being transformed into what can only be described as an alien. Even though he had a fly rug on he was covered in lumps all over his body, some six inches across despite wearing a good fly rug! I had to invest in a much thicker fly rug (equitheme sweet itch rug) which has made a huge difference.

Anyway, the point of this thread, is that many people think that by bringing horses in during the day, they avoid the worst of the flies. This is not always so. Sometimes the worst of the flies for a particular horse come out at night. Just a thought.

 

[lhotse]

I agree, the midges are active at dawn as well, usually well before anyone is up at this time of year. I know when I'm a little late arriving to get mine in for the night as they are stood by the gate swishing wildly and looking very irritated. Deet does stop them biting, but only if you put it on all over at high concentrations (I've camped in Scotland many times!!) but that is not to be advised with a horse over a long period of time. Horse flies are a real nuisance but their season is short, and they don't seem to cause any long lasting irritation like midges and mozzies do.

 

[Oscar]

Hmmm not here in Lincolnshire they're not!! We've got horse flies the size of bats!! I had a nightmare day, the car wouldn't start so I was late getting to the horses, normally bring in around 11am but didn't get there til 1:30pm and had 5 horses stood at the gate literally bronking on the spot like they were possessed!! Had a nightmare getting them to stand still long enough to put a headcollar on - gave up, grabbed one and just let them all run to their stables which they did!! Then gave them all a quick hose shower to cool off, a fly spray and tonight turned out onto the hill field with fly rugs and masks and left them at 8'30pm fly free.

I knew the flies would come out today as car was being a arse, and I was right!! Summer field is by a stream with natural streams in it and has lots of trees - which is fly heaven!! My horses actually like me hitting them at this time of year as I whack the blasted things as they land!! We don't seem to suffer with midges just these blood sucking vampires.

 

[starryeyed]

It's definitely worse here at night too - we get the "normal" flies during the day which are annoying and drives one mad but they're not too awful when the fly masks are on. But in the evening we seem to be getting an insane amount of mosquitos around, I'm covered (completely!) in huge bites and my legs are completely swollen and red, the horses are all in fly rugs and sweetitch rugs and all but one (the boett) has been bitten through as the poor horses are covered in lumps and scratching like mad (Just like me!), they get so worked up about them in the evening and I can't say I blame them!

The mozzies are one of the reasons theyre still coming in overnight, we've always had quite a lot but this year we're completley plagued with them, it's horrible.

 

[Honey08]

I think you have to work out which horse reacts to which flies! We used to have two sweet itchy ponies that couldn't bear the midges at dusk and dawn, so had to come in at night, my big mare reacts like crazy to horseflies, sometimes needing sterroid jabs, so she comes in during the day! Even when they are out at night they wear sweet itch hoodies despite not having sweet itch.

 

[Wagtail]

I have never known a season this bad. It must be all the extra rain providing more water for the fly larvae to develop in. We have huge horseflies during the day, but these are kept at bay in the main with fly rugs. But when you come to ride in the arena, they are a nightmare. However, the mosquitos seem to be able to bite through the average fly rug. Only the boett style rugs seem effective against them. I can see the horses from the house and on balance, they are far more content during the day then in the evening, when they are constantly rushing around.

 

[golden_revolution]

This is how my girly looked last night. Fed up of the flies now!

 

[Wagtail]

That is exactly how my boy looked. Poor poor thing. The only thing that stopped them was the equitheme rug as it covers most of the belly with elastic at the edges so the flies don't get in. It's a pain to put on though as there are no joins on the neck and so you have to put it over the horse's head. Luckily, after the first couple of times, my boy got used to it and doesn't freak.

 

[Sophstar]

our paddock is next to a stream and all the trees they stand under for shade are next to stream...FLY HEAVEN! my boy has got huge lumps all up between his back legs so i get a bum shoved in my face when checking them with the look of 'please scratch me...im so itchy!'

the horseflies in our area are out in force this year...ive never seen so many of them. usually just the odd one mixed in with the general pain in the arse flies but there seems to be an equal amount of both...considering i'm allergic to any insect bite i have spent most of the past couple of weeks drugged up on anti histamine!