fly spray - is he taking the p??

1alex1moose

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My rising 4 year old has decided to develop a sudden fear of fly spray. he is fine with mane and tail - he's fine with fly cream/gel and he's ok with sponges / wet cloths etc... Since i bought some new fly spray he has been a swine to put it on, even on a cloth. I can't decide if he's just being a toe-rag or genuinely hates the smell or something... he just runs round and round me if i hold him or snaps the string if he's tied up. he'll let me put it on right up until he smells it. i'm now leaving him without but has anyone had this problem before? just seems odd that this one thing would set him off. blimmin horses
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Some horses are just a pain in the a*s! Mine go through phases; one day I could spray the whole bottle on, the next its hard to get near them. If one messes about the others seem to think they'll have ago at playing up too. Just stick with it hun! xx
 
My 7 yr old still strops about fly spray. It takes him until autumn to get used to it
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its usually the spraying noise that they don't like - that and the smell. Try spraying it on a sponge and applying it that way.
 
I train mine to accept sprays, sponges, in fact I've been using an aerosol one on my 3yo as I could only get human stuff when I ran out.
I spray them loose in the field - they are expected to stand politely...and when I'm training them, I praise them and give them a treat if they're good. It is important not to stop spraying when your horse starts messing around - otherwise he's training you!
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My Shire x TB was scared of hissing and rasping noises when I bought her as a weanling - including velcro on rugs, and the farrier's rasp...so I had to train her out of that one pretty quickly.
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A couple of our horses over hte years have not liked sprays. We normally keep spraying until they settle but if we're over running on time i don't even try the spray (and really don't let one of them see it, he's clever and dumb at the same time!) and unscrew the spray head and pour onto a cloth. A bit wastful but if you really don't have chance to fanny about it works.
 
hadnt really thought about it stinging to be honest but he is quite thin skinned and it's that new NAF deet one which does seem fairly pokey. there's a stream in his field so we've got some biting bugs. it would make sense though as he's fine for the first bit and then starts being a pain after a few seconds! he'll let me put it on on a cloth but i can usually only get half of one side done before he starts pratting about. i'd get him a fly rug but one of his field mates is a rug wrecker so i dont think it'd last long! i'll get a different one and see if he improves. thank you.
 
I have exactly the same problem with buddy and it is only the fly spray he reacts like this with. He is fine wish being washed down, having mane and tail on and everything else but when the dreaded fly spray comes out he just tries to run away from it even though he is tied up.
 
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