Horse flies, are they worse this year?

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Kezzabell2

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I moved one of my horses in November to a lovely yard, people are great, facilities are good etc! but the fields run along by the river!
we can hack around the farm and there's lots of areas near the river, or smaller steams etc!

As much as I love it there, the horse flies are horrendous! my poor horse really isn't happy! He has a fly rug but seems to get his mask off daily!
tonight I got him in and he had about 20 flies on his face!

I really wanted to leave him in his stable tonight but that would mean his friend would have been out on his own! so he needed to go out!

He stood in the stable all chilled out, door wide open and didn't want to come out! I had to borrow a carrot to bribe him out! he kept stopping on the way back to the field!! I feel so bad making him live near so many horse flies!

My other horses at my other yard, are no where near water and they don't seems to have any flies there!

are they worse this year? or is it just because the fields are near the river? should I take him back to my other yard for a break from it? I'm off on holiday next week and really worried that he will struggle as he will only be brought in a few times to be ridden by my instructor! otherwise he'll be out there the whole time :(
 
I don't know if they are worse but I couldn't leave any horse out covered in horse flies :( I go into work on my days off to bring them in/turn out as I can't stand the idea of them being bitten and miserable. If anyone has a solution I'd love to hear it too as wouldn't mind a day off!
 
We've just moved from an area with clay and lots of trees and hedging - flies were pretty bad and had all 3 in rugs and masks permanently and used gallons of spray (I started making my own, which was a huge help). New area is open, high up and less hedging - it's a godsend - so few flies. Horses are masked as needed and haven't used a rug yet. Have you tried your own fly mix (I would drench my horses in it) or any supplements?
 
We had rain yesterday and they seemed to come alive today, I've been bitten too many times down ragworting in the meadows, which are next to the river, but I feel sorry for my horses, they like coming in during the evening for a break! I've tried masks but they seem to come off and sprays seem to have a limited effect, ok whilst riding I suppose but certainly don't stop the flies for long.

Why do they hurt so much when they bite?! The more I flap the worse they seem to get :D
 
Mine seem to like having their masks on! They had them on more or less permanently so rarely seem to try pulling them off. I used the fringe for riding too but my mare wasn't keen.
 
Where I am in the south the flies are far fewer this year. I've only seen a couple of horse flies and my horse hasn't worn a fly mask yet this summer.
 
I think it was the rain actually. We had rain the day before and it was very over cast yesterday morning. Last night was the worst I've seen them

He's out with a full fly rug and mask. Found him snoozing this morning, seemed much happier.
 
I would say it is probably the river, and the rain coupled with mild and muggy weather.

I think I must be one of the lucky ones in East Anglia... I haven't actually noticed really bad flies around the fields or yard so far. In fact I hadn't even really thought about them until I saw this. The odd few, but the horses haven't had much bother at all so far - I coat them in fly spray, but I don't think they need it. Out on a hack though at about 6.30pm was a different story, lots of flies everywhere! No big horse flies though.

ETA- I use to use Avon So Soft diluted down a bit, which seemed to work well (but supposedly they've now changed the formula?). Also use to feed garlic and turmeric to keep flies at bay (anything potent may help put flies off). Fly sprays with deet or citronella in seem to work better, although I have found that sometimes the gels also are more effective for horses that tend to really attract the flies, as you can get a good coating compared to the sprays. Home remedies, if you can be bothered also work well- There are plenty of recipes online if you google it. That, and a good fly rug should help ward off at least some of the blighters! They are a real pain though when they are bad. I had one horse that I tried everything with, and he still use to end up covered in huge lumps from horse flies.
 
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Flies are bad for us too, I think it's the ever changing weather. Boy is out in a fly mask and fly rug. They still get his belly and sheath though :(
 
Ceriann said:
We've just moved from an area with clay and lots of trees and hedging - flies were pretty bad and had all 3 in rugs and masks permanently and used gallons of spray (I started making my own, which was a huge help). New area is open, high up and less hedging - it's a godsend - so few flies. Horses are masked as needed and haven't used a rug yet. Have you tried your own fly mix (I would drench my horses in it) or any supplements?
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Hi what did you use for your spray? Need 5o make some ☺
 
I've never seen them so bad as they were this morning! We are miles from the nearest river and quite high up on the downs. Poor souls were galloping around the field trying to get rid of them, they were desperate to come in but could barely stand still enough for me to put their head collars on.
Something tells me we're in for a thunderstorm today.
 
can him and his mate not come in during the day and go out overnight? i couldnt leave mine suffering im afraid.

lucky atm as half way up a hill, no cattle for miles so few flies. noticeable increase on warm damp days but barely any on the cool days or the very bright hot days.

you can get horsefly traps that reduce the numbers significantly but they are expensive.
 
Having just spent 20mins doing battle with the mother of all horseflies playing keep away around my horse I have set my chief inventor (dad) on creating a budget horsefly trap using a black gym ball, jam jar, wire and some plastic. Fingers crossed it works as well as the £180 version. Pony also has a zebra fly rug, the stripes are means to break up the outline and confuse horseflies into not realising it a horse, they work on sight so love big black warm moving blobs like my unrugged pony.
 
They are worse today than they have been all year. My ridden ones are in during the day, but I'm trying to leave babies out. Just had to put fly rugs on them all. Which was easier said than done, after which the started to undo each other's Velcro straps. If it's the same tomorrow, and they don't leave the rugs on, they will have to come in. Defeats the object of my new nursery paddock��
 
We suffer with horse flies at my yard too - the woods next to us where I usually hack are a total no go area when it's horse fly season (which has just started for us this week, I knew it was coming...) I don't think there's any fly repellent that really works against horse flies and my horse really reacts badly to being bitten (if you've been bitten yourself you will know it hurts) and throws a proper strop, flinging himself around and charging about, getting all hot and sweaty which adds to the problem. When they are at their worst I turn him out overnight and keep him stabled during the day.
 
mightymammoth said:
Flies terrible here as well in the south west. I've given up riding at the minute.
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Me too :( Took my traddie out yesterday morning and they just swarmed us; and of the two horses he's always the least badly affected.

They give mare a really hard time: she's got very dark bay coat and they just seem to sniff her out from miles away and just attack.

All I can do when the blessed critters are around is to put them both in, as otherwise they're tormented. Its not like we're near water or anything, we're reasonably high up and fairly breezy here.

Am fantasising about a nice crisp Autumn day..........
 
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