Horse flies

[PurplePickle]

Are there two types?

I am used to the thin small brown ones which hang on and bite burying thier heads into the horse, (which Im finding a good 4-8 a day!)

But today i whacked this awful big ugly biting my horse
It looks like a fly head but quite large, brown and yellow striped body, almost wasp like

I had to hit it with a bit of wood ewww!

 

[Sprout]

I think we had something like that in the yard at the weekend, two landed at once on my daughter's pony, he nearly went into orbit!!!!!

 

[stencilface]

I should know as I did this at uni!!! I am pretty sure there are different types though - the ones I am familiar with are the thin brown ones, and also the 'green eyed monsters' which as their name suggests have green eyes and also a pretty pattern on their wings. These ones look like oversized normal house flies (bar the eyes and wings!) They still hurt like b*stards though!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabanidae

Obviously there will be quite a few species of the little buggers.......

 

[stencilface]

Also, watch out for march flies - I think they are bigger, but still have a good bite on them. Upside is march flies are really slow so you can get them, although they do crunch a bit when you squash them

 

[PurplePickle]

hmm looks march fly ish, it didnt see me coming with my plank of wood, I warned H and he let me whop it, it just dropped dead, horse flies seem to keep going till you stamp on them

 

[Storminateacup]

I think it could be the Ox Gad fly (tabanus bovinus.)
About an inch long and looks like fat wasp.
Horses go mental when they hear it as it hums loudly.
It belongs to the family of Tabanidae. There are twenty eight species of which 20 are large. The others you mentioned are 'Clegs', blood suckers (haematopota).
I've only seen them in Scotland where there are a lot of cows, and quite honestly it threw me into a panic too.
I did entomology at Uni amongst other things.

 

[merlinsquest]

Merlin nearly had me off over the common on sunday when a couple of those buggers flew underneath him..... he went from a sedate walk..... to buck within a split second.... I didnt come off but felt like I had a whiplash....

That will teach me to just bum along and not be aware!!!

Today I smothered his under belly and man parts in special pink fly repellent, that smells of peppermint.... something like itch stop or similar!!

 

[ISHmad]

Could the one with the stripey body be a bot fly or is it too early yet for those? One of our horses in particular goes mental when they are around, which is no surprise really when you see the hook they stick into the horse to anchor themselves in place.

 

[PurplePickle]

well I thought Bot but i thought they were furry, I distinctly remember one some years ago looking like a bumble bee laying eggs on my old horse.

this thing was deffo biting and its body was pulsating

 

[Storminateacup]

if it was as large as I described and humming loudly it was the Ox Gad fly - very rare but it looked to me like a ****ing alien when I saw one!