horseflies!

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impresario08

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Ohmygod can ANYTHING be done to help with these monsters? I know they hunt by sight not smell so repellants don't usually work. I can't ride my horse it's so bad at the yard. It's making our lives miserable.
 
I did see those yesterday actually - quite pricey but might be worth the investment - would have to ask the YO if I could put them up!
 
They are pricey, I just looked on the pricing list. Didn't realise. £180!!!!

Might have to get creative...
 
I've bought the zebra print fly rugs this year for the horses. You can also buy ride on ones. Think I might invest. Those traps look interesting. I wonder how effective they are.
 
there are plans online how to make your own fly trap like the h-trap ones. Most seem to be american sites - they refer to them as 'deer' fly traps, i would post some links but i'm on a different laptop today so not on this ones history
 
Use Power Phaser fly spray - I used this on a long ride on Sunday and it definitely kept them away. The other horses had loads of flies and mine didn't have any!
 
I've never known them as bad as they are this year. The other day I had to do the horses at lunchtime as I was busy after work. In the 5 minutes it took for me to feed them, check them over and apply sun cream and fly spray (which did nothing) I had killed 24 horseflies on them and been bitten 5 times. M is normally so quiet and he was frantic, barging into me to try to swipe them off bless him.
 
My dad has made me a trap using a big black gym ball, a hula hoop, a cola bottle and some fabric...very blue peter! Going to put it up this week so will keep you posted! My horse is black and usually gets eaten alive by horse flies and gets covered in massive lumps, I've found the zebra print rug really helped so far this year.
 
Do the citronella wristbands work for humans and horse flys? I've been bit about 15 times already, one on my little finger knuckle yesterday and swollen half way across my hand today :(

Saw those fly ball traps in a magazine, look good!
 
shetland pony said:
Do the citronella wristbands work for humans and horse flys? I've been bit about 15 times already, one on my little finger knuckle yesterday and swollen half way across my hand today :(

Saw those fly ball traps in a magazine, look good!
Click to expand...

Not sure about citronella but the Deet wristbands don't work though they are great against mosquitos. Citronella doesn't work as a spray, you watch them land seconds after you spray.

They hunt by homing in to Carbon Dioxide from breathing and then hunt by sight, that's why sprays don't work.

I get bitten all the time, even through my jods and I have a reaction to them but nothing works.
 
They seem to dislike fluorescent sheets for some reason. Otherwise you could do as I did and butcher an old lightweight fly rug. I made a slit so I could pull the outer saddle slaps through. It meant the belly and neck were covered - more so than the fly rider (which doesn't go down to Exmoor size anyway!). Worked a treat, although they've dropped off a bit here, so I haven't used it for a couple of weeks. I did worry about overheating, but didn't seem to happen and both ponies were very happy! The horses we rode out with still got attacked on their bellies and neck fronts.
 
I'm using Deosect at the moment which is effective. The only daily spray that worked was the Power Phase.
One of my horses reacts very badly to flies, makes riding through the fly season hair raising, but I don't want to use sheets etc as we have to cope in competitions.
 
I'd love to find a way to get rid of them! Horrible horrible things! The fly repellent I use is effective against everything except horseflies and they drive my poor girl crazy. Our rides have been ruined for the past couple of weeks with these horrible blood suckers. She is tolerant of other flies, but reacts badly to horse flies so as soon as she feels one land she goes nuts.

Its not as warm this week though so they haven't been as bad.
 
Found a spare of 'Bluebottle' in my feed shed, was given to me by previous livery last winter & I'd forgotten about it.
Last night it did a far better job than me using the Powerphaser the night before.
Think its from Naf (??)

Otherwise I pop on Coopers Fly+ if leaving them out for a couple of days (have old stock of it)
 
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