How To Dodge Horseflies This Year!

Kellys Heroes

Kellys Heroes

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During our Veterinary Parasitology lectures, we found out something rather interesting...

Horseflies are attracted to silhouettes or dark colours - therefore, apparently if we wear light clothing when out riding or on the yard, they shouldn't bother us as much! :D
 
thats very interesting!! I will try it...i usually try to go with my mum or another lady at the yard as they are much mopre attracted to them than me so when im not alone i tend to be free of horseflies!! :D
 
dizzydancer said:
thats very interesting!! I will try it...i usually try to go with my mum or another lady at the yard as they are much mopre attracted to them than me so when im not alone i tend to be free of horseflies!! :D
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Me too touch wood they never seem that interested in me, but I'd rather them not try at all! No wonder my mum's last loan horse was so attractive - he was a piebald cob it must have been silhouette heaven for them!!!!!
K x
 
And I also didn't know that male horseflies are nectar feeders - only the females bite in order to lay their eggs! So, if you get bitten, she's off to lay more of the little buggers!
K x
 
Actually I think there is something in this. I hack out with a girl who always has darker horses than my horses - and she always attracts more flies.

So best fly spray is - a friend with a darker horse!!
 
So thats the reason why my black horse gets eaten alive :( We always have all the flies round us and I get bitten too. :mad:
 
From now on, its white jods, white tshirt and I can't change the boots unfortunately but good luck to the little beasties if they think they can get through leather!!
K x

Its very strange as my bay doesn't seem to get that bothered by them unless she just doesn't show it as much!
 
They bite me but don't hurt (they say no sense, no feeling!) I caught one last year and took it up to the Natural History Museum, young lady in the "insect" department put it under the microscope for me to look at, it's jaws look like saws, they saw their way through your flesh, looks horrific magnified!
Only the females bite you, the males have bigger eyes if I remember and there are loads of species, the giant horsefly is HUGE like the size of a bumble bee!
Oz :)
 
Hairy Old Cob said:
All I know is the Bas***** love the taste of me I have the scarred arms to prove it and the BL**** mossies
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You & me both. I hate horsefly bites as they end up feeling bruised after a couple of days & I end up with huge lumps, Barstewards, I would exterminate the bloody lot of them. Where do they fit into the great scheme anyway? What do they contribute?
 
I think that wearing bright clothing will be great to dodge horseflies but arnt bee's and wasp's attracted to bright clothing or is that just me being silly and gullible :)
 
I've found that when wearing white you attract massive whop-off beetles instead (when hacking or in the field especially) and the bast**ds hang on too, so when you try to flick them off they stay :mad: horrible beasts!
 
I get a terrible reaction to horsefly bites - I come up in an enormous lump that lasts for weeks and have been known to hallucinate when I've had multiple bites :o

We get absolutely swarmed by them here, its simply not possible to ride out because they swarm the horses and it drives them crazy (other HHO'ers can testify this) but I have had to get off to swot them off and have found over 20 of them buried into their chest after 10 minutes of leaving the yard :(

Naff Horsefly spray certainly does help but to be frank for the few weeks that they are prevalant, there is nothing to deter them 100% and during this short period the horses prefer to come in for the day :(
 
It's not just dark colours that attract the little bleeders, it's large blocks of colour. In addition, they are attracted by body heat so it's pretty much hopeless to fool them. On top of all that, their strategy of silent flight (rather than the buzzing of bluebottles etc) makes them pretty bloody invincible. My technique is to stand very still and very quiet. Let them settle on you then SPLATT. Another one gone to meet its maker.
 
Ravenwood - one year we went out hacking AFTER the horsefly season or so we thought and all was quiet then all of a sudden there must have been about 150 horseflies all over us. Kelly wasn't bitten too horrendously, she was just freaking out but my mums piebald and our friends chestnut were bleeding from multiple places, we couldn't swat the little sods quick enough! Luckily they seemed okay once we got back to the yard and cleaned them up.
Haha I ride with a fly swat instead of a crop :D
Yeah they used 'slash and sponge' technique rather than sucking like a mossie - they literally slice and drink the blood, slice again etc that's why it hurts so bloody much!!!
K x
 
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