Mare unridable due to flies! Help!

O

oldhat

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 July 2010
Messages
170
Location
rural windy aberdeenshire
Visit site
Hi there! As my mare gets older - she's now 16 - she is becoming unridable in summer due to flies, I ride her in a fly veil designed for the field and this seems to help a bit, but really she becomes totally insane if we go somewhere where there are a lot of flies, hopping around with her front feet, throwing her head around, then backing up or going sideways to the point of it being dangerous as she seems to forget where she is - i.e. on a steep slope down to a river or in a country lane! Obviously I use fly repellent, I do also have a fly rug for her but I think she'd get mega hot riding in that!! Is the only thing I can do is ride at dawn or in the middle of the night? I am beginning to think I should just forget it til things are cooler - and that won't be long as I live in north east Scotland!!! Any ideas in the meantime??!
 
My mare has become much more silly about flies this year than any other year also.
Head tossing, reversing , going in circles, not much fun when your on the road :(
Iv started getting up and out by 7 in the mornings, or just dont bother at all. Its just not worth it, plus its not very nice for me riding along with flies biting me and flying in my face!

I dont really think theres much you can do apart from ride extremely early or late, or just dont bother :)
 
Yup, I do give both of ours garlic powder which I dust onto a couple of carrots each day, they also have a salt lick in the field which has garlic in it. I think the only thing I can do is get up mega early! I am surprised to hear that garlic is bad for horse tums, I thought it was supposed to be a help not a hindrance. Oh yes, I also do cover her in fly reppellent and head for the sea where there is more air, I think I might just give her a rest until it cools a bit, either that or I have to grab a long tree branch and swish it around her head! The joy of summer!!
 
Those fly rugs were used a lot in the area i was in in Austria, it really was not possible to ride in the day without one, at the competitions in summer the horses had to stop every 5-10 mins or so to have fly spray reapplied. They do not slip (i rode with mine over the top of the saddle) or rub and are easy enough to adapt to riding as opposed to driving.

Yasandcrystal - the problem normally with fly sprays is that as soon as the horse starts to sweat the effect wears off :(
 
Get Coopers Spot on for horses/cattle from vet! £26 or so. Apply on back with syringe once every two weeks.

If I hack with others, we're the only ones unbothered by these damned creatures!
 
oldhat said:
Yup, I do give both of ours garlic powder which I dust onto a couple of carrots each day, they also have a salt lick in the field which has garlic in it. I think the only thing I can do is get up mega early! I am surprised to hear that garlic is bad for horse tums, I thought it was supposed to be a help not a hindrance. Oh yes, I also do cover her in fly reppellent and head for the sea where there is more air, I think I might just give her a rest until it cools a bit, either that or I have to grab a long tree branch and swish it around her head! The joy of summer!!
Click to expand...

I have heard it several times now re Garlic to feed with caution and told not to give to horses with ulcer tendency. See info article also below:

However feed with care as it is being discovered that there are dangers in feeding too much garlic as it can can cause anemia in horses.

There is a toxic element in Garlic called N-propyl disulfide which can change an enzyme within a horse's red blood cells, it depletes the cell of a chemical known as phosphate dehydrogenase - whose task is to protect the blood cells from damage caused by oxidation

When the level of phosphate dehydrogenase gets too low the hemoglobin in the blood cell oxidizes and forms a bubble. This is seen as being deformed as it passes through the spleen and is removed from the bloodstream. If the blood is consistently poisoned by N-propyl disulfide contained in a garlic supplement more red blood cells are removed and the horse may slowly become anaemic.

Researchers fed a healthy horse 1 lb of onion tops, which also contain N-propyl disulfide, over an 11 day period. By the 11th day the horse had lost almost 60% of his red blood cells and was severely anaemic!

Some vets claim that the toxic effects of garlic are gradual - a low dose fed on a regular basis can result in mild anemia.

However it may be that commercially prepared equine garlic supplements are not dangerous as the active ingredient -allicin - is often destroyed during the manufacturing process when heat dried.

The benefits of garlic are many and if you do decide to feed a garlic supplement just be careful not to overdo it.
 
If you live in Scotland, saddly you won't have to wait to long for the weather to get cooler!!! Sorry I can't help, other than ride with a fly sheet of some sort, don't think that would be very safe tho.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top