MIDGE PROBLEMS? CHECK THIS OUT!

Angelbones

Angelbones

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Hi guys, just had to share this with you!

One of our ponies has a real aversion to flying insects, especially midges, and chucks his head around all over the place. Very long story which started with 'OMG he's a headshaker', various supplements, different tack, nose net, picking the best time to ride, keeping a diary etc, and one day I got a fab lady in to school him and see what she thought and after spending a couple of hours with him, lungeing and watching like a hawk she said that she was convinced he was seriously agitated by the midges and even the thought of one coming close was making him panic and toss his head around.... no real surprise there but what to do about it?

SO...happened to be in Sainsburys in the insect repellent section and they are selling this fabric for camping hols etc, which is meant to give a 50cm free zone from biting insects. I bought some and have made browband and noseband covers, and even covered the sursingle (sp?) straps on other sweetitch pony's fly rug and sewn it around her fly mask. Result - 2nd pony isn't itching her head on anything, and the first 'headshaker' pony has been out on several hacks, through woods too, without a problem! He may still get tense if a buzzing insect gets too close but isn't chucking his head around (still wear nosenet).

So, at this point I am convinced it is doing a good job, and am trying to think up other uses for it...hat covers for rider, hanging strips of it from stable roof to help sweetitch pony when she's stabled....

May be worth giving it a try eh? Would be interested to see if anyone else has views / experience with it?

The weblink to their site is: www.arnywear.co.uk
 
That's interesting - not sure how I could use it on lumpy 3yo (allergic to midgy bites) but I will be thinking about it...
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I am going straight to Sainsburys to get some. The nice thing about this forum is that everyone is so thoughtful and willing to help each other. Thanks for that!
 
Obviously I'm not an expert on this, just a hopeful consumer, but it also says that once activated, if you sleep on it for example, it remains active for several more hours. On the packet itself it says that to activate it you have to just crumple it up, so what i've done is sewn the covers for the noseband etc as extra long tubes and the gathered them onto the noseband so that there is some 'crumpling movement' as it makes contact with the horses forehead. It also says that body heat helps to keep it active so I'm hoping that the simple movement of the horse grazing in the field, or out on hacks, will provide the necessary heat and contact to keep it active. It also says that it can be washed a few times before becoming inactive and basically if you can't smell the aroma then that piece is now past it's useful life - however I bought the large size, about the size of a mattress top, and only used a small amount for what I wanted (about £20) so am confident that I'll get many more sets from that one piece, and that hopefully should see me through the summer. Fingers crossed it works - I just thought I'd pass along the info as so many people seem to be stressed over mozzies/horseflies/midges/flysprays and it is yet another thing to try out!
 
Hi Shilasdair, I've been thinking about how to help a new colt we've got and the only thing I may try that I can't foresee being too problematic is to try to plait some into his main/tail with plaiting bands to secure? Hopefully it would just fall away if it was to get caught on anything and not cause a hazard...just a thought!
 
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