Poor horse being eat alive by flies...

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I'm in a predicament, my tb mare gets eaten alive by flies and comes out in bites everywhere...
If I put a fly rug on her she gets less bites but she overheats underneath it and gets sweaty on these hot days. If I put her out in just fly spray it doesn't seem to do much (I think she rolls and it comes off very quickly)
On cooler nights I try to keep her fly rug on in the stable as well as I think she's bitten just as much at night but the nights are getting warmer and as I say, she gets sweaty under it...
Does anyone have a similar issue or knows of some really lightweight but still effective fly rug?
Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks :)
 
I would try a stronger fly spray deosect does work its not cheap and some horses skin can't cope with it but might be worth a try, I used it on mine but one of my horses came out in scabs and his hair fell out but plenty of people use it without any ill effect, if not I tend to buy the fly cream and apply it thickly I think it's much more effective than a spray I am currently using the animal barrier one as I know the sensitive one is fine with it, failing that there are some fly supplements you can add to the feed I know someone who uses the global herbs one and swears by it.
 
I was going to say Deosect. Be careful on TB skin though - my Arab mare coped with it at a slightly weakened solution.
 
I don't have any answers (sorry!) but am following with interest as my boys just the same :( I feel so sorry for him he comes up in all these scabs. He seems to only have a couple sometimes and then next day he has tons. He's getting too warm in rugs in this weather so he only has a fly rug on if it's cooler and cloudy.

I think being in during the day has helped *slightly*. It at least means he can have his fly rug on more often when he's out on the cooler nights. I've tried all of the fly sprays and none of them seem to work that well and don't stop him getting bitten completely but I still buy the strong ones and use them as I'm loathe to stop incase he gets bitten worse! I fly spray him on a morning when he comes in and before he goes out a night so he gets 2x a day. I have an aloe vera gel I put on the worse bites to help soothe them and I try and bath him in insecticidal shampoo once a week or so.

It doesn't stop him getting bitten completely and I've been considering getting a fly cream/gel instead of spray but I can't imagine how I'll cover all of him in it? I've also seen things you can tie into the mane that are supposed to repel flies but I'm a bit sceptical.....
 
Thanks for such quick responses! I'm going to give all of them a go as it's getting so bad :( and I do feel so sorry for her.
I'll keep you updated on what works best :)
 
Amye said:
I don't have any answers (sorry!) but am following with interest as my boys just the same :( I feel so sorry for him he comes up in all these scabs. He seems to only have a couple sometimes and then next day he has tons. He's getting too warm in rugs in this weather so he only has a fly rug on if it's cooler and cloudy.

I think being in during the day has helped *slightly*. It at least means he can have his fly rug on more often when he's out on the cooler nights. I've tried all of the fly sprays and none of them seem to work that well and don't stop him getting bitten completely but I still buy the strong ones and use them as I'm loathe to stop incase he gets bitten worse! I fly spray him on a morning when he comes in and before he goes out a night so he gets 2x a day. I have an aloe vera gel I put on the worse bites to help soothe them and I try and bath him in insecticidal shampoo once a week or so.

It doesn't stop him getting bitten completely and I've been considering getting a fly cream/gel instead of spray but I can't imagine how I'll cover all of him in it? I've also seen things you can tie into the mane that are supposed to repel flies but I'm a bit sceptical.....
Click to expand...

I know the cream application sounds difficult but it really isn't I just use a rubber glove and just slap it all over it takes about 5 minutes, even less if you just put it on the bits that the fly rug doesn't cover.
 
Mine wears a fly rug so can't help there, but for bits it doesn't cover I use Nettex fly cream and I've noticed a visible difference when putting it on. But it would probably be expensive to use over fly sprays or fly rugs.
 
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