the lesser of 2 evils?

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Cherrydan

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Hey everyone,
Which is crueller a fly rug or being bitten by horse flies. I ask because my lad is sweaty under his fly rug and mask, but the flies are chomping round here...so which do you think is the lesser of two evils? Hope you are all having a lovely day.x
 
I guess it depends if he's hot and bothered because of the rug and mask. Ours don't have fly rugs on but sometimes, especially in this sort of weather, will be a bit sweaty and they have plenty of shelter/shade.

I wouldn't like them sweating under the fly mask though, that must be quite unpleasant and irritating. I would maybe smother him in fly spray instead. We thankfully don't have real issues with horseflies here - just normal flies. My sister has bought several fly masks and some of ours (the ones who seems to attract the flies and get weepy eyes etc) wear them. My horse doesn't seems to be a fly magnet and, quiet frankly doesn't like having a fly mask on at all (he hates being too hot so I don't know if this is his issue). He will shake his head and generally look more annoyed with a fly mask on than off.

None of ours have fly rugs. I am not actually a fan of them unless maybe the horse really suffers with sweetitch or something. At the end of the day, horses are designed to cope with flies. We do however, need to provide them with adequate shelter and, ideally companion horses, as horses get together to keep flies at bay.
 
jemima*askin said:
Am I the only person nowadays who has never owned a fly rug or mask?
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I have only owned a fly mask (my boy had a blocked tearduct which caused a horrific infection in his eye - turned out to be ecoli - and didn't want flies spreading it) but not a fly rug. However my best friends TB gets eaten alive by flies and the bites swell up huge so can't see why she wouldn't have one. Whereas my connemara doesn't seem to be bothered at all! It depends on the horse
 
My Daniel is the world's biggest fly magnet, poor beggar...fly sprays make him irritated and the only thing he can use is sudacrem for his bits. He doesn't seem to mind about his mask and rug, but the bits that aren't covered (his legs and his throat are bitten and bloody. I just am thinking if I take the mask off he will have gooey eyes within minutes, if I take the rug off he will be bitten and sore...it's a bit like is it cruel without or with fly protection? Double edged sword eh? X
 
At my old yard we never used fly rugs and I always thought that people who used them were mollycoddling their horses, however when we moved yards 4 years ago I was warned by a friend that there was a problem with horses flies. She wasn't wrong!! The horse flies are horrendous they don't just bite the horses, but ourselves and the dogs too! In the months of July and August the horses are absolutely driven to distraction by them and get into such a state that at certain times of the day we don't even bother trying to ride. The rugs stay on permenantly during this time but the fly masks are only put on during the day so not to rub. They have garlic and mint in their food, I have fly traps situated around the yard and they have fly repellant applied daily, but I have been told that fly repellants don't work on horse flies as they hunt more by sight rather than smell (please corrrect me if wrong). So I would definately use a fly rug, but as soon as the horse fly numbers start to decline the rugs come off.
 
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