Tips on getting fly repellant on my horse!!

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missshell

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I got my new boy on monday :) :)
Hes a bugger to get fly repellant onto....I thought it was the spray he didn't like so I tried using a cloth....he didn't like that so i bought some Gel thinking i can just stroke it onto him...but he doesnt like that either! Hes fine to groom etc so I think he must just smell it and for some reason he really objects to it. Thing is he had it on when i picked him up because I could smell it :/ Could it just be a trust thing until he gets to know me better? Its quite frustrating as its for his own good but he won't let me put it on!
 
Apologies if you've tried this already but, if you're convinced it's the smell that's bothering him, have you tried using a different brand? Some of them honk and some smell good enough to eat :)

Edit: Forget to say: I did read that you smelt it on him but who knows how badly behaved he was when the first lot was going on!
 
I dont think its the scent as such as the spray and gel smell totally different...I think its just the fact im trying to put something on him!
 
I find that if someone stands & strokes my boys face, talking to him, he generally will be too distracted to be awkward.
 
Crikey, that's a toughy then!

If he doesn't mind grooming have you tried spraying fly spray straight onto an old body brush? Do it outside the stable to be extra sneaky :D
 
I have tried putting it on a sponge brush i have... didnt like that (which is what makes me think he can smell it and thats what makes him think uh oh whats that, like i say hes fine to groom) and have tried a hay net/small feed...just wont eat them and dances about instead...the boy wont be fooled lol!
 
Chloe thinks you're going to kill her with sprays of any sort and even detests water on her. Given the extent of her Sweet Itch when she came last June, I had to work hard to get her to accept it. Whilst I was getting to know her (and she calmed down - she would stand hunched at her feed bowl and go into orbit at so much as a sneeze), she had a fly rug on and I basically had to work on getting her to accept vaseline, then sudocrem (we went through a lot of that with her sores!) and fly gel.

I found that warming it up helped, so when I started on my home-made fly goo, I left it out, so that in the early evening, it was nice and warm and she tolerated it much better. With her, just stroking was an issue and we got around that with clicker-training. Her standing still when I put my hand on her was the behaviour I marked and she got a herbie treat each time.

I can actually spray her tail, now and even her mane (conditioner, not fly spray, but it still reeks and it's the feel of it in her case - she's quite happy to sniff it and stand next to Henry when he's being sprayed), these days. Not bad considering I tried to spray her the day after she arrived (I hadn't been told of this problem) and she span round on the end of the rope so fast I had to give up. I was scared she would do herself serious damage she wanted to get away so badly.

Her routine now is the home-made goo (pure Neem Oil mixed 1/5 with Benzyl Benzoate) left outside where the sun gets it, spilt onto a body brush. It's taken time to work up to this, but I now just groom her with it. She used to walk around on the end of a rope even for that, so it was a long process - with the fly goo I can't use CT as there aren't enough hands to hold the goo, clicker and treat and having gloves on means I would get goo on the treat!

Another thing I remember doing is putting the gloves on and pouring some viscous goo on my hands, then rubbing them together briefly to warm them up. I would then give her rough scratches and as the goo is making contact with her skin, she's also getting the pleasantness of the scratch!

Be patient and you'll get there. Like I said, Chloe wouldn't tolerate even grooming at one point and I gave her an emergency 'bed bath' on Monday, after an acute allergic reaction. There is no way I could have done that a year ago. I'd have been in hospital!!
 
Thank you for that. I guess its just time and patience required. Im sure i'll get there in the end once he learns to trust me. I can get a bit on when he thinks im just doing up his fly rug.
The only bit he doesnt mind me doing is the top of his tail, he loves having his bum rubbed lol bless him!
 
Why not just spray it onto your hands and then stroke it onto him - I do this for my horses face as he is not keen on the spray which is fair - can't guarantee it won't go in his eyes..

Been doing that for ages... I do wash my hands afterwards - assumed it was non toxic to humans..
 
i have to spray onto sponge then sponge onto her - Can you wash him down with a sponge??
If so should let you sponge repellent onto him.
 
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