What makes some horses tastier to flies than others?!

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Sophstar

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I ask this simply as my friend's black mare who I check for her in the morning, seems to be the target of nearly every fly/horse fly in the field. Checking her this morning I got bitten 7 times:mad::eek: and needless to say I am now incredibly itchy on every limb:rolleyes:

The others in the herd get pestered but what is it about particular horses flies LOVE?
 
Its all in their colour!

The darker the horse the more the flies go for them. I discovered this on a five hour ride on Saturday with friends. Mine is a few spot appy, and creamy coloured and we were MUCH better off than the dark horses!
 
I have a dun who is full of fly bites and is scratching and itching like something demented. Its not typical sweetitch though. I am fed up with it. I.m fed up of all the creams a d lotions and fly rugs. really really fed up.
 
My pink-skinned/white-faced bright bay is a fly/itchy things magnet....my dark bay black-skinned boy is relatively unbothered...so have presumed with them that their underlying skin colour makes the difference, but don't really know..
 
Can't believe it's colour, I have a mostly white (90%) piebald and he is plauged by them. He's a sweaty beast even when not working so i put it down to sweat. May be wrong thought.lol.
 
My chestnut gets eaten alive, grey is eaten a bit and dun is barely touched, despite the fact he's the only one not in a fly rug, and he doesn't often get fly sprayed- they still don't like the taste of him!
It's the same with humans too- if I'm sat near my dad of an evening I won't get bitten and he'll get loads! :D
 
I wonder if its like humans ie bloodtype or lack of something in diet? Whenever we go anywhere I always without fail get bitten to pieces but no one else does. Also its the same with ticks although I never get them but hubby and one of my sons does. Weird. Flies seem to be worse this year though. My girl doesnt suffer too much normally but shes covered this year.
 
claribella said:
I wonder if its like humans ie bloodtype or lack of something in diet? Whenever we go anywhere I always without fail get bitten to pieces but no one else does. Also its the same with ticks although I never get them but hubby and one of my sons does. Weird. Flies seem to be worse this year though. My girl doesnt suffer too much normally but shes covered this year.
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This was what I was thinking, they say that yeasty diets help stop them, hence the idea of feeding marmite to stop flies.

I get bitten like mad by mozzies but rarely by horse flies, puzzling indeed :p
 
urgh - flies are a nightmare this year, I don't remember having this much trouble in the past but at the moment I seem to collect my own personal escort of them every time I hack out on my bay boy and it's driving me (and him!) mad :mad:
 
Both friesians at our yard are always covered in flies and others in same field,not so:-/ Next most attractive one seems to be the black BWB and then the 4 bays and, least,the greys.
 
My grey mare is a fly magnet. She has an allergy to certain fly bites and ends up with huge lumps all over that ooze pus if we don't cover her up. It's worse when she's in a field with trees so we tend to keep her in open fields.
The others, 2 bays and a fjord hardly suffer at all.
 
Tried out the citronella tags today from NAF. They work reasonably well, but you do need 2 of them really for maximum effectiveness, methinks:)

Yesterday I got 6 bites through my jods
 
i wondered this tonight!
my bay has been literally eaten alive on her neck (i put her flysheet on - she hates it and sweats but ive no choice -shes a mess)

covered her in flyspray.


my coloured... very light - not a one on her...!

she has no fly sheet on - yet!

:)
 
I think it's potentially something to do with blood types or sweat. I hardly ever get bitten by any flies or bugs and I'm rhesus negative. My dad is also and he doesn't get bitten either.

My daughter unfortunately is rhesus positive and is pretty much attacked by fly swarms the second she heads out to the fields in the summer.

Maybe something similar with horses?
 
My bright chestnut geling is always plagued with flies but his bay field buddy hardly gets any. When we hack out I am always surrounded by a swarm of the little blighters but none of the others seem too bothered! A few summers ago he was in a herd of 7 horses- 1 x grey; 5 x bay and my chestnut - and it was only my boy that was bothered by the flies. I used to think it was colour but not so sure now!
 
My black mare is relatively unaffected but the mostly white gelding is covered. Never seen anything like it. In previous years he's never been particularly troubled by them, but this year he has his own personal swarm following him. Sudocrem put on around his eyes, sheath and nose is the only thing that deters them. Haven't found a fly spray to protect the rest of him yet though.
 
We have 2 horses, both almost identical in colour (bays) and the gelding gets attacked but the mare doesnt. So,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, dont think it has anything to do with colour. We used to have our mare at a livery yard and she was in a group of other mares, all different colours and it was the coloured that seemed to be the fly magnet!!!
 
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