fly sheets for horses

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Do any of you use those fly sheets for your horses? Or the leg things? I am putting together my anti-fly aresenal for the horses, and wonder if those sheets are worthwhile. I'd rather drape everyone in funny clothes than saturate them with chemicals.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 09, 2002

Answers

I use fabric softener on my smelly barn dogs and horses. Downy. I tried the cheaper off brands and they don't seem to work as well. Just dilute it half and half and spray away. Watch the face of course. Do that by hand with a rag. I spray it on myself too. Keeps the biting @#$%&*$#@ flies away,. :) We use fly masks on our horses too. Also, since it has been raining cats and dogs here, they have been rolling in the mud. That keeps the flies off 'em too, just as mother nature intended. I'm sure the clothes work fine but we have too many trees and bushes in our pasture and I know they would just rip them off! I know I only get bit where my clothes aren't, so I imagine that it works for the horses.

Good luck.

PS I also use a mineral block that has a larvicide in it. It keeps the flies from reproducing in their manure. It really works. I have automatic insecticide sprays in the stable too. I just plain HATE flies. :)

-- Cindy in IL (Ilovecajun@aol.com), May 09, 2002.


At the barn that I used to ride at there was only one horse that wore a fly sheet. She was a particularly sinsitive and alergic horse. It was several years old and still in good shape even though she was usualy out in the pasture with the worst trees and bushes. The rest of the horse just wore fly masks and on the hot days when the flys were particularly bothersome we used fly spray on their chests, stomachs, and legs. Their tails took care of their backs and sides.

-- Erika (misserika129@hotmail.com), May 09, 2002.

From what I've seen, flysheets are only partially effective -- they don't cover the neck, the chest, under the belly, or the legs; all places that get bit up. The fly wraps for legs are also only so-so. The problem with those is that with every step they take, or when they stamp a foot, it eventually collapses the mesh boot down to around their ankle, leaving the leg exposed again (and they aren't cheap either). For fly sheets, the ones that work best are not surprisingly the most expensive ones on the market in terms of staying on and not sliding off out in the pasture.

There are some products that I have seen on the market but not tried yet -- one is an insect repellant (insecticide?) band that fastens around the horse's leg, but doesn't contact the skin or hair. That looks interesting, but may be problematical as there is no indication of effective range.

One of the health newsletters I get runs yearly results on herbal products for fly protection. Clac 88 has gotten good marks for keeping bugs off and being longer lasting than most other preparations (most of the herbals are rated for between 1/2 and 4 hours before reapplying). If you want, I can try looking for other preparations they recommend -- I think that Clac 88 is available through Dover Horse Supply, maybe other companies if you do a Google search. Pyrahna has also been getting good reviews -- it is a natural pyrethrin spray that you can get to mix up yourself in spray form, all the way on up to premise automatic sprays with 55 gallon drum refills.

The horse's natural inclination to plaster themselves with mud forms a partial barrier to fly bites. Chickens are a real help too -- they scratch out the manure and eat the fly larva before it develops, and will chase down and eat mature flies. Consistant use of fly predators greatly reduces the fly population too, altho it doesn't do much for horseflies and deerflies.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), May 10, 2002.


I have tried the clac 88 natural flt spray and it works great! It worked as well as the chemical stuff. But it is expensive!adds up to about 20 bucks a bottle.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), May 11, 2002.

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