Summer Buzz
Those lazy, hazy days of summer are here. Summer brings longer daylight hours for riding, horse show circuits in full swing, and if you are really lucky-- a swim in a lake or pond with your horse is tops! Unfortunately, summer also brings out those pesky bugs too. In this article I would like to share what different horse owners are doing to battle against fly populations around their barns. For some ideas on combating mosquito populations, see the article on West Nile Virus.
First, I would like to share my experience with a product called Freedom Spot On. When I bought my new horse, Greta, she was kept in a large pasture with two other pasture mates. No one handled or groomed her. The flies and gnats were literally eating her alive. She had large open sores under her jowls, across her chest and under her belly.
I knew it would be several months before I could relocate her to my area where I could care for her. I had heard about a spot on fly repellent that would last for two weeks and felt it was the only thing I could do for her.
When I returned two weeks later to check on her, the open sores were all healed. I applied another dosage, but was not able to return to see her again for almost four weeks. When I returned in four weeks the flies and gnats were swarming around her and the sores were beginning to open again.
I was able to apply Freedom SpotOn every two to three weeks for the rest of the summer and the sores never came back. I can't say that the flies always stay off, but I feel that it works better than any fly spray I have tried. The fly spot works much like the once a month flea repellant for dogs and cats.
I have also been very impressed with their customer service. Over the winter three tubes I had left from a package of six became crystallized. The customer service representative told me it would not be harmful to use them if I heated them up to dissolve the crystals, but offered to replace them for me for free. I was pleasantly surprised when they replaced the entire pack of six. You can check out this product at Star Horse Products. It is not cheap, but neither are traditional fly sprays.
My step mother uses another form of fly repellent. She feeds two ounces of garlic to her horses every day and swears it keeps the flies away from them. Some also claim that garlic is good for arthritis. Bug Off Garlic can be bought from Spring Time. The company breaks down the cost to about .41 cents per day for a 1000 lb horse. It is advised to introduce it into the horse's diet slowly, because some horses don't like the taste.
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