Flies and other insects can wreak havoc on your horse’s temperament and even health. Insects are more than just annoying to you and your horse—they have the potential to spread harmful disease, cause infections, and irritate the skin, not to mention the constant foot stomping and restlessness. While it’s difficult to eliminate all flies, creating an effective fly control plan can help keep the flies at bay.
Utilize the Right Gear
Flies tend to congregate and bite at your horse’s legs and face the most, so it’s important you cover these areas as best as possible. Keep in mind, summer gets considerably hot, so you don’t want to choose a gear that will cause your horse to overheat. Mesh leg wraps, fly masks, and sheets are the perfect way to shield your horse from flies during the summer.
Fly sprays or spot-on treatments are also a great idea to help protect your horse. Note: It’s important you follow specific spray directions with each product. While some sprays are safe to use on horses, some sprays should not be used while horses are in the barn’s closed environment.
A few other popular fly control methods include fly traps, releasing fly predators, and having strong fans in the barn aisle way and/or stalls. Fans help keep an constant air-flow on your herd, reducing the quantities of flies hanging around your barn.
Use Proper Paddock Management
Proper sanitation and manure management are one of the most effective fly control methods. It’s important to clean manure regularly, especially in the summer, to remove flies breeding grounds. Ideally, it should be done 2-3 times a day, if not more. In no time, you’ll see fewer flies! Additional fly control management tips:
- Move feeding locations regularly and clean surrounding areas of feed waste
- Seal garbage containers tightly and clean on a regular basis
- Store manure piles as far from the barn or paddocks as possible or remove from property completely, if possible
- Spread manure thin to help increase rapid drying
Defend Your Horse From The Inside Out
Flies-A-Way is one of the most proactive ways to help prevent flies from biting your horse. Flies-A-Way provides a chemical-free, daily feed-through method to help control insects and promote natural oil secretion that discourage flies from biting.
With Flies-A-Way’s two-way approach, you can protect your horse even more. Aside from ingredients to help stimulate natural body oil secretion, Flies-A-Way includes Diatomaceous Earth, a chemical-free element that help prevent fly larvae from hatching in the manure. Start feeding all of the horses on your property 30-45 days before fly season starts for best results.
Keeping your barn and horses free of flies can be a headache during the summer, but it’s an important chore. Flies don’t just bite and annoy, they can also spread disease, so you should take all the necessary precautions to keep the flies away all summer long.