# Anyone else's horse going crazy with the bugs?



## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

The bugs (mosquitoes especially here) are driving the horses batty. My guy is turned out 24/7 (indoor board isn't an option) and he's been outfitted with a mesh flysheet complete with neck covering and belly band, PLUS a fly mask that covers his ears since he is so sensitive to them. Other horses will be grazing and swishing tails with nothing on them, and my horse is walking circles trying to keep the bugs off him. I always had to ride him with an ear veil (even at shows - I'd take it off before doing my hunter classes) because of how sensitive he is. (See my sig pic).

So two nights ago I went out to check on him and he'd SHREDDED his fly sheet to the point it's unwearable and the barn owner took it off. He also lost his mask...he had no protection whatsoever and was SWEATING because he'd been walking circles for hours. I tried to hunt the mask down in his paddock but couldn't find it and got about 100 mosquito bites in the 15 minutes I was looking for it - no lie. 

Of course, "princess" can only wear a certain brand of fly mask - every other mask I've tried rubs his eyes. I threw on an emergency fly sheet that doesn't fit well (and doesn't cover his neck or belly) while I'm calling tack stores all over to find him a cashel crusader in the right size AND a new full length fly sheet! Every store is sold out! I just tracked one down and asked them to put it on hold and will drive out for an hour to get it tomorrow night. Yeesh. In the meantime, I'm spraying my horse with bug spray to an extreme degree trying to keep him sane. The bugs are now so bad that even the horses who usually don't care are cantering around the paddocks and bucking and rearing!

Here's Virgil in his old fly gear: (He's the one with the mask and that's the blanket he shredded).



I really want to get him a rambo bug rug but no place here sells them! I think it'd work fantastic for him...

That's me venting. I hate the fact that my horse is so miserable and unhappy. Plus, he's lost some weight (not necessarily a bad thing since he was a little fat) but winter's coming up and I want him to go into our harsh winters with a little extra padding, not less. Hopefully the sheet I get him tomorrow works, as does the fly mask. The sheet is a bucas which he's never worn before so I hope the cut fits him and the mask isn't a cashel, but the lady said it's close to the same cut. Fingers crossed! :crossfing


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## Lennap (Jul 9, 2010)

Tux is actually allergic to bugs - sweet itch - and ends up rubbing himself raw if I don't get it under control. Fly sheets don't work because the weave is too big. I bought him a Boetts blanket and hood (I'll post pics it's too funny because he looks like winnie the pooh) but he's on total stall rest, so it's just too darn hot!

I've had to content myself with trying to keep ahead of his hives and itching to at least prevent him rubbing himself to a bloody raw pulp - but it's hard!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

OMG the last couple evenings I rode Pete he was MISERABLE!!! He normally is pretty good. I don't believe fly sprays work once you start working the horse, but they do help going out to the ring, and walk warm up. I was cantering him and he stopped dead to get rid of an annoying bug. I thought I was a goner! He hates bugs too, wears a bonnet which has helped him significantly, but I don't think in all the years I knew him he was ever as bothered as those two rides. I had to cut my last ride short on him as the bugs were just horrible. Nice my last ride on my horse and I can't even enjoy it. 

Ann


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

Last week my kids were going for their first trail ride for their lesson at the state park. Plans were changed because the instructor had gone out an hour earlier with another class, and the horseflies were horrendous. Horses and riders were miserable.

I have never seen horseflies the size of the ones I have seen in the midwest!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I do have a fly spray that does keep the biggest of the bombers away, just not sure how safe the spray is. I used it on a young horse at a trailer in horse show. He stood at the trailer munching his hay, not even swishing his tail... A few other horse broke their ties after being attacked. This stuff is the one that works, if the flies land... they die. Just like that. Yeah pretty toxic I suppose. I only use it on legs and stomachs, then bath after I ride.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Yeah Virgil gets the toxic stuff sprayed on him because nothing else keeps the bugs away for more than 15 minutes. I usually spray it on my hands then wipe his ears with it, then wash my hands right away. One time I forgot and ended up eating my sandwhich with the toxic fly spray on my hands...I was fine, amazingly.

Lennap - Virgil will do that too, but usually he just walks around and around. It's pretty upsetting to go out and hear that your horse hasn't stopped walking all day and then see how lathered he is and the paths he's made in his paddock. 

Maxs Mom - So sorry to hear your last ride was ruined by the stupid bugs. 

I found 2 sheets, both with a thinner weave, which makes me think he's going to shred them in no time. Once was 50 bucks and the other was 150 so I hope it's the cheap one that fits him better. And the only mask I could find was one of the ones that go all the way down to the nostrils. Not sure how much he'll like that...


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

One phrase...

thin skinned chestnuts... 

I had one too.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Oh god, tell me about it! We had to braid Virgil's mane a special way, otherwise the yarn hanging down tickled his neck! He'd flinch, twitch and shake his head so much you'd lose the braid...yeesh.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

OMG, tell me about it. Ours have been staying in until 8 when the breeze comes up a bit and then they're back in by 2 because of heat and flies. Hershey and Harry tolerate them pretty well, but Daz get his panties in a wad. And he has the foulest mouth I've ever heard: it's always "f'ing bugs this and f'ing bugs that" And when I get to the barn, he's pacing the gate "Where the f have you been, it's so f'ing hot out. 

The other 2 come readily, but Daz is always pacing the gate! 

I'm even a little nervous about riding. Our big crash and burn carriage accident was because of a big, biting fly....it's was Daz, of course.


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## Walker (Sep 5, 2010)

Around here, if we could have sold our mosquitoes by the pound this summer, we'd have all been rich!

Fly spray was useless (usually is useless though), so a horse friend of mine recommended Deep Woods Off. I sprayed it on a plush mitt and then wiped it all over, being extra careful around the face and not getting it near the eyes or mouth. It worked great.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Hahaha, I'm in Southern AB so I know how bad the bugs were! Absolutely brutal this year, i swear they were worse here than in SK! 

I started spraying Virgil's ears with people Off too and it seemed to help. I hope the bugs aren't this bad next year!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

For our area, we had a LOT of rain early in the spring/summer then a lot warmer temps and I think the rain plus humidity was perfect breeding ground for bugs. 

I heard here in MI there as a confirmed case of a human getting EIA. Can't tell me that wasn't mosquitoes.


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## Walker (Sep 5, 2010)

"I hope the bugs aren't this bad next year!"

Shh! Don't say that out loud! It's liable to jinx us! *scratch*

I use a tiny swipe of Vaseline in the ears for those pesky little blood-sucking ear bug things. It works too.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Now that it's a bit cooler, the bugs aren't as bad. Today is pretty windy, helps keeps the bugs 'piling on'. I'm glad because for a while there we were going broke with shavings for the stalls. They were in 18 hours out of 24, eating hay and pooping. Lots of work and lots of $$$.

I mowed all the pastures a couple of weeks ago. Next year I'm going to mow them once a month. I think if I keep the tall weeds down (the stuff they won't eat evah) the bugs will have fewer hiding places.

After the first frost, I'm going to put tails up. They are a mess after weeks of swaping at bugs!


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