Since lavender is used in gardens to keep away flies, and can be eaten by humans and horses, does anyone know if it has any effect as an internal fly repellant if fed?
I sprinkle lavender in my bedding along with marigold, which is also a good fly repellant if sprayed or planted.
So can anyone report if it has any effect on flies if used as a feed through?
I know garlic can be but I don’t want to use it. I used a garlic based feed through before and couldn’t tolerate the smell. I love garlic in my food but not on my horse lol
It’s a USEF prohibited substance, so I haven’t thought about feeding it. Can be used topically but not fed.
If you are going to be showing at rated/USEF events don’t feed it. See above for why. I hate the smell of lavender (odd one out usually I know) so can’t say I’d use it regardless. I don’t know that ingesting it is going to have a better effect that just using a topical or hanging some in the stall, whatever your fancy.
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Lol we aren’t doing anything rated so I’m not worried about it.
No opinion, but I gotta say, your stalls must smell fantastic :love-struck:
I love the smell of both marigold & lavender.
Do they blend well?
Lavender has some documented anti anxiety effects when taken internally, which is probably why it’s a banned substance.
Dubious that it would have any impact on flies, but…maybe?
FWIW, I don’t find garlic to be useful against flies. It’s pretty good for ticks, though.
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I’m also not a big fan of the smell, so you’re not alone! Was out near a huge lavender field in France once. Beautiful. Smelled like feet. :lol:
I use mostly lavender because I am not fond of the marigold but I will hang them outside the stall windows. I save the dead ones pop the heads and sprinkle them.
The lavender I use more often because I can get dried edible lavender in bulk. Too much is too much so I use a small handful .
I got the idea of doing this from Manna Pro’s coop freshener stuff. It has chamomile, lavender, oregano I think, marigold .
So I use lavender in my litter boxes and my stalls .it’s cheap and I’m sure there’s other things you could use as long as it’s ok for horses to eat
