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Fly Repellent Comparison Study?

Horse Care
#1

I’ve been (happily) using Repel-X for years. I think it works great and I can adjust the level of concentrate so I only use a mild solution in the early part of the summer, and increase as the bugs grow more numerous.

Meanwhile, on a trail ride last weekend (where my horse was unmolested by flies) a number of people were comparing their “homemade” fly spray recipes – vinegar and salt, skin-so-soft, Dawn detergent, etc --and there was discussion of the various kinds available in stores (pretty much the people I was riding with felt their home-made was more effective).

That made me wonder if there has been a definitive study done. I did find one scientific paper but it compared only three brands of commercially available fly spray.

https://www.utm.edu/departments/msanr/_pdfs/1379695145-Johnson_research_project_final.pdf

That was interesting, but limited. Other “research” seems to generally find that whomever is selling the fly repellent ha the “best” product.

So except for the one academic paper I found, does anyone know of a definitive study that demonstrates which fly repellent is best?

FYI --the riders who were supporting the “homemade is better than anything commercial” had only their individual observations --just like I have mine --I think Repel-x works --but just because I think it does, does it really? I thought the study I found was excellent --but wanted to see more brands and the homemade concoctions compared!

#2

A friend at U of Mn presented a paper on this at ESS last year. I’ll have to see if I can find it…

#3

Depends SO MUCH on location. Can’t see conclusions being useful across wide geographic areas…

5 Likes
#4

Through my own, highly unscientific research, I have concluded that nothing actually works where I am. :lol:

I gave up on fly spray and bought the Amigo Fly Rider for trails, and he gets turned out in a fly sheet and fly mask. The Fly Rider has been wonderful - we both love getting out for a nice hack, but before I had the sheet he would get eaten alive and of course would be upset and miserable, just wanting to go home (even covered in fly spray). With the sheet, he is relaxed and happy again.

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#5

The fly sprays that worked last year do nothing this year. I haven’t gotten any SSS yet, maybe that will help.

Swat is the only thing that works here right now. Coastal MS. Obviously I cant cover them in Swat, I do ears, cheek bone below eye, forehead, ventral line, sheath, and a swipe down each cannon. The little flies bite their legs, and the “Big Horribles” go after sheaths and midlines first. The Pony barely gets bothered and the Paint just sighs and waddles off. The OTTB is miserable, suffers mightily, he runs all day from them if I don’t do my routine. His sheath is bloody ribbons if I miss a day. He now wears a mask with ears and Shoo Fly leggings in addition to the swat. He has lost weight because of the flies this year.

Everybody also gets a Desitin type ointment on various places for sunburn. It takes forever to get them ‘dressed’ to go out after breakfast. The good news is that the swat is good for two days on sheaths.The Paint was very suprised at first at my ministrations ‘down there’ but now it’s just the routine.

#6

Interesting read.

Middle TN has a climate and geography friendly to biting insects. Mt. Pleasant (the presumed location of the test as that is where the horses were) is about half-way between Nashville and the MS line. Nashville gets about 48" of rain per year on average and that amount might go up a bit as you go south. That means if something works here it’s likely to work in most places as hot, wet climates are the biting insects’ Garden of Eden.

We’ve been using Freedom 45 for many years as I’ve seen a couple instances where we had our “treated” horses in pastures with “untreated” horses and ours had significantly fewer flies on them. I don’t know what, if any, treatment the other horses had received but the visual difference was striking.

Before we ride we use a Repelex mixture but we don’t spray heavily. A good misting and then wipe the face with a old sock impregnated with the mixture seems to work quite well.

For those with multiple horses, you could do a small scale test by leaving one horse untreated, one done with your favorite “home brew,” and other with Repelex (pyrethrin) and one on Endure. Take daily photo at the same time each day the the horses together over a few weeks and see what you get. Might prove interesting.

G.

2 Likes
#7

Unless one of your horse’s happens to be the insect’s version of McDonalds! :lol: I owned one of those. Where the other horses in the paddock would get that thick ridge of swollen blackfly bites across their chests mine got three. One day I was standing between my two horses and realized one had maybe 20 flies on him and Bug McDonalds had hundreds burrowing into his coat.

Which made the difference stunningly obvious when I got ACV into him ten days before blackfly season (he had only one ridge of bites).

Mine get ACV for that reason. Top dressed on their feed, not sprayed on.

I use Wipe in traditional wipe on form because with two horses sprays a really expensive. Very few people are willing to wipe on fly repellent (and I totally get that it’s not reasonable to ask barn staff to wipe on repellent) which means most places I have been my horses have a different product from the other horses. And most places my horses seem to be bothered less than their herdmates. I think having a mix of different products can help as different flies might be more or less offended by the various products and go find a less offensive horse to bite.

Basically I think Wipe works in my situation because it’s different, not necessarily better.

1 Like
#8

I’ve looked for such a study but never found one. Not that it would mean much, due to the geographics, but still… :wink:

I use Wipe too - luckily the barn I feed at and where my guy is small and private with only 5 horses, counting mine so I use Wipe on all of them. They see me coming with that green bottle and the rag and know relief is on the way so they stop eating and line up to be “Wiped”. lol

1 Like
#9

This. I recently was in a discussion on this a few weeks ago in the inevitable “what spray works best” thread in a FB group. These threads start up a dozen times a week this time of year, it seems. Answers are all over the place. Many people love Bronco, but it doesn’t do squat here, not a thing. I have been using UltraShield black label for quite a few years now and it works well for me, but a friend on the coast said it’s useless there.

It does seem that a population of bugs does adapt to a given product if it’s used often enough, over enough years. Where I boarded, they used 1 spray for years, so this was used on many lesson horses every day, all Summer, for years. That’s a lot of bug exposure, and at some point, that spray was too ineffective, so they switched.

So just find what works for you in a given year.

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#10

Nature’s Force and pyrethrin 10 mixed together works really well. Works for 24 hours so spray once a day and done. No bugs bother either horse no tail swishing no stomping this mixture works amazing. Even works for keeping deer flies & horse Flies from bothering horses. Freedom 45 stopped working and spray i used last year stopped working.

I find unless it’s oil based it’s usually worthless, being i live where we are surrounded by swamps. The sprays i’m using work here, but might not be effective somewhere else.

2 Likes
#11

Pretty sure that Nature’s Force stuff is water based.

#12

It must be somewhat dependent on the kind of insect.

At my suburban barn and on the local trails, it’s mainly mosquitoes. Out at pasture in farm country it’s more those big black flies that irritate the eyes but don’t seem to bite. Up in the rangeland its big ugly deer flies that leave blood when they bite.

I think when evaluating different brands of a product the first thing to look at is active ingredient.

All the different horse flysprays I’ve seen have pyrethins as active ingredient (except for the “natural” sprays that are just essential oils). I would assume all pyrethin sprays to be much of a likeness with some variation in the longevity of the inactive carrier solution.

Is there another active ingredient that is safe for horses?

#13

Permethrin, although that’s similar to pyrethrin.

Picaridin is totally different. That’s in Centaura.

Whatever is in Eco-Vet.

DEET?

#14

I understand DEET is not recommended for horses.

#15

This article doesn’t seem to think so, and mentions a few other repellents, like citronella.

https://thehorse.com/14094/fly-protection-uncovered/

2 Likes
#16

This seems to cover the topic quite well. I hadn’t considered the role of the inactive ingredients such as sunblock in extending the effects of the active ingredient.
https://thehorse.com/14094/fly-protection-uncovered/

Ecovet seems to be trying a totally different approach with fatty acids that block the insects navigation system. I wonder how well that works?
https://eco-vet.com/pages/faq

Ok very thorough discussion of ecovet on COTH, continues up to 2018.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/off-course/304735-eco-vet-fly-spray

#17

The article cited is from 2001 – nothing new in 17 years? or better? I think the thread is dissolving into a “my fly spray is better than your fly spray” debate when what I was hoping for and asking about was a scientific study done (control, variables, stats, facts) on fly sprays that are available that show what’s best —I’d only found one (cited above) and from a layman’s POV that researcher nailed it —but she only used 3 commercially available products in one environment on four horses. I was hoping for a more thorough study.

Seems like a study that should be done --but guessing that no one wants to fund it least “their” product be shown inferior.

One poster suggested setting up one’s own study . . .with one’s own horses in one’s own area . . .might be kind of fun to do that!

#18

I would include citronella in the category of essential oils, which have some repellency but honestly not the staying power of the chemical formulations.

I don’t think any commercial horse fly spray uses DEET but of course folks everywhere use their Deep Woods Off on their horses in a pinch. I am not sure of the risk factors.

#19

@Foxglove what would be the point in spending the $$ for a large study? What works in the study area will probably be totally worthless 20 miles down the road. It’s meaningless. There are faaaaaar too many variables to account for.

But certainly set up your own so you can see what works FOR YOU. Don’t think that what you find is transferable to a larger population, though.

1 Like
#20

Not in NA, but to my understanding several UK brands do.

I use Deep Woods OFF but it depends on the bug season. I find its the only repellent to keep deer flies and horse flies at bay.

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