Considering buying a fly sheet for my OTTB who is apparently a magnet for the horseflies. He is now getting welts from them and general truly traumatized by them. NO amount of fly spray seems to help. I have never been a fan of fly sheet due to finding a yellow jacket trapped up under one on a poor horse. Thankfully it didn’t get stung, but always made me worry. Also I worry they are hot. He is outside on 24/7 turn out, with a very nice run in with big fans. Which is where he spends most of his day when the flies get bad.
I will NOT use fly sheets for anything like deer flies, horse flies, etc. When mosquitoes and tiny flies are out I’ll use a sheet (usually dusk to dawn).
My old TB who was the most stoic, never complain kind of horse got one stuck under his sheet many years ago and nearly killed himself. It was scary as hell watching him tear around basically losing his mind as he was being bitten and there was nothing I could do. So never again.
The best thing is a shed where its typically darker - those kind of bugs don’t like dark spaces and won’t go inside. My current TB hangs out in her shed when those bugs are out. Fly spray is useless - the big bugs hunt by sight typically and not smell.
Fly sheets will make a horse hotter - I’ve never seen one that wouldn’t make mine sweat and I’m in New England and not the super humid south (though this summer has been horrible with excessive heat, humidity and rain).
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We have found the Bucas Buzz Off Fly Sheets to be very useful against the more aggressive bugs, but we don’t keep the sheets on 24/7. The horses get too many rubs and despite the straps and clips, shifting taking place.
Your best bet for a 24/7 solution is a deep dark shed and lots of fans.
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Want a panicked horse tearing around ,put a fly sheet on. Horseflies get up underneath the sheet and horse goes nuts running ,bucking. They will literally kill themselves in their panic.
I find fly sheets useless any way bugs get underneath them. My horse’s destroyed there sheets In less then 24 hours. Shredded into peices. Never again will I buy fly sheets.
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We use fly sheets frequently. Cannot say I’ve ever seen a horse wearing a fly sheet nearly kill themselves in a panic. Have seen the ginormous horse fly land on a naked horse’s spine, bite the heck out of the horse and cause a scene. Fly sheets help to protect horses from this injustice.
Some of our horses (especially the imports) are sensitive and wouldn’t tolerate summer turnout without fly protection. It really comes down to whatever is safest for your individual situation.
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We use fly sheets, and I feel they work well to protect from flies (and sun bleaching) --but did find they made the horses hotter , . . no good answer.
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My two have Amigo bug busters on. Without them I can’t leave them out for more than an hour because the Horse flies drive them nuts. This the fly sheets they will happily spend the whole day out in the field.
I have an old Rambo and a new Smartpak one.
I prefer the Rambo. The Smartpak one is made of “softer” mesh, which seems to make the horse hotter because it lays against the skin more. The Rambo is made of flymask type material, which hovers over the body where it can.
I’m in the fly sheet boat. I’ve seen my horses run and run and run, collapsing on the ground to roll to get the flies off, only to get up and start running again with 3 or more horseflies chasing them. With the sheets, they enjoy their time outside.
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I’m in horsefly heaven and my horses wear sheets 24/7. Horses will not go out in pasture if they aren’t wearing one, so that tells me they prefer them. Generally I’ve seen if the flies get stuck underneath they will not bite while trying to get out. The giant B52s tend to bite on the back and I’ve never seen one underneath so the sheet protects them.
Best way to cut down on them is to mow. High grass is horsefly heaven around here,
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Thanks for the replies everyone… it has me leaning towards just hoping for the best for him and letting him regulate himself by hiding out in his run in. He has fans there and seems content. If I peek on him from the one window he is always happy and not swatting or sweaty.
Hearing about horses freaking out when the get one caught under the sheet has me too freaked out to try. He gets panicked when he just hears them and yesterday I tried to get one off and was too worried to get close enough as he was double barrel kicking… ( and being 4 wks out from having broken my foot and still in a walking boot i am not very nimble at the moment)
@mlb722 good to know if they get stuck they aren’t biting bt i think my guy would still panic. I’ve literally had to try to out canter them when riding him, as he gets so panicked by just the sound of them. I would imagine he would lose his shit completely if he couldn’t get away.
Sadly we have hay fields on and around our property, so cutting the grass isn’t an option, until its ready. though we do keep the paddocks brush hogged when they won’t eat the weedy stuff.
I’ve seen panic from horses without sheets and some bucking and rolling fits as well from horses with sheets. Mine didn’t used to wear a sheet but would run and panic and scream to come in when the bugs came out, so I got him a sheet, and so now he mostly just complains when it gets very hot but is generally quiet.
For the ones ones that get big welts and are truly terrorized (such as a poor TB friend of mine with a teeny tail), the sheets with neck and belly coverage seem to work the best. Because his tail was too short, the Rambos with the long tail flap also helped him. And they fit closer to the body if sized correctly so IME there is less of a chance of a bug flying under. Most of the brief fits I’ve seen at my barn are from horses with looser more traditional fit sheets with no belly coverage. The big B52 type flies will tend to buzz around over the back, so they aren’t likely to be the ones getting under the sheet anyway.
We we have a black fly, horse fly, and deer fly problem here. Mosquitos at night but the horses are in stalls then. The black flies are bad…both them and the deer flies will bite people too. Can’t wear shorts ever at the barn.
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Try SWAT all along the topline & just in front of the tail…but really NOTHING stops those BBAB (big black ass biters) from taking biopsies…truly evil evil evil things that have evolved to know just where to land where the horse can not get them. My mare is traumatized too and yes as soon as she hears one in the distance you know it from her face and all I can do is say “BOMBER BOMBER BOMBER everybody stay out of her way” but I am afraid of biters getting caught under the sheet, over heating, rubs etc so I just let her hang in her in/out stall in front of the fan and decide on her own when it is safe to venture out. I don’t get it…she and my gelding can be 5 feet apart, both freshly sprayed and 10 of the things will circle her and only one circles him. For riding I have found this BRIGHT yellow safety mesh quarter sheet (can’t remember the brand name) which actually works well at keeping them away…so I swallow all pride and fashion sense and use it.
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I have a Rambo Protector and it absolutely protects against the bombers that land on the back and rump and leave my horse with enormous welts. He lives out in thirty acres and usually wears it 24/7, but it’s been storming here the past few days, so he’s gone without. And is now covered in welts, when he hasn’t been all summer.
It definitely makes him a bit hotter, but he’ll actually go outside during the day and graze with it, while naked horses hide in the shed. I’d rather have him eating than standing in the shed all day to avoid flies.
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Had a “bomber” on my mare (who was wearing a fly sheet) a week ago and she was just standing there, looking at me like “what”?
So they work. Only once in 20 years of all my horses wearing fly sheets have I had an intruder stuck under a fly sheet. No one was killed.
I have had the best success with the Boett sheet: https://www.boettusa.com/. It is very durable and hardy. It also is tough for the flying a-holes to get underneath it, unlike more traditional sheets. I am not sure if it is hotter than say a Rambo or similar, however. Pricey? Yes. But lasts way way way longer than most sheets.
We have horrible flies in the late Spring and Summer. They DRINK flyspray - I’ve tried almost every brand available, and a few are good for 30 or 40 minutes, and most brands are just fly koolaid… This year, I tried Ecovet, and my horse smelled like rotten meat - the flies loved it!
So, in spite of the horrible heat (it is 99 degrees right now), she wears a flysheet because she is a princess and sensitive to the flies. I’ve tried the soft fly sheets (Weatherbeeta, SmartPak, etc), and those are good for a couple of weeks max - they just get rubbed to shreds. So last year, I got her a Rambo - the one with the belly wrap, the neck protector, and the long leg covers on the side. She looks like she is dressed up for a costume contest - one of my friends says she looks like a KKK member with the sheet and neck wrap coming up to her ears. But it keeps the flies off. I take it off at night once the flies die down.
I’ve found the belly guard is a requirement, and for my mare, the neck protector is too. It is hot - and I worried about that at first - but she’s no sweatier wearing it, then she is NOT wearing it, and she isn’t as chewed up, and we haven’t had any hives since she started wearing her costume…
