Can anyone recommend a fly spray that really works?
Pyranha or Bronco GOLD are my go to’s
Pyrhana in yellow bottle. Oil based. Works great. Actually knocks the flies off when you spray.
2nd Pyrhana in yellow bottle–but I stopped using it because it leaves this awful sticky residue that makes it hard to curry out dirt. Next best thing is UltraShieldEX.
Not necessarily helpful, but I have a horse who gets hives from Pyrhana in the yellow bottle. So I used the water-based Pyrhana in the blue bottle and it worked great for me.
Unfortunately, I guess it didn’t work for many others because it’s getting harder and harder to find. I can’t be bothered using a fly spray I can’t pick up locally. I’ve been rotating through all the usuals and nothing has worked as well for me.
I also go with Pyranha and Ultrashield in the black bottle.
When the flies really get bad in late summer, I add pyrethrin concentrate to up the total % of the bottle by 1%.
For all natural, the Bugpellent stuff is cheap and smells nice and maybe works. I add pyrethrin concentrate to that, too.
But nothing is awesome. Sorta okay seems to be as good as it gets. Most are pretty useless :-/
Thanks everyone!
I use the Pyranha water-based version. Better than Bronco or others I’ve tried, but none of them live up to their claims. Plus II have my guys on Simplify and spray their stalls each day with Raid anti-flying bug spray. It’s better, but our season hasn’t really gotten underway thanks to a cool, wet spring.
Concentrated permethrin, mixed with water to make a concentration of 2%. Cheaper and, IME, more effective than the premixed sprays.
Super 7 applied EOD on a squeaky clean horse. You might spot apply on legs/ midline/ croup before t/o or rides.
I’ve also heard great things about Equispot. Some of my higher end barn clients swear by it.
I will caution you to avoid using Pyranha Wipe & Spray. It scalded my horse very badly and took literally from June to October to heal the damage. And I am not the only one this has happened to. others have had no problem.
Manure management is vital in managing parasites, if you have that option.
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I really like the TriTec14 in the silver bottle or UltraShield in the black bottle. Both of them have tick repellent in them as well. I don’t know where you are, but I’m in PA, so ticks are a BIG problem.
I’ve also used Pyranha in the blue bottle (has tick repellent) with good luck. I just like the other two a little better.
Oil-based Pyrhana (yellow) or Endure. The heavy duty fly spray I used to use for the worst of summer (I’m near the marsh in a coastal area) is WIPE. Beats them all hands down, but it has gotten so expensive I just had to stop buying it.
Pyrethrin/pyrethroids (like permethrin) are tick repellent, so really ALL flysprays have them, barring the “all natural” ones without those chemicals.
Here’s an article about it: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/09/625459326/to-repel-ticks-try-spraying-your-clothes-with-a-pesticide-derived-from-mums
You can even send your clothes off to be treated with a long acting, wash proof, version to repel ticks all summer, and that’s how the fly sheets with built in bug stuff work, too. I picked up some pyrethrin concentrate awhile ago to do it myself–you could probably also do the same to your fly sheet of choice! (Or leg wraps or whatever…)
I like Pyranha in the blue bottle, or UltraShield in the black. But yes, nothing works all the time. We also use fly predators where I board AND really good manure management (paddocks get picked over at least every other week, manure is removed from the premises weekly)…and there’s still flies. They aren’t atrocious, but fly spray is still in heavy use all summer and horses are swishing and stomping when they’re out. I feel like anything you do is a stop-gap at best.
I think it is now in a yellow bottle, but is labeled water based, so you might be overlooking it if you are looking for a blue bottle.
I primarily use eco-vet, especially before turnout, but also keep oil based pyranha and endure on hand (alternate between the two). I’ll use those before riding since it gets washed off after or to spray a wet horse before I put the up/turn out, since ecovet is labeled not to work on wet horses.
Sometimes, like trail rides in the woods during biting fly season I’ll put the pyranha on before I put them on the trailer and ecovet when I get to the trail head. I figure if they get past the ecovet maybe they will die for their troubles
