I swear, some of them function better as fly aphrodisiacs.
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Totally! I swear it would be more cost-effective to install rows of huge industrial fans to blow across the paddocks.
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Regarding fly spray, I’ve had the best luck the past few years using Shoo-Fly boots and fly masks 24/7 and a fly spray system and fans in the barn. Horses can come and go as they please (stalls and aisleway are set up to function as their run-in). I spray them with whatever (this year I’m using neem oil/water mix) every once in a while. I live in a very buggy coastal area. I have installed the Spartan mosquito tubes along the perimeter of the pasture in the trees, which has made a noticeable difference in the mosquito population. When I was riding (currently horseless, only boarders), I had the best luck for rides using WIPE and 40% deet human bug spray. Nothing seems to penetrate WIPE.
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my friend, where I keep my horse, is all into “organic/all natural” but buys some toxic fly spray and we put 4 different kinds on and 10 different coats on the horses to deal with the green heads. It doesn’t help that two are pretty green to being ridden/worked so they aren’t in the habit (like mine) to just ignore the flies and go about their business.
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Fortunately, this is exactly what my mare has. In hot, humid weather the flies are at their worst and the barn owner/trainer turns on the individual fans in each stall. Plus there is a fly spray system.
Unfortunately, about half the time my mare chooses to stand outside in her pen, away from the aforementioned fan and overhead fly spray system so she can grump and confab with her neighbors. 
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RE: fly spray. I’m going to say a blessing over my horse and see if that works just as good as fly spray.
(please don’t make this political; I’m trying to be funny 
)
I’ve thrown some horse stuff, and I’m getting ready to sell a bunch of stuff because it’s time to downsize.
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A full set of Portuguese tack I bought in 2004 for my Lusitano mare - that I rode in twice.
It has sat in my tack room unused since.
She was pts in 2009 and I’ve had other Lusos since and never even put in on them. I cannot bring myself to sell it.
Ditto a custom made totally one off baroque bridle that was a 50th birthday present to myself, I lost the horse that was bought for six months after. That’s been sitting unused since 2020
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Every product that ever came to my attention that I thought might help/improve/cure our gelding’s chronic “scratches”. I am sure that the total I spent over the 20 years we owned him would be staggering.
It included numerous veterinarian directed courses of treatment, systemic antibiotics and antifungals, systemic dex, an assortment of wraps including custom made Silver Whinny socks with velcro fasteners, colloidal silver impregnated brush, and ALL the sprays, lotions, powders, ointments - alone and in homemade concoctions. There was also a spray that I bought for a while from a vet practice in the midwest that imported it from the UK…
Nothing worked. Some things seemed to work at first and then didn’t. It was such a relief when we finally put him down, and I could let go of my “scratches” obsession.
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It took me twelve years to be willing to part with my Hackney pony’s harness after I retired him, then he was euthanized two years later. I never had another horse that could use it as my other driving pony was much bigger and had his own harness (biothane, thank goodness).
The Hackney’s harness was a good leather one. I put it out on the CD-L list (driving related stuff), had a few inquiries but measurements didn’t quite work out for anyone. I tried Craiglist and I don’t think I even got a nibble there. I finally decided to donate it to a therapeutic program in Colorado (even though I was living in South Carolina at the time, my heart was always in Colorado). DH (who deserves a medal for this) thoroughly cleaned and conditioned it, and we brought it with us on one of our many trips to see our adult daughter, who remained in Colorado when we moved away. The therapeutic place where I donated it was grateful to have it. I told them if it didn’t fit any of their equids, to feel free to either sell it or donate it on. I figured they could use the revenue, if nothing else.
I now live fairly close to that barn, and keep meaning to stop in one of these days and ask if they were able to use it. But if it’s just sitting there unused, I don’t really want to know.
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