My poor mare is in bad shape… the bugs are so awful this year, i’ve never seen anything like it.
Is Listerine/water ok for a foal if they ingest a little bit? I want to spray mama’s belly but not with the commercial stuff…
What are you guys doing to minimize the bug ravaging for your mamas? The filly seems to be doing just fine, no bites/scabs on her, really… it’s her poor mother who is being devoured.
I think the only thing that helps is bringing them in during the day with a fan on, and night turnout. I put desitin on belly buttons, chests, and the underside of the jaw for gnat bites. I don’t think fly spray works.
Vanilla extract works very well for bugs. My mom saw it on the Dr.s show on tv and also read it in a maganzine so I thought I would give it a try and seemed to work. Worked as well as some of the commercial bug sparys. The second so around I mixed it with Apple cider vinager and that worked as well. Oh also forgot Scarlet Oil, plus it’s an antiseptic, BUT beware that it will turn a lighter colored horse pink, it washes off but it’s kinda funny!
I have put fly spray on mares, everywhere except the belly back by her milk bag and her milk bag, for a couple of decades. I have never had a problem with a foal getting sick from fly spray. It barely makes flies sick. I do it daily, and so far, my broodmare remains quite cheery. She and the foal both wear fly masks.
I just started a thread about this very thing! Someone suggested equal parts malt vinegar, listerine, water and baby oil.
I may sub. skin-so-soft for the baby oil to make it even more stinky, and hope for the best!
What is this skin-so-soft stuff people keep referring to, i’ve never heard of it - is it a horse product? people product? where do you get it?
Skin-So-Soft is a people product, sold by Avon.
ASB - skin so soft is made by Avon but I just bought two big bottles at my local tack/feed store - I think it works pretty well and will look into mixing in a few ingredients mentioned here. Poor mare -
I have put fly spray on mares, everywhere except the belly back by her milk bag and her milk bag, for a couple of decades. I have never had a problem with a foal getting sick from fly spray. It barely makes flies sick. I do it daily, and so far, my broodmare remains quite cheery.
Ditto…
The mares with foals are in for the day, and go out overnight. They have flysheets for the first month (when it’s the worst of the season) then they have flyspray except as said, between the hindlegs, for evident reasons. Foals are getting one or two sprays on each side of neck and chest, and roll-on around the eyes, ears and under the jaw.
Can’t avoid ALL the bites, but it helps and so far, no one ever got sick of it.
I forgot to add that I also fly spray the baby, just like Spike says, on the neck, chest, and front legs, and they seem to realize the benefit after only a few times.
Bugs are crazy bad here this year as well. I know people on this thread have mentioned spraying broodies & young foals, but I have to say if you read the bottles on all this stuff, you aren’t suppose to use it on foals under 6 mos of age.
Just saying.
However I’ve been using the “spot-on” bug repellent for my broodie. Several different brands, but they all operate the same way – you put several drops on the horse’s body and bugs are repelled for up to 2 weeks.
You DO have to be careful not to put the drops on the hocks with very young foals (under a month) are are still mouthy, but other than that its really safe.
since I have no stock in the Bayer company i guess it’s safe to post that we use this in fly season:
http://www.bayerdvm.com/products/quick-bayt/quick-bayt.cfm
what is better than coming out to a PILE of dead flies in the morning??
nuthin’ :>
Tamara
My big problem this year is mosquitoes. Billions of them. No joke. And they’re the size of house cats… big, hairy, aggressive monsters. You can look out the window of our house and see cluster swarms of them congregating like a small cloud on 4 places of our deck alone, day and night, and the second you step outside they’re on you like heat seeking missiles. Without bug spray, the horses get covered in bumps from head to toe which can’t be healthy. A histamine reacted immune system constantly on high-alert can lead to problems over the long-term.
The most effective home-brew recipe I have is:
1 Litre of vodka (cheapest you can find) or peppermint Listerine… or both.
150 mL mineral oil
Garlic (a whole head per Litre - cut cloves in half to let the juices out)
20 drops each of:
citronella oil
catnip oil
sage (if you can’t find sage, you can use eucalyptus)
A couple sticks of cinnamon.
Mix and apply twice a day.
Store in a dark container or store in a dark place.
If you don’t have foals or pregnant mares you can add cedarwood oil. Cedarwood oil is contraindicated to all pregnant mammals, including human. Some horses are sensitive to cedarwood oil, so you should start slowly and then increase if your horses are okay.
If you happen to live in a zone where the African Daisy (Chrysanthemum cineraria folium) readily grows, pull off 4 or 5 seed pods (after flowering) and crush the seeds and add to your concoction. The pyrethrum oil in the seeds is deadly to bugs, but completely harmless to all mammals. If you add pyrethrum you MUST add mineral oil to your concoction because the oil gets on the bug’s legs/body and this kind of contact with the bug allows the pyrethrum to kill it. Without the oil, it will temporarily paralyze the bug, but it can then recover to fly again.
Individually these things smell nice, but brewed together most definitely do not… but that’s kinda the point. Because of the alcohol, the garlic won’t spoil, so it keeps indefinitely.
In a pinch if I don’t have any sage or catnip on hand, I have brewed really, really strong peppermint tea and added that to the mixture, but it’s not as effective. Alternatively, you could brew a tea with boiling water and steep catnip and sage instead of looking for the oils, although the oils are the most effective.
We have wild prairie sage that grows on our farm in certain dry spots. The bugs hate it. I have taken to braiding it into my horses’ forelocks, manes and tails and it helps too.
Someone on another thread dumped some cedar chips near to where her horses like to hang out and found the bugs disappeared from there.
I <3 big strong chemicals for my boys who live out 24/7 (retired) and their broodmare mistress. Ovitrol is a spray similar to frontline, kills and repels flies, mosquitos, gnats, ticks, etc. For my guys it makes a difference (and Mamacita when she deigns to be sprayed).
My old farrier gave me this recipe. It was originally thought up by a vet in Ocala (you know TBs and sweet itch!). This is more for gnats but if you add My extra ingredient it works on biting flies too. As much as anything does I mean.
Everything is 1 qt. of (you don’t have to be exact, just get whatever is closest to a quart):
baby oil OR skin so soft
listerine
mane and tail conditioner
pine sol
(you can use generics) Mix in a container (I use a 2 gallon tea container with the nozzle). You’ll have to shake it before use. Put just enough for a use or two in the spray bottle and empty the sprayer before you put it up as all that oil will eventually dissolve the inner workings!
Add to that mixture some permethrin. I get the most concentrated bottle (small) from Jeffers Livestock page/catalog and you dilute it according to directions. Don’t overdo because it is very concentrated. that kills the other bugs.
I apply it am and pm while she is eating, if she is dusty I brush first. Avoid the udder because even with no foal it can cause fast buildup of dirt and greasy uck around it which will itch like crazy on some horses. You can also spray the hooves and it will condition them very well. I don’t do the undersides because she has thin soles and I want them hard but you could.
When the stable flies get really bad I add fly boots. If you have face flies use a fly mask if possible.
I 100 % agree with Clint. Have done it for 25 years. My brood mares and babies live out after about one month. Our flies are TERRIBLE. WE do the mares except their udder area, and spray the baby. Right now we do the foals belly because with the rain (YEA!!) we are having the flies go hide under bellys.
I have tried every type fly spray on the market. The natural ones do nothing. Notta.
Skin so soft, which, years ago i thought was ok, is not worth crap as far as keeping flies off.
If you want to eliminate flies (at least for the day) use something that knocks them dead. Just my way of doing things.
We have never left our mares/foals out all night except this year. Once the foals were 1-2 months old. The heat is just unmerciful in their stalls. We still do bring them in occassionally for a meal inside and for handling. When left outside they are still groomed and handled when we go feed.
As for the bugs, they have shelters and have learned to hide in them. They are fairing well and actually being on the"move" has helped my easy keepers look pretty good this year. AND… in general they are the calmest and happiest horses I have seen in ages! Makes me feel bad we haven’t done it earlier. They don’t want to come in at all!
I put SWAT on their faces and heads and spray the rest. Not a home made solution but a commercial brand that has done well for us for years. (Adams Spray). I find I only have to use it every 4 days or so unless it rains. It costs a bit more, but I use less! No bots, no bug bumps!
Seriously, this works beautifully but it does need to be reapplied after about 8 hours (it says 12 but I’ve done it sooner):
Fly & Tick Control Spray:
You may laugh as this sounds like a salad dressing of sorts.
1 part Malt vinegar, 1 part Listerine mouth wash and 1 part Water and a bit of Baby Oil.
I got the recipe from a very experienced horse lady that lives in an area that is absolutely brutal for horse flies and mosquitoes; she said it worked better than most sprays. I used it on my mare and foal last summer and it worked great. One day they were both running non-stop because of the horse flies. I put it on them and they both stopped running PDQ and had a nap.
It doesn’t last for more than 12 hrs, but works great.
When my mare had her foal her bag was literally covered in bug bites…I would clean all the gunk off daily usually first thing in the morning and then put a thin coat of that white thick diaper ointment all over her bag and any where else the bugs were biting on her belly…I off course I left the teats alone…the foal was never bothered by the ointment and would occasionally get it on her face but its pretty harmless stuff…It worked like a charm…bugs didn’t like the ointment.
Dalemma
on mares and babes use my home made brew of half Pine Sol, half malt or cider vinegar and add whatever essential oils I have on hand…there are a number that are helpful: oregano, thyme, pennyroyal, cedar, citronella, mint…the pine sol has pine oil in it. With the PS you have to get ther REAL PS brand with the real pine oil in it though…not the store brand with a fake pine scent.
we also use Springtime feedththrough garlic.
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