FLIES & HOW YOU CAN DEAL WITH THEM:
It's that time of year again when we stop worrying about mud fever and start liberal applications of fly repellent! So, smelling wonderful our horses can have some peace out grazing at dawn and dusk when fies are at their most annoying.
T&H don’t suffer from sweet itch thankfully but my beef with flies exists nonetheless. I can't bear seeing my boys with flies around their eyes or swishing their tails frantically, and even worse stamping their feet on the ground because the flies are so pesky.
EQUIPMENT:
As you know, Tom & Henry have field safe fly fringes: navy blue ones since they don’t come in black to match their manes.... I wonder why not? To my horror when I was buying a top up supply there seemed only to be pink available...PINK!!! Do I look like a teenage girl!? Seriously all this pink is just nauseating which is ironic since the stuff you drink for nausea is pink!
So I bought the country’s last remaining supply of blue, so my boys would never have to be embarrassed going out in daylight!
The fringes need no head collar, since I prefer my horses naked and safe whenever possible, and the rings linking the pieces together are rubber and break easily so when Henry scratches his head with his back foot, he wont cause himself an injury accidentaly getting caught in it, the fringe will simply come apart.
I don’t trim my boys either, again I prefer them natural, but their forelocks don’t quite reach their eyes yet so I use a fringe for now.
BUT:
I have ordered new NafOff Citronella ‘Tags’, and there are a few ways you can use these.....
You can attach them to your horses bridle whilst you ride, his head collar when he's in the yard. To the rings of a field safe fly fringe like I intend to try...
...but for my first go, I plaited them into Tom & Henry's manes, and if they work, I'll do them into their tails too.
They should last a couple of months and are completely safe and waterproof - whether they are Henry proof remains to be seen! Here's how I did it, and the boys didn't seem to mind at all:
Firstly I plaited a small section of mane just behind their ears, but not close enough to get in the way of any headgear. I stopped the end with a plaiting band, and I didn't plait all the way to the end, that was unnecessary, looped the end of the rubber sling through the body of the plait and threaded it back on itself and over the main part. There's probably lots of different ways you could work it.
They smell really great to!
Tom & Henry with their NafOff Citronella Tags, they have had them on for almost a week and don't seem to mind wearing them at all. We have noticed in fact that all the flies, gnats and midges seem to turn around and fly the other way when they get near them - so they work brilliantly. Neither horse have 'busted' them open scratching their heads - and they do love to scratch!
The packet says they last 6-8 week's, so I have bought a top-up supply.
I will of course keep you updated as to their effectiveness once the smell start to wear off, and I'll attach them to the boys' bridles too so I'll update you about using them riding and whether they get in the way or not!
NafOff also do a complimentary Cirtonella fly spray, and just so the aromas are pleasant and matching, I'll be ordering some of that too - Deet for Men with a Lemony scent!
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