Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Flies: BRING IT ON

Saga is one of those hothouse flowers who gets twitchy if a fly so much as buzzes three feet from him. This year has been particularly bad for flies, so I've been putting fly sheets and fly masks on the boys since February. However, poor Saga has been stomping almost non-stop - despite being drenched in fly spray and slathered in SWAT - and he's just been miserable. I finally bit the bullet and ordered some additional gear for him, and it arrived today (THANK YOU State Line Tack for taking TWO DAYS to get my order to me, even though I only paid $6 for "regular" shipping. Y'all ROCK!)

Armored to the max with his Cashel fly mask (from last year), new Cashel fly boots, and new Horsewear Amigo fly sheet.

It's what all the cool kids are wearing!

So far I am SUPER impressed with both the Cashel fly boots and the Amigo sheet. The Cashel boots are super sturdy, but soft, and they are form-fitted. The velcro is extra sticky and there's elastic too, so it's easy to get them just the right amount of tightness. Saga stopped stomping by about 95% as soon as I put these on him, so they get four hooves up from him.

The sheet is really nice too. Soft, but you can feel it's a sturdy material. I love the way Horsewear does their closures, and this one is no exception. The chest closure has a double velcro fastening with a tab to make it easy to open - no annoying buckles that gape in the front. The neck is quite long and covers very well, even when the horse is grazing. The neck closures are a very sturdy velcro through a metal tab - super sticky but also easy to get open when you need to. There are no leg straps, just the standard crossed straps under the belly, so two less things to do up, which is nice. If this sheet holds up, it will be very much worth the $70 I paid for it, and I would definitely not hesitate to buy another.

In other news, Red sports his Weatherbeeta fly sheet from two years ago - still holding up well. I like these sheets, but I like the Amigo better. Cash has a tacky cheap sheet, but it's more for sun protection than flies. We'll see how it does.

What are you doing to battle flies this year?

15 comments:

  1. It's going to be a bad year for flies, and I'm over drenching my horse with ineffective toxic chemicals.

    Just got done posting about the horrible sheath flies. Yesterday Val had three attached to his sheath, just sucking away, with scabby dried blood everywhere. Poor thing. He got some cool compresses and tlc.

    I was headed over to shop for fly gear when I saw your post come up. Thanks for the recommendations. ;)

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    1. Yeah, the chemicals don't actually seem to work. Toxic AND useless, what a great combo!

      I should mention that I also use a feed-through fly control (Simplifly) which seems to help. I have a few stinky traps up, and some sticky traps as well, but they are expensive and tend to fill up fast. I'm lucky in that we only have the regular house/stable flies, and nothing nastier. Good luck in your war on Bugz!

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  2. I've got a similar set up. Jetta has a fly sheet and neck cover with a Cashel mask. Grady gets a mask only since he doesn't mind the flies and has no dark fur or pink skin to get burned. I'm also trying out the fly predators this year, so we'll see how that goes :) Arbico has a freebie offer now if you're interested in trying.

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    1. I have wanted to try out the predators, but I haven't for two reasons: first, I haul the manure away, so I'd be removing them as well. Secondly, I feed Simplifly, which is a feed-through fly control. I understand that it can be toxic to predators as well, so that would sort of negate having them. Besides, I think most of my flies breed at my neighbor's house - they don't pick up their manure so... blech.

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  3. Saga looks extremely manly covered head to toe in light red. ;)

    Have you thought about buying fly predators and sneaking over to dump them in the neighbors' manure?

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    1. That's BRICK, according to the package, not light red. Sheesh. I'm not dressing him in pink or anything.

      RE fly predators... there's no manure pile, just a field full of poo. Fly predators won't do much good, I think. I have considered sneaking them a daily snack of Simplifly though, since they always beg for food when I'm out throwing hay.

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  4. Saga is SO sexy in that beautiful suit!

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    1. Taran is just jealous of Saga's new duds... you know you want some. ;)

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  5. Saga looks like a war pony!!

    I use Tritec-14 and it actually seems to work really well for Lilly. It doesn't work so well for another horse as the barn, so maybe it just works well with her body chemistry... but I soak her in that about once a day.

    We have too many slacker horsey neighbors around our barn to do anything cool like Predators or Simplify, so she'll just get her fly mask, her fly sheet, and she'll come in during the day when the bugs are at their worst.

    The Cashel fly boots have me intrigued... I had some other brand for Lilly last year but they just got all loose and ended up around her ankles instead of covering her legs like they were supposed to. Let me know if the Cashel boots hold up! :)

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  6. Let me know how those fly boots go. I bought some for Myra this year, and they were in use for all of a month before they started buckling and slipping down. Still, they did the job. (I just doubt they'll be up to the job next Spring!)

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    1. LL, I also bought a pair of Kensington boots, and I can tell they'll slip before long. The Cashels really seem to stay up though... fingers crossed they'll stay that way!

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  7. Do they get too hot wearing fly sheets in Texas during the summer? I have a fly sheet that should fit my new horse, but I'm worried about him getting hot. I also have fly boots and a matching fly mask...

    Hello, by the way! I live in San Antonio and found your old blog by doing a search for a trainer you rode with in a clinic, I'll definitely be following you from now on!

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    1. Hi, and thanks for stopping by! I'm curious as to who the clinician was that you found on my blog - I don't do a lot of clinics these days. Ping me at jenjobst at gmail dot com if you'd like to exchange information!

      As for fly sheets being to hot in the summer, in my experience the flies die off in the heat of the summer so sheets aren't needed. I keep fly masks on though, and I'll probably continue to use Saga's fly boots too, since they reduce the stomping to almost none. Plus, my guys usually choose to be in the cool barn with the fans on during the heat of the day, so that helps keep them from overheating too.

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  8. Saga looks very "Back to the Future" in his anti-fly gear. I may have to mention those boots to a friend. I just saw her horse start stomping and swatting yesterday and the flies have barely even begun here in NJ.

    My barn has had good results with BugCheck and I just started giving SmartBug-Off to my boy this year, which is similar to Check. We used to use FlyPredators with the barn next door, but not anymore, which is too bad because I noticed a difference.

    I like the Absorbine Green products: the spray and gel. I am not just going for the Green marketing, they really do seem to work. The more traditional (toxic) fly sprays make me sneeze like crazy so they are not on my go-to list!

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    1. Val, DEFINITELY recommend the Cashel boots to your friend. Tell her not to go with anything else - I also got some Kensingtons but they are not nearly as good.

      I have looked at feed-through fly control, the type that make the horse icky to flies (as opposed to the type that prevents flies from reproducing in manure). Most of them contain garlic, which can cause anemia and all sorts of funny stuff. Have you noticed anything like that, or has it been any concern to you? I would definitely feed it if it helps and doesn't hurt the horse!

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