Fly sheet?

R0C

Has anyone here ever used a fly sheet or fly rug in summer?

My tb has always been very agitated by flies but he went a step further this week and kicked himself in the chin (attempting to remove a fly) leaving a nasty wound that's required vet attention.

I've tried every repellent, natural remedy, garlic in his feed, etc. Nothing seems to work on those hot sticky days when there's no breeze.

He'll spend as much time as he can trying to gallop away from the horse flies and when stationery he's constantly trying to kick and swish them away.

I spend a lot of time in New Zealand where every single horse wears a UV/anti fly rug all summer, with temperatures a lot higher than here but I've never seen one in Ireland.

I'm considering buying one asap, but most people I've mentioned it to reckon it'll overheat him on the hot days, or that I should just leave nature alone.

My only fear is that a horse fly would get inside the rug and eat him alive. I've read stories on other forums of horses causing injury to themselves trying to kill a fly trapped underneath their rug. My boy is daft enough that I wouldn't like to see what he'd do if a fly got underneath.

Anyone here have experience with them?

monflat

R0C wrote: »

Has anyone here ever used a fly sheet or fly rug in summer?

My tb has always been very agitated by flies but he went a step further this week and kicked himself in the chin (attempting to remove a fly) leaving a nasty wound that's required vet attention.

I've tried every repellent, natural remedy, garlic in his feed, etc. Nothing seems to work on those hot sticky days when there's no breeze.

He'll spend as much time as he can trying to gallop away from the horse flies and when stationery he's constantly trying to kick and swish them away.

I spend a lot of time in New Zealand where every single horse wears a UV/anti fly rug all summer, with temperatures a lot higher than here but I've never seen one in Ireland.

I'm considering buying one asap, but most people I've mentioned it to reckon it'll overheat him on the hot days, or that I should just leave nature alone.

My only fear is that a horse fly would get inside the rug and eat him alive. I've read stories on other forums of horses causing injury to themselves trying to kill a fly trapped underneath their rug. My boy is daft enough that I wouldn't like to see what he'd do if a fly got underneath.

Anyone here have experience with them?

I have never had to use a fly sheet but lots ofor people I.know use the horsewear rambo flysheet.

Have you tried this

R0C

No I've seen other people online mention that specific sheet but I haven't used or purchased any sheet yet as anyone I've mentioned it to so far thought it was OTT, probably because they've never seen anyone here use one.

TinaOT

Our little pony has sweet itch & we use the Rambo fly sheet & bucas zebra & then just a cheap TRI own brand one His sweet itch is extreme so full cover is a must I don't find they overheat & are a great help in his case

Rips

Premier Equine have sweet itch and fly rugs in their sale section at the moment.

All my rugs are from there and the quality is second to none.

I've never used them TBH, I'd have the same concerns as you. However it might be getting a mask? Might stop him going mental.

http://www.premierequine.co.uk/Files/98189/Img/22/bustermaskxtrabig2.jpg

youcando2

R0C wrote: »

Has anyone here ever used a fly sheet or fly rug in summer?

My tb has always been very agitated by flies but he went a step further this week and kicked himself in the chin (attempting to remove a fly) leaving a nasty wound that's required vet attention.

I've tried every repellent, natural remedy, garlic in his feed, etc. Nothing seems to work on those hot sticky days when there's no breeze.

He'll spend as much time as he can trying to gallop away from the horse flies and when stationery he's constantly trying to kick and swish them away.

I spend a lot of time in New Zealand where every single horse wears a UV/anti fly rug all summer, with temperatures a lot higher than here but I've never seen one in Ireland.

I'm considering buying one asap, but most people I've mentioned it to reckon it'll overheat him on the hot days, or that I should just leave nature alone.

My only fear is that a horse fly would get inside the rug and eat him alive. I've read stories on other forums of horses causing injury to themselves trying to kill a fly trapped underneath their rug. My boy is daft enough that I wouldn't like to see what he'd do if a fly got underneath.

Anyone here have experience with them?

I use a Bucas buzz-off on mine as the flies are just terrible at the moment I wouldn't let her out without it! I don't know were you are in ireland but in the south it's hitting 20-24 degree C but overcast so it's really heavy and we didn't get the thunderstorms the rest of the country got last week so there has been no let up!

Regarding over heating the rug i have is a light blue colour so it reflects the sun so she doesn't over heat in it and i will confidently leave her out in the morning and not have to worry about her sweating in it! It was very warm here yesterday and i went out to ride around 4 and it was reading 25degrees C and she was a little warm at the point of her shoulders but across her back and along her belly she was fine and there was no signs of sweat marks so it can survive in this heat i'm delighted with it. its got a belly pad as well so their belly is fully protected, I've never had an issue of flies going underneath the rug

I've used the zebra rug too for another who suffers from sweet-itch, we would have a few with it as a river runs thru our farm, and it doesn't stop sweet-itch, as personally i think it something in their blood that makes them susceptible to sweet-itch, but i do find it stops them itching and it keeps the flies, midgies and other horses away from them!!

They are expensive but I have found that if there has been any issues with the rugs that when ever i emailed i got a reply and sorted out quick enough which is a lot these days, some shops wont even try to deal with you, not to generalize! I also bought the rugs thru the bucas factory shop in Cork and so got a better price from them as alot of what they have there is last season or older versions of rugs that they can no longer sell to shops.

Hope that helps!

R0C

Thanks for the replies.

My boy doesn't even have sweet itch. He just hates flies. He can't stand them buzzing anywhere near them and if they land on him he's kicking out at them or galloping away to try and lose them.

I've never seen him have any kind of reaction to a fly bite, it's purely mental. :rolleyes:

I've purchased a fly rug and though I'm still a little worried about flies getting underneath it; I'm going to try it out for a few days and see how we get on.
It has the neck piece and belly pad so should be tight enough there to prevent flies entering, his legs will still be exposed though so I'm curious to see if he appreciates the rug or if it'll just drive the problem to the remaining exposed parts of his body.

The extreme heat seems to have died off for now anyway but he's still attracting plenty of flies in the evenings.

The rug should be delivered by Monday so I'll update with the results.

aonb

one of my daughters previous horses had sweet itch, and she wore a fly rug from may to end sept. She never had a problem with a fly trapped under the rug. Sounds like your boy is particularly irritated by the BUZZING?? Would a pair of ear covers help? Our horse has a FLY VEIL on permanently in the summer. He often gets a swollen eye as an allergic reaction to fly bites :mad: The other horses are all wearing veils now too - they look so cute!
As you say, the hot weather seems to be over for now, is it possible to keep your horse in his stable during the day, and out in the field only overnight? That way he could snooze all day when the flies are bad?

SKIN SO SOFT was one thing that we found helpful - in so far as anything keeps the flies away from a horse - its by AVON - its one of those products if you dont know it that has an urban myth type quality about it! We used to spray it all over our mares ears/face/nether regions.

Course if your boy is now phobic about the BUZZING of flys you are dealing with a typical TB nutty issue Good luck!

convert

aonb wrote: »

Course if your boy is now phobic about the BUZZING of flys you are dealing with a typical TB nutty issue Good luck!

That's not really fair. I've had experience with loads of TBs over the years, and not one of them has ever reacted to the buzzing of flies (or indeed the flies themselves) in that way. The odd time they may lift a hind leg to move a horsefly from their belly, but that's about it. However, I have heard of cattle running when they hear a buzzing that sounds like a specific fly - can't remember what it is now, off the top of my head. The horse could just be super sensitive to fly bites. And, in fairness, anyone who's been bitten by a horse fly will understand that - they're not exactly pleasant.

Rips

Its funny as I used to keep my horse at a yard years ago where it was common enough to have the horses come in with a lot of bot eggs, I'd never seen one though. It wasn't until last year at a competition that I actually encountered a bot fly (massive and aggressively following the horse everywhere) and it was upsetting several horses, including mine, who never reacts to flies, she did her nut trying to get away from it!

aonb

convert wrote: »

That's not really fair. I've had experience with loads of TBs over the years, and not one of them has ever reacted to the buzzing of flies (or indeed the flies themselves) in that way. The odd time they may lift a hind leg to move a horsefly from their belly, but that's about it. However, I have heard of cattle running when they hear a buzzing that sounds like a specific fly - can't remember what it is now, off the top of my head. The horse could just be super sensitive to fly bites. And, in fairness, anyone who's been bitten by a horse fly will understand that - they're not exactly pleasant.

YIKES! REALLY sorry - did not mean to imply anything, other than that the OP's horse may now have a phobia about flies, which is sparked by that buzzing. TB's can get very anxious/stressy - so if this poor horse is being tormented by flies, its absolutely understandable. Our own horse has a horrible reaction - hugely swollen eye - if he gets bitten around his eye. Did not mean to undermine the issue in any way - other than to say that if he does get stressed by the buzzing before he even gets bitten, that that is another issue/problem to solve... and yes, have been bitten by horseflies many times - seriously sore

byhookorbycrook

My poor boy isn't a tb, he's a small fat cob with a hairy heritage. The horse flies drive him bananas. These mornings I'm riding at 8 at the latest and he stays in during the day. He won't tolerate the expensive all-singing, all-dancing fly sheet I got him though!

R0C

Just to update following my experience with the fly sheet.. it lasted approx 5 days until he had it badly torn, and on day 7 I just gave up and removed it as he seemed very unhappy in it. As soon as I took it off, he ran to his favourite mud bath corner of the field and rolled, seemingly delighted to be free.

He's always been very tough on heavy winter coats so I suppose one made of net was unlikely to last long.

It did work in the sense that it kept the flies off him, and I don't think there was any danger of a fly making it's way underneath it as it was hugging his body, but he just seemed miserable having to wear it.

I used one of the zebra print sheets and the pattern is supposed to put flies off as they find it confusing visually; I actually tested this a little on one of the heavy fly days and it really did seem to work. I put it on him and flies would instantly turn away from him, removed it and they would straight away land on him again. Tried it multiple times with the same result.

With the fly sheet on, at most there would be one or two flies hovering close to his neck/face but not one landing on the covered parts of his body.

Flies haven't been much of a problem since as temperature has dropped but I will probably put it back on him for a few hours if he seems to be driven daft by them again.

mack2

My mare is using a fly rug for the first time this year - she is awful to rugs but to date this one has stood the summer although its more black than white! I also use avon spray on her - fishermen swear by it ( i get it off a girl on fb in the uk) and tbh its working and we all use it when heading out in the evenings too. Best of luck

byhookorbycrook

The Avon spray is fantastic for horse and rider!