Flies(?) in ears + bloody spots in ears...

About a week ago I noticed a very small amount of blood in Lacey's ear hair. I took note of it but didn't let it worry me too much because the spot wasn't actively bleeding, she seemed fine - not touchy about her ears, and I just figured she had smacked her ear on something...or something.

Fast forward to today: I accidentally caught inside her ear with my pinkie nail while I was tying her up and she shook her head. My pinkie nail came away with crusties from inside her ear and blood. I looked at her ear and there were other areas of blood so I folded her ear back to look in it and flies came out! What? They weren't normal looking flies, they were little weird creepy ones.

I feel like I've heard of this before but I can't for the life of me remember the name so Google is being entirely unhelpful.

I have a spray marketed (that Tea-Pro wound spray, also the cream) for fungal infections and wounds so I looked it over and it said it worked on "ear plaque" so since it had the word "ear" in it, I sprayed it into both her ears (figured it couldn't hurt). She was not a huge fan of that but some flies left her ears so yay?


Anyway, what are these things and how do I get rid of them?? Keep spraying her ears with that stuff?
She removes flymasks with ears in about 15 seconds so a flymask with ears is not going to be particularly helpful in this case (I would assume that a flymask could benefit since the flies could neither leave nor enter the ear that way...), I think...

Alli has the same thing. I've found garlic in her feeds has helped a little, but the only way to really stop the flies entirly is to use a face+ear mask thing
Like this


Or this


Don't worry about it too much though. Also using flyspray on the *outside* of the ears helps a little. I wouldn't spray it into the ear though. Horses like to keep rain out of their ears so I guess liquids in their ears arent good

OMG that is terrifying!!! I'm guessing the buildup attracts them. Put some SWAT on the tips of her ears and clean them out with teatree oil and a cotton ball

My horses won't keep masks with ears on either

If you can afford Vetericyn, it will work very well to clean the ears.

I NEVER spray anything on or inside the ears. I spray the Vetericyn on a small piece of paper towel and gently massage the ears clean.

If you can't get the Vetericyn make a 50-50 mix of regular listerine and water in a spray bottle - still spraying it on a paper towel to massage the ears.

I use Zonk-It fly spray (at least until I can't find it anymore

Again, I spray the Zonk-it on a paper towel and massage the outside, edges, and upper portion of the insides of the ears with it. I do that every other day and it seems to be working.

That being said, if there are big open sores in the ears, I would not rub fly spray in there and I wouldn't use the Listerine/water either; Listerine is alcohol based and that will burn open sores.

Keeping the ears bite-free this season seems like it's going to be a full time job thanks to the mild winter many of us had.

I generally don't have to start spraying my horses until July; I've been spraying them since late April

Biting Gnats is probably what is bothering your horse. Lots of good suggestions already on how to deal with them.

My horse gets the same thing in his ears and on his sheath. I put swat on his sheath and fly spray on the outside of his ears and a fly mask with ears on him when I first start noticing it every year. I usually take a clean rag with some water and wipe the little scabs out as well.

I use udder balm for these little pests. They are extremely common where I live, and they attack the horses in their ears and on their bellies/navel area. I've had it before when I rub their ears and my hand is covered in blood. Luckily my latest gelding loves his fly mask (with ears) and keeps it on. My previous mare was not so easy.

Take a small amount of bag balm/udder balm and rub the tips of their ears with it, being careful not to go too far down in the ear. I LOVE the medicated stuff, as it heals up the wounds and keeps the flies out (they can't bite through it as it is too thick and they get stuck in it and die). It needs to be applied about once a day, sometimes you can go 2 days or so without needing to apply more.

This stuff can be used just about anywhere on their skin. I also use it to cover wounds after I disinfect/clean them as it keeps regular biting flies out of the wound as well and moisturizes the area. It is cheap, and available at most farm and barn stores.

I wouldn't worry too much. They are common. They are more annoying than detrimental. I "clean" my guys' ears regularly and smash any of the ear knats that aren't fast enough to get away. Mana and Thelma are getting used to fly spray on their ears. I just have to be very careful not to spray into their eyes and it is all good. It helps a ton.

The same thing has happened to my pony before. I used swat until the ear had healed, it is by far my favorite product for taking care of minor cuts and scrapes during fly season. Then I switched to using a roll on fly spray. It's very convenient and also works well for around the horses eyes and the rest of their face.

Levi has them too, my trainer said its not uncommon, its just from flies biting and irritating the skin. I take a cotton ball and water/wound care stuff and wipe them every week. His buddy in the pasture always tears his masks off, so theres no use in getting a new one. ;_;