The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Has anyone tried this fly spray

15K views 51 replies 17 participants last post by  jaydee 
#1 ·
#2 ·
I haven't tried it.

Personally, if I was going to pay that much for fly spray, I would just buy ecovet.

http://www.horseforum.com/horse-tack-reviews/eco-vet-fly-spray-714650/

I have gotten my fly spray cost down to less than $2 a bottle now. I'm using absorbine botanicals body rinse as the liquid, as it helps to soothe the skin/bug bites and relax muscles. I then add eucalyptus and citronella essential oils, coconut oil, and a little bit of straight permethrin.
I don't use the fly spray very often at all now. I'll put it on after a hard workout (because of the body rinse), or to keep them still while tacking/untacking. It lasts maybe a couple hours, so not very long as fly spray goes. The flies are not a major problem or health concern though. I put my bug sensitive mare on Animed Immuaid and she stopped itching and getting hives, so I don't fret over flies like I used to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yogiwick
#3 ·
I just got through reading about neem oil (the main ingredient in this stuff) on one hand it says that it's pretty harmless to mammals and then the other hand says that it causes abortion in rats and pregnant women should stay away from it. I wonder what it would do to a pregnant mare. Hmmm.

About the only time that I use fly spray is when I ride as well. Biting insects don't seem to affect my mares at all other than being an annoyance every once in a while. I thought it might be efficient in knocking down the mosquito population but that is probably a loosing battle anyway.
 
#4 ·
I'd try it. I use the eco-vet on trail rides and it is the best I've found so far but it just smells SO BAD! My horses even hate how it smells! So I don't use it daily at home. I just use it before a ride and make sure I'm in a nice open space before I spray it on lol!

Now I do have a "neem" shampoo for dogs, its supposed to kill fleas/ticks....I own a dog grooming shop and see lots of this...I honestly didn't feel it worked well. The shampoo is supposed to dillute 32/1 (gallon)...but only seemed to actually kill the fleas if I used it straight! Wonder if I could try making it into a fly spray. I ended up buying a different flea shampoo since this one didn't work too well.

Maybe neem has better luck wtih flies but it did not work too well for me with fleas.
 
#5 ·
With many of the fly sprays, organic or not, the question isn't whether or not they'll work, but, IMO, for how long? So far, I haven't found an organic mix that will work for more than 2 hrs. And that was a home made concoction. So if you are not going to ride for over 2 hours and your horse isn't going to get really sweaty, you (actually, your horse) will be fine. I've found that the sprays that are sweat resistant will keep the biting deer and horse flies away the longest. But those are all made with laboratory chemicals. BTW, my wife tried an organic fly spray last summer that did an excellent job attracting Japanese lady bugs!
 
#8 ·
Agree. It's very expensive and is all things you could easily mix yourself. While herbal stuff is all great it just doesn't cut it as fly spray ime. We live in a heavy bug area (very...ew) and you just can't get away without using the chemicals.

I do want to try the EcoVet this year...we have a mare with sweet itch that needs as much as she can get.

I'm not saying it's bad, just I wouldn't bother with it and definitely not for that price.
 
#9 ·
Yes, that's what I'm thinking about the fly spray.

On a side note. When I first got my saddlebred mare, for the first two summers she had sweet itch really bad. She would constantly rub the top of her neck and terrible scabs on her belly from itching. We tried all kinds of things to help her stop itching to no avail. I finally tried the de worming protocol for neck threadworms and it went away and stayed away. Worth looking into if you haven't already. Neck thread worms are spread by the midge fly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Yogiwick
#12 ·
I will! Right now I use ultrashield in the barn and ecovet for rides. I hate putting ultrashield on a LOT though...ugh chemicals. I did try , I think it was called "Flicks" fly spray? It was an all natural one and it worked pretty well. I dunno I always try everything. Im about out of my ultrashield bottle from last year so figured why not try this one.
 
#16 ·
I second Eco Vet and the smell to me is like melted crayons. They did change the smell late in the season last year. Eco Vet was the only spray we found to combat the mosquitoes for the small buffalo gnats in our area we use Buggins spray- works on gnats but not on flies. So after gnat season (usually early spring) we switch to Eco Vet and the Ultra Shield products.
 
#19 ·
SO I promised I'd update.

I received the equiderma flyspray Friday (well it came while I was out of town), so today is the first day I got to try it.

The smell is actually pretty nice! The horses also didn't seem to mind it. It did not leave them feeling oily/greasy which I like.

I've been checking on them a few times through out the day (well Im in back yard with dogs and I can see them eating there hay)...They do not seem to be bothered by flies at all. I just went out and opened the gate to the grass pasture and even then saw maybe one fly on one of them?

Coincidence that there is just no flies out today? Orrrr its working well. Time will tell. I will keep you guys updated. I didn't drench them in it either, just lightly misted their whole body.
 
#23 ·
Hi All!

We have a pond, and a stream running thru the property. As such, we gots lots o' flies :-p
I have tried a bunch of different fly sprays, some cheap, some expensive, some home-made. About the only one that seems to consistently get rid of the ******s is called Bronco Gold. An application is reasonably effective for (at most) a couple of days. I also use Swat in sensitive areas, and this lasts three, sometimes four days.
My team lives in their fly sheets all summer long; I take them off once a week or so to give the critters a break from them. And to feed the poor flies ;-)
 

Attachments

#26 ·
Well, these are the Weatherbeeta fly sheets, and they have a nice wide belly-band; I'm sure that helps. But beyond that, it varies with the animal. The Bay's don't seem to be bothered much, but the white (white underside, anyway) ones do get flies on their belly centerline (is there a word for that?), and they make a nasty mess, too. I have to put Swat there, and in Georgies ears. The Gnats drive him to distraction, and he won't wear an ear cover. Haven't seen 'em bother their sheaths much, or Mandolins teats. I do sometimes put a tiny bit of Swat above and below their eyes, but mostly they seem to take care of their faces themselves.
The big Horse Flies will sometimes bite right thru the mesh, but not enough to be a bother. (Easy to say when you're not the one getting eaten ;-)

Steve

You'll notice that they are wearing fly-wraps on their front legs, too; thats a very popular fly hangout :-p
 
#27 ·
Taking notes here... no flies here yet (is that good or bad? the snow has barely just melted here!), but it's a matter of time.

Harley's eyes do get runny so I keep him in a fly mask. I also bought him a fly sheet this year. Kodak isn't too bothered by face flies, but goes crazy at deer flies (I think some of you call them horse flies). Does Ecovet work to keep those away? Even if I could keep them away for a couple of hours while we ride, it would be worth it to me, smell or no smell.
 
#29 ·
Hi AA!
We get flies in three sizes; House flies, Deer flies; a little bigger, with delta wings, and an annoying bite, and Horse flies; great big suckers about three-quarters of an inch long, and with a seriously painful bite. I've heard the Deer flies called Barn flies, too. I'm too lazy to google for an answer; %$#@!!! Flies :-p
The Bronco spray will deter the Deer flies when freshly applied, but nothing stops the Horse flies.
Mine will shred a flysheet now and then; I keep spares on hand, and have standardized, so the pieces interchange for the most part. And I get 'em on sale in the fall. %$#@!!! Flies.
Steve
 
#28 ·
One of my horses shreds his and the others' fly sheets, blankets, so that's out. The shredder is also very sensitive to fly sprays, and will get huge welts all over his body from most fly sprays. I have tried the organic, and the homemade ones, pretty much useless, the most effective repellant that Indy can wear is Bronco. Works okay. I am so jealous of owners that have horses all together with flysheets and masks on, this is why we can't have nice things like that here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LoriF
#31 ·
Down here in Florida we have the common house fly which is merely annoying, what I call a deer fly which is slightly bigger and triangular in shape and flat on top and their bite stings. There are the horse flies that are huge and bite. If I happen to smack one of those off of the horses, blood splatters everywhere and they're gross. We also have these little yellow deer fly looking things that bite and they are yellow. And then, there are the gnats which are crazily annoying always buzzing around anything that is wet whether it is a cut or scrape on the horse or their eyes. We also have what they call down here Noseeums. I believe those are the tiny little midge flies and they bite hard as well. They are pretty much wings with teeth and thankfully they are not around my area.

I would be happy to find a spray that will keep the gnats out of their faces and the biting flies off of them but I have not found anything that last more than a couple of hours.
 
#34 · (Edited)
Considering its literally only garlic I doubt it works as well as they say...Otherwise every horse person in the world would be feeding there horses garlic. I do feed buggzo, which has garlic, among other things, to help repell flies from them and also helps in there poop. Also the recommended dose for "best" results is 3 scoops....thats a LOT of garlic.
 
#37 ·
On the topic of Garlic, I fed my horse garlic for 2 mo. and NO bug would go near her, also you get free worming, she had no worms! It's ridiculously expensive though. It was liquid garlic with essential oils in it.
worked like a dream.
 
#41 ·
I have no idea what other essential oils were in it! Sorry.
Just found out what it was called!

It is called Garlic-Barrier.
I hate when directions call for only a little dosage, I feel like it doesn't work, but for the GB all you need is 1 Tablespoon!
smells so strong!

It is certified Organic as-well. geves them dapples and darker skin aswell!
 
#42 ·
It was made for Plants and trees, but they found out other uses! It is usually only used for sheep and goats, but don't worry, alot of people around here uses it for Eq.
 
#45 ·
No Problem! I swear you wont be disappointed With that stuff.

same here also, Organic farm!

I have had many a days, in the sweltering heat, fly spray dripping down my arm, ready to run screaming away as my horse had blood dripping down her "fly protected legs".
Oh the horror! this is much easier, and, once you add up all of the costs, it is slightly cheaper than using fly spray, especially the Eco-stuff.
 
#44 ·
We fed garlic in the UK where you can (or could) buy it really cheaply but can't say that it did much at all to repel anything - and you need to weigh the risks of feeding too much garlic against any benefits
I had better results using it as an ingredient in DIY fly potions
Things like deer and horse flies, as far as I've ever found, aren't so much repelled by any smells because they're attracted to moving shapes and shiny shapes - if you wash a horse on a sunny day you'll soon find some moving in for attack.
Its better to use something permethrin based for blood suckers like them as they're sensitive to it so contact will knock them back
If your horses go into a barn or shelter they don't bother them
 
#46 ·
jaydee,

I find it does not work at all when you "spray" it on.

But, when they say you are what you eat, they mean it! Flies can just get past sprays and have a blood feast.
But when your horse EATS the garlic routinely, their blood tastes like a really juicy garlic clove. say buh-buy to bites. It also brings me great satisfaction when a fly tries to bite and gets grossed out!
 
#47 ·
jaydee,

I find it does not work at all when you "spray" it on.

But, when they say you are what you eat, they mean it! Flies can just get past sprays and have a blood feast.
But when your horse EATS the garlic routinely, their blood tastes like a really juicy garlic clove. say buh-buy to bites. It also brings me great satisfaction when a fly tries to bite and gets grossed out!
We found the opposite - spraying it on, especially if you use fresh garlic to make your potion, worked but feeding processed garlic didn't.
Garlic should be fed with extreme caution
The Great Debate: Feeding Garlic To Horses - Horse&Rider | Western Training - How-To - Advice
Feeding Garlic to Horses - benefits and dangers
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top