At what point do you give up? (fly spray fear)

I discovered shortly after I bought my mare that she seems to for whatever reason that she has a huge fear of fly spray (odds are anything else that comes in a spray bottle too). She's not a fearful horse in general; she goes down trails by herself, doesn't flinch at atv's or anything going by, trailers without issue, lets me spray her with the hose, etc..... She is also very repectful on the ground in general.
She'll let me spray the bottle right beside her so it's not the sound, and she has no issue with me putting it on a sponge or brush and puting it on her that way. The second the spray from the bottle hits her anywhere though it's like a different horse. She trembles with fear, jumps around like a total nut case. It seems to be a legit fear, not just being bad. Most suggestions seem to be to work through it until she calms down. I've been doing it for the past month and a half, and there has been a slight improvement, but not much.
She's stepped on her own feet a number of times in her hurry to try to get away. Today she fell down (she's fine) in her panic, and I feel horrible
My question is do you you think there is a point where it's ok to give up trying to fix something minor and just accept it as a quirk of the horse rather than risk them getting hurt? It's only a minor inconvenice. On the other hand I'm mad that a thousand pound horse can't deal with getting misted with fly spray which is totally for her benefit.
Keep going or let it go?

I may be in the minority, but I'm all for accepting minor quirks like this. Our youngest mare is like this with fly spray bottles, too, and I just wipe it on her with a rag. It's no more trouble for me and it actually seems to do a better job so I've started wiping down the other mares, too.
BTW, I believe you're right about this being a quirk and not 'being bad'. Again, in the case of our youngest mare, earlier this year she stood perfectly still without a halter or being tied while I removed a few stitches from her side with tweezers and scissors...something you would think would be a lot worse than fly spray.

I would fill a spray bottle with water and practice with that. I would start by having her in a roundpen or enclosed area with a halter and lead rope on. Stand near her head and start spraying the water so she can hear it, but don't spray her. She will may move around, and that's fine, just follow her. As soon as she shows signs of relaxing [head down, eyes and ears more relaxed, chewing] stop spraying and give her a pat. Its important to wait until she is not only standing still, but she is relaxed.

Once you can spray the bottle near her while standing by her head, belly, legs, and hindquarters, you can start spraying her in the same way. Start on her neck or shoulder, spraying her and following her when she moves. Don't stop until she starts relaxing, then stop and give her a break and a pat.

I don't like to disregard any fears as quirks, because I would rather not have my horse be that afraid of something that they would fall down.

Personally, I would keep working with her on it just like any other part of her training, like bathing, blanketing, trailering, etc. However, I also wouldn't stress over it. 2 of my 6 horses seem to think the spray bottle might kill them...they still get sprayed & both have less of rx than they used to ( now they just move a bit while spraying)...I just go at it matter of factually, spray, done move on with the day. Mine have never shown a pathological fear with aggression to make me think I was going to be injured>

I agree with filling a bottle with water and to keep working with her.

It's possible she has sensitive skin and just doesn't like the feel of the mist coming out of the bottle.

It's also possible she got sprayed with something that burned her skin and she associates the sound of the bottle with the hurt; especially since you can rub the fly spray on her and she's ok with that.

And last but not least, she's probably going to be a horse that resists the spray bottle until her last breath.

I rescued my Arab 19 years ago. His skin was super sensitive because he was nothing but bones. To this day, certain types of fly sprays "twinge" his skin, so I have to be careful what I use on him.

He also doesn't like the misting of the spray bottle on his legs, his flanks or the top of his butt.

Soon as he sees me coming, up comes a front hoof in his typical "that is going to bother me" way.

I just say "Streeeeeeeterrrrrr, don't you do that". And he stands with his leg bent & frozen until he just can't hold it up anymore - lol lol lol

He is now 26 and I've been dealing with this idiosyncrosy for 19 years. If I let him get away with moving from the spray bottle, I would never get him sprayed. He truly does NOT want sprayed but after 19 years in my barn, he has no choice, so tolerates what constitutes abuse in his very intelligent Arab-Betty-Davis-eyes:)

I wonder if the stream of spray were a little more solid if she'd deal with it better. We've got one that just flat despises a 'gentle' mist, but put it in a spray bottle that has a more solid stream and he'll stand all day. For myself, misting feels like thousands of insects crawling on me, maybe the same for your horse?

And yeah, I'm definitely not one to cater to quirks, but you have to figure if it's worth the battle IMHO.

When you spray her and she moves around do you do what I call a regroup, like stop trying to get in a better position, then try again? I did that and it took me so long to break that habit, once you start spraying you have to keep doing it until they stand still then take the pressure of the spray away. Practice with water. My niece's horse was getting better then he kicked my niece, he is a pretty lazy horse so the fact that he could lift his leg and kickout sideways was pretty stunning lol but she just kept doing it and now he is very quiet. This took her about 6mos to get him to a point of not caring. Good luck

She alternates between galloping a couple of small circles, jumping backwards, and striking out with her front legs (more of a back away warning than trying to actually strike me). I stop and regroup in between each mini episode, where she stands snoting at me with a look something like this: , then I go back to either spray the same spot or go switch to the other side.
The kicking and backing up don't really bother me too much, but the galloping small circles scares me as she seems to do it with no regard for herself. That's how she fell over yesterday, I honestly wasn't sure a horse could lean as far over has far as she seems to while doing it or gallop on such a short lead. She never really seems to give in and relax, just gets more and more scared.
I do have the option of puting her in a stall and spraying her there, has anyone tried to do it that way before?

I would desensitize with water like others have suggested. Do NOT remove the pressure while she is acting out or you are just rewarding that behavior. You must have a starting point where she is okay - maybe next to her if she is okay with that, and then slowly move it closer to her. Next step might be spraying next to her where some of the spray lands on her, but its not directly on her. If she acts out at that point Keep spraying in the same spot until she stands still (preferably 15-30 seconds) and then remove the pressure. Then after a break, respray her and if she moves and acts out - keep spraying until she again plants all 4 feet and stands still. She will learn that the bad stuff goes away when she stands still. Then eventually you can work her until she relaxes when you spray her. It may take a couple sessions but I've never had it take more than that.

her behavior seems a bit extreme.. how is she in ground manners?
If she is striking with a front hoof..check where you are spraying from
The post above has a great suggestion
My rescue has her hooves trimmed in her stall..it is where she feels the safest...so it wouldn't hurt to try it in there
Perhaps see if someone you trust can try to use the spray...see if her behavior changes with them