[DB InTheSouth]

Hi folks...I live in the countryside near Hattiesburg, MS, have two young horses that I have been training. The problem is...gnats! For a few years now, the whole area here, for miles, is swarming with these little demons. Face flies, biting gnats, buffalo gnats, fungus gnats...they go by many names...you can't stand in one place for more than a few minutes before they are swarming all around your head! You can imagine how this affects the horses, particularly during training in the round pen. Anyone else having this problem? Any ideas? I've tried just about everything on the market, sprays, feed throughs, many many home remedies, etc etc...love to hear of something ANYTHING that actually works. HELLLLLLP!!!!!!

 

[Spyder]

Anyone else having this problem? Any ideas? I've tried just about everything on the market, sprays, feed throughs, many many home remedies, etc etc...love to hear of something ANYTHING that actually works. HELLLLLLP!!!!!!

We have one annoying gnat here on HF. You should ask Dumas'_Grrrl as she needs to find a friend for Joey 11 (her gnat) as Joey 1 had an untimely death.:-(

As far as sprays....................Dumas does not allow people here to use insecticides (thankfully for me) on HF for fear of poor Joey getting sprayed.:wink:

The above is a running joke on HF so take it with a large grain of salt.

 

[DB InTheSouth]

Happy to trade my gnats for yours...sorry to hear about poor joey1, but well, ok, not too sorry lol!

 

[barefoothooves]

I think about the best protection you might actually get is a fly sheet and mask. My vet advised me to shave the ear hair (which I've always left to protect from flies) but he said the hair gives the gnats a foot hold, so to speak and makes it worse. The only thing I turned up with research was to clip ear hair and apply petroleum jelly to provide a barrier, but that's only for the ears, as for the rest of the horse, I have nothing to offer.

 

[Joshie]

Happy to trade my gnats for yours...sorry to hear about poor joey1, but well, ok, not too sorry lol!

Welcome. Ignore poor Spyder. She has a thing for creepy, crawly things as noted by her name. When she "visited" RC in the hospital, she escaped even though they wanted her to stay for an extended visit.

 

[DB InTheSouth]

Barefoot, thanks for the honest reply. Interesting about the ear hair...I've seen gnats fly out of the geldings hairy ears after a few hours in the paddock, while the relatively hairless mare's ears have none.