We call them black flies in New England, other places call them gnats or buffalo gnats. They're miserable, bitey pests that drive the horses nuts. A fly mask with ears will go a long way towards making them more comfortable. One of my mares has to have a full fly sheet with neck as she gets horrible hives from their bites. Where I live, the old adage is that they come out on Mother's Day and are gone by Father's Day, which is holding true so far this year!
What to do about blood-sucking gnats in horse's ears?
So I let my OTTB Charlie and my mini Rumor out to graze on a small area of grass. After half and hour when I brought them in they both had a bunch of tiny blood sucking gnat-things in their ears. They were on the tips and then more farther down. When I rubbed up with my fingers they would come off and I would crush them. Some of them left blood on my fingers.
The horses normally stay in a large dry lot area as we don't have the acreage for them to be on pasture. However, we do have a bit of grass for them to graze on. They never have had these in their ears before so I believe that they got them while grazing on the grass. It has recently rained a lot so though the ground has dried out a bit, there is still some wet ground.
1) Does anyone know what they are?
2) Has anyone had them on their horses before?
3) How can I prevent them?
I have a fly mask with ears for Charlie that I am thinking of using. Rumor's fly mask does not have ears.
There were more gnats than can be seen in the pictures on the horses' ears.
Here are some photos of the bugs in the horse's ears:
They didn't like me playing with their ears with a phone snapping pictures so it is hard to see.
![Sky Dog Plant Fawn Carnivore]()
![Vertebrate Mammal Gesture Wood Fawn]()
![Skin Gesture Finger Thumb Wood]()
![Fawn Whiskers Felidae Snout Tail]()
This is an image I just found on the web that shows what the gnats looked like in a better picture. There were not quite as many.
![Liver Dog breed Whiskers Fawn Feather]()
The horses normally stay in a large dry lot area as we don't have the acreage for them to be on pasture. However, we do have a bit of grass for them to graze on. They never have had these in their ears before so I believe that they got them while grazing on the grass. It has recently rained a lot so though the ground has dried out a bit, there is still some wet ground.
1) Does anyone know what they are?
2) Has anyone had them on their horses before?
3) How can I prevent them?
I have a fly mask with ears for Charlie that I am thinking of using. Rumor's fly mask does not have ears.
There were more gnats than can be seen in the pictures on the horses' ears.
Here are some photos of the bugs in the horse's ears:
They didn't like me playing with their ears with a phone snapping pictures so it is hard to see.
This is an image I just found on the web that shows what the gnats looked like in a better picture. There were not quite as many.
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
1 - 10 of 10 Posts
