Once the sun starts to shine the flies appear and they can make your horse's life a misery.

Flies on horses are a problem.

Flies are not only annoying to horses and humans but some can be harmful, many flies are transmitters of diseases.

Check your horse for bites and lumps, they can become inflamed, hot, and itchy. If fly bites become infected, ulcerated or worse flystrike then you must seek immediate help from your vet. The same applies if your horse suddenly becomes unwell.

Tips to keep flies away from your horse.

Use fly traps, flypaper or fly jars
You can use the sticky fly sheets that hang up to trap flies, they will stick to it and die. You can also buy fly traps and jars which attract and trap flies, you can even make your own.
Make sure to keep fly traps away from your horse's stable as not to lure flies into it.

Biological control
Using wasps, tiny as ants which are natural predators to keep flies under control. They don't fly but stay in the manure pit where they lay their eggs into the fly pupa which prevents adult flies from hatching.
Fly Predators don't bite or sting and never become pests themselves.

Fly masks
Made out of see-through mesh so your horse can see but protects them from all those nasty flies and midges. Flies around the eyes can be very stressful for horses and can also lead to eye infections.

Fly rugs
Fly rugs also act as sunscreens and protect your horse from harmful ultraviolet rays. Too much sun on dark horses can cause them to go lighter and even more serious is the risk of cancer, especially in light coloured horses. A fly rug will give your horse full-body protection from the sun and flies.

Fly leg wraps
Fly wraps for the lower legs are becoming more popular as more people realise how important it is to protect legs from flies as well. When your horse is bothered by flies on their legs they stomp which can lead to chipped hooves, jarring, loosening of nails and other injuries.

Cover manure
The art is to compost quickly. Flies want fresh manure so by covering the manure you will speed up the composting process and reduce the habitat that flies like for breeding.

Empty the rubbish
If there are rubbish bins nearby empty them and move them away from the stable. The odour from the bin can attract flies so make sure to wash it out regularly with disinfectant.

Ride in open space
Try to keep away from woods or water and keep out in the open.
Shady areas and stagnant, boggy water are places that flies like so avoid them.

Do you have any good tips to keep flies away from your horse? 

Make your horse's summer a lot happier this year with one of our fly rugs.