Does anybody else have problems with gnats when you ride? I do and me and my horses HATE em' The only chance I get to ride it dark early morning and late evening cause their not out as bad. The flies are also bad but only in the barn is there any way of getting rid if them? I'm currently putting in Apple Cider Vinegar in my horses feed which does keep the flies off but not the gnats is there anything you can do or put something on them that actually repels them?
hoping someone has a remedy! because they think i'm pretty tasty too! the next day i'll have a red itchy dot...sometimes they like to bite me at the corner of my eye and my eyelid swells up!
The only thing that I have found for those darn gnats is some kind of cream like Corona or Durvet. The seem to love my horses' bellies and I keep them greased up pretty well. You can also use this in their ears.
Barn flies can be controlled with FLY PREDATORS. I have used Aribico for a couple of years but have had several packages that have not hatched out. I went with Spalding this year. They DO help.
Deer flies can be kept off by sticking a couple tree branches in your bridle. A couple in you breast collar helps too. We have a supply of pine trees here so I use them but other trees work too. Seems to confuse their radar. Crazy but works better than anything I have found. You do kind of look like you have antlers.
Posts: 1477 Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton
I used to put garlic in my horses feed but now I can't remember if it's 1tsp or 1tbl spoon full. It worked great, made my barn smell like Italian food, but it worked. If anyone knows let us know how much.
SWAT. It's a cream based fly/gnat/flying insect repellent. You can get it in clear or a hot pink color. We used the hot pink when a horse got caught in the fence and de-gloved her stifle during the summer months. The color was great to tell where the cream actually was around the stitches.
Then get you some fly predators. Best little guys out there for the money.
Thank you all for your help, I will defiantly be feeding garlic and using the avon skin-so-soft, infact I think I still have some :D I think most of the flies are from next door. They have TONS of cows and just put on fresh chicken manure on the pasture so it stinks around here right now!
we have them something terrible here. I spray fly spray on my hands or a towel and rub it on and inside their ears and around their eyes and all over their face. Bounce dryer sheets work really well. make sure your really rub it on you too. I am not joking when I say ordered the sunhat with the bug net around it. I don't like having to spray chemicals on me and my horses every day so they are pretty well protected with the eared fly masks and things like that.
Gnats!!!
