I went out to check on the horses earlier, and poor Floyd was covered with horse flies!! I mean COVERED. I hate for him to wear the fly sheet when it's 102 outside but that is what I did. Both his sides are just bloody blotches.
NOW what is weird is Floyd is a light palomino, Ace is dark brown, almost black, and Axel is sorrel, Floyd is covered, Ace is irratiated with maybe 3 or 4, and Axel has NO fly bites or flies landing on him!
Why would my poor palomino be so bugged and not the sorrel at all?
Is Floyd the oldest? It seems like flies bug horses more the older they get. My old mare was 22 when we got her, and in the summer her stomach would be almost raw from bug bites, but her foal (who was born when the mare was 22) didn't hardly get bothered.
We have an old gray mare that those little flies used to cover. Started feeding the horses a teaspoon of granulated garlic with their feed a.m. and p.m. and they are much better. I don't think it helps with the big flies much though.
These are the big nasty ones that when you slap them it looks like some one has shot the horse. And then the little flies land on the blood thinking they are getting a free meal... I gave him a good bath and put the fly sheet back on him... I just hate him having to wear it 24/7... But I feel if I leave it off he'll become anemic.
POOR FLOYD
