Fly Repellent

Flys love horses and unless you protect your horse, they will end up covered in bites.

Few ways of protecting them:

• Fly Spray - this can be expensive, making your own can save you a fortune. See below for a recipe.
• Fly Fringe or Mask - keeps the flys away from the horse's eyes (and ears with some masks).
• Fly Sheets - a light-weight (and often UV-reflectant) rug that will keep the flys off your horse and also help to keep them cool.
• Garlic Supplements in feeds - garlic is a natural fly repellent.

Homemade Fly Spray Recipe

Making your own fly spray will work out a LOT cheaper than buying from shops. On average you will spend approx £8-£10 for 500ml of shop-bought repellent. If you follow the recipe below, it will cost you approx £1 for 500ml! You need to buy a spray bottle, but you can pick these up from supermarkets for about £1 and re-use them for each batch you make.

There are lots of different recipes for fly spray. I'd recommend trying a few, and modifying them with different quantities or ingredients if they aren't working. Here's the recipe we use:

You will need:

• Empty spray bottle (recipe is for a 1 litre bottle, but it can be halved or doubled depending on how much you want to make).
  I'd recommend not getting the cheapest spray bottles, as you will need to shake the fly repellent in the bottle each time you use it, and if you use a cheap bottle, it can leak all over your hand as you shake it!
• Kettle
• Tea Bags (3 or 4)
• Jug (1 litre or bigger)
• 200ml Cyder Vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• 5ml Citronella Oil
• 2ml Tea Tree Oil

Method:

• Boil the kettle and make 750ml tea with the tea bags in the jug
• Allow the tea to stew and cool, then remove the bags
• Mix in the 200ml vinegar, and the essential oils
• Pour the mixture into the spray bottle and shake well
• Shake well before you spray onto the horse
  **Be careful when spraying near the horse's face, not to get the spray in their eyes. A good tip is to spray the repellent onto a sponge or cloth and wipe over their face**

Have a good sniff of the spray, and add more citronella oil if you don't think it smells strongly enough.

Other ingredients you could try are: garlic (garlic powder is good), fairy liquid, Avon Skin So Soft (I've never tried this, but it's recommended on many forums), lemon juice, rosemary, etc.
When using solid ingredients, like the rosemary or garlic, soak them in the tea overnight and strain before putting into the spray bottle, as the lumps can clog up the spray.

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