What is your best choice of repellent (flies and mosquitoes) on horses?

Question

I use a combo of permethrin and cedercide. It works well but lasts only a day or two. I'm looking for a long term effective treatment, homemade or commercial...

Answer 1

some material soaked in lavender oil tied in his mane and tail

Answer 2

Try and find an all natural or organic store near you with supplements. Recently I have been using a mixture of this oil downed with water to make the concentrations even (like most sprays). The oil is called Neem's Oil.

http://www.dreamingearth.com/ushop/index...

It is an all natural tick and fly/insect repellent. It is fully safe for use on humans and animals.

"Neem is a rather amazing oil, not as well known as it should be considering its usefulness. With excellent moisturizing qualities, it is becoming increasingly popular in many body and hair care and pet products. Neem oil contains compounds that have both insecticidal, antiseptic and medicinal properties. It is a dark, rather sludgy green in color and has a strong, (not terribly pleasant) odor. Being both high in Vitamin E and fatty acids, Neem oil is said to be useful for treating a variety of skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, acne and dry skin.

In addition, Neem has a long history of use as an insect repellent and is increasingly being used to control plant pests and diseases. Neem oil has been studied and shown to be effective against mosquitos, flies, sand fleas, ticks and more. As a garden spray, Neem (which is very bitter in taste) makes the leaves sprayed with it distasteful for the bugs to eat, thus acting as a natural repellent. For external use only. " Taken from the website listed above.

Answer 3

Farnam's Endure...we've used them all...this one really works and lasts...not for two weeks...but for days.

Answer 4

Spot on does work great and lasts several weeks.  Any of the sprays with an oil base will "stick" to the hair and last longer.  But you do need to change sprays from year to year and maybe month to month as flies build up a resistance to one kind of spray.  I prefer to use a rag or sponge and apply my insecticide that way, rubbing it on.  I feel they get better coverage, sticks to the hair better, and I don't lose the product to the wind!

Answer 5

I use regular human OFF and it works fine...i only use it sometimes. other times i buy horse bug spray

Answer 6

I use Ultra Shield Ex, it is has worked great on my horses. It lasts for 14 days and it has sunscreen in it as well.

Answer 7

I think its called Spot on, it lasts around 2 weeks.  It costs around 12 dollars for 3 doses of it.  My horse is affraid of spray bottles so its nice that all you have to do is put 2 drops in certain places.

Answer 8

Hi,

Well we use several different products and they all work great!

We sometimes use this and it is for long term treatment, it lasts 14 days:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?...

It works good!

We also use Repel X and it smells so GOOD! *Mix skin so soft in with this to keep misquotes away.* It is not long term though but good for in-between the 14 days:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?...

Instead of Repel X we also use this cheaper concentrate that they sell for cattle but it can be used on horses/we mix skin so soft in this one as well:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?...

Here is the Skin so Soft *this also helps make their skin nice and silky! :

http://shop.avon.com/s****.product.asp?s...

This also looks like it may work good for you:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?...

"Effectively controls stable flies, horn flies, face flies, eye gnats, and ticks, plus aids in the control of horse flies, mosquitoes, and black flies."

Here is a page with more long term treatments:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_product_grou...

For ears and face:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?...

For spot treatment/cuts and so forth:

http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?...

Hope I helped and Best of Luck!

Answer 9

some people just make there own... you could just look it up on how to make it...

Answer 10

I have this one Fly Spray and i thinks its called Tri- Tech. It works really well and it works for like 10 days.

Answer 11

Probably alot of repellents work good, but I heard to change them often because if you use the same repellent all the time the flies become immune to it. I don't know if it's true or not, but just some advice.

Answer 12

I have had great luck with repeling flies and ticks both.  I Use fly predators to reduce the population and CDS Permectrin.

CDS Permectrin is a new pour on that has been used by the dairy industry for years but has just recently been cleared for horses.  pour 7 to 15 ounces (for a full sized horse) down the top line (including mane), being sure to save a little of it to pour down the face.  You don't have to treat again for two weeks.

Though It doesn't say anything about it I have a particular hard brush set aside.  I brush them down to spread the insecticides out right after application.  

As I said we went from a bad fly population last year to an almost nonexistent population this year.  With our record rains it would have been the other way around.

About $20 per bottle seems expensive, however you use so little the bottle will treat 5 or 6 horses all summer and fall.