With fly season about to kick into full force across the country, several effective “green” methods of fly control are available for any horse owner.
[Article taken from theHorse.com press release-- plus my own COMMENTS shown in CAPS.]
According to Laurie Cerny, editor of Green Horsekeeping & The Sustainable Stable magazine, using a combination of methods and eco-friendly products is the key to effective green fly control.
Here are her top five suggestions:
Use fly predators. These tiny insects eat fly larvae, breaking the lifecycle of the fly. Start early in the season, with perhaps double applications during the height of fly season or if spring and summer are abnormally wet.
WE STARTED USING FLY PREDATORS LAST YEAR, TOGETHER WITH OUR NEIGHBOR HORSES ACROSS THE FENCE. THEY DO SEEM EFFECTIVE. I ALSO CONTINUE TO USE BIG STINKY TOO– THEY ARE ABOUT 95% GREEN I GUESS, AND THEY CERTAINLY DO WORK!
Promptly remove manure from stalls and paddocks. In other larger areas where there is manure, such as in pastures, either harrow fields or use a pitchfork to break piles apart.
YEP! SCATTERED AND DRYING MANURE DECOMPOSES FASTER. HUBBY GETS A KICK OUT OF KICKING THE PILES APART WITH HIS BOOTS…
Keep standing water and tall grass to a minimum. Don’t overflow water tanks. Turn over unused tanks, buckets, and grain pans left outdoors. Keep grassy areas around the barn and paddocks trimmed as short as possible, as flies and other insects rely on foliage for protection.
WE USED TO MAINTAIN A 2ND WATER TANK IN OUR MOST REMOTE FIELD; NOW WE MAKE THE HORSES COME BACK TO THE BARN FOR WATER, ENCOURAGING MORE EXERCISE. HEY, THE WILD HORSES DO IT!
Feed garlic and/or Diatomaceous Earth (DE). Many horse owners are aware that feeding garlic is a natural way to help control the fly population. Feed with caution, however, as garlic can be rough on the stomach and is not recommended for use on horses prone to ulcers. Fewer owners are aware of the benefits of feeding DE, which is a chalky white rock substance mined from fossilized deposits of single-cell plants. Feeding DE is said to help eliminate internal parasites and reduce manure odor, both of which help to deter fly reproduction.
INTERESTING– I’M WONDERING IF IT SHOULD BE CONSUMPTION-GRADE DE?
Bradley’s Country Store, Tallahassee FL– note clear plastic bags of water hanging from porch roof, to repel flies we were told…
Use Ziploc bags containing pennies and water. Make these eco-friendly fly deterrents by dropping 3-5 pennies in a plastic bag filled with water. Hang the bags in an area where flies enter the barn or congregate. Apparently, the flies see their distorted reflection of themselves in the bagged penny water and are afraid of what they see.
HA!! I JUST RECENTLY SAW THIS DONE ON THE FRONT PORCH OF A COUNTRY STORE IN TALLAHASSEE, EXCEPT MINUS THE PENNIES. I SURE WAS WONDERING HOW THOSE BAGS WERE SUPPOSED TO REPEL FLIES. I’D SAY IT’S WORTH A TRY, WHAT COULD IT HURT???
My friend Faye, college roommate from way back– we got to visit recently after 30 years of exchanging Christmas cards and news!
…and luscious-looking tomato!
She is quite the wild gardener and naturalist, in addition to teaching accounting at Georgia State University– and receives a bit of local celebrity in Atlanta!
Second Ride: Riding was good again last night. Emmie rode Glendale and she rode like the wind! She and Glen are like a hand in a glove, they work so well together! They are beautiful to watch.
Tonight, I was actually able to get on Gilford without making a fool of myself. With Emmie stabilizing the other stirrup, I just kind of did it and managed to do it with dignity and ALMOST no effort. It was ugly the other night… I was so horrified in front of Em — I practically knocked poor Gilford over-trying to get on him. He was swaying side to side while I tried to get on… swaying because I was grabbing at him and pulling and trying to claw my way into the saddle.
I was using Connie’s endurance saddle and I am lost without a pommel horn! I know I should grab the mane to help myself up but am always so afraid of hurting the horse that I always use the pommel horn when there is one. I ended up on him, but on my stomach, of all places, and then had to right myself so I was sitting -– and all this happened in spite of my using a mounting block!
I got on so effortlessly this time and once on Gilford did my best to put aside my angst. It was constantly there the entire time, but I managed to just ride through it. We trotted around the paddock and over ground poles which was a lot of fun!! Emmie told me what to do to help Gilford stay straight going over the poles (he kept drifting off to the right and not going over the center of the poles), and I did what she said. It worked perfectly! He was SO smooth going over those poles.
trotting Gilford
Horse Gal flies along!
I’m feeling pretty confident right about now! Emmie said I was doing much better tonight getting Gilford to be forward, but he needs a few more inches of forwardness. Even at the walk, I am constantly using the crop and I put more pressure on with my legs and I constantly say “trot” in a quick snappy “I mean business” tone of voice and he just steps right up and does it… but then he slacks off again! Can’t say that I blame him. If I had a large person on my back, I’d want to slack off too.
Horse Gal canters Gilford
We cantered last night for the first time with Emmie sitting on Glendale in the middle while we circled around. And again, with my cues, he stepped right up into it from a trot. This was something new for me, cantering from a trot. I’m used to cantering from a standstill or at the most one or two steps. So, while you think it wouldn’t be, it was a little hard for me to get used to posting and trotting and then trying to decide when I should just sit and ask for the canter. It was all kind of awkward, trying to get it all to come together.
But awkward or not, I did do it. I could hear Emmie saying “don’t let him break (in the corners mostly)… more leg, leg, leg!!!” I could feel him start to want to slow down and most times I could catch him and get him to start right back up into his canter. She was also saying “try to get him to go faster!!” at the canter…(I thought to myself FASTER????!!!! We are going plenty fast enough, thank you very much!!)
Em on Glen
Then Em cantered Glendale while I sat on Gil in the middle of the paddock. I would give anything to ride like her and with the freedom and confidence she rides with. I admire her so much. She has so much talent. I truly believe she has more than talent – she has a gift with horses.
Em is multitasking, taking her own pix!
I asked Emmie about how she puts aside her nerves to get back up on a horse after a fall. Her response was you just have to do it. You can’t be afraid to fall. She said to me “I don’t LIKE falling. Who does? It hurts! But it happens and you have to just know that and be able to deal with it.” But HOW do I do that?? How do I put that far enough in the back of my mind so that I can ride?? That is the million-dollar question.
Nevertheless, tonight did go well and I felt pretty good and confident for the moment. Thank you Em and Gil!!! Little did I know, my next ride would a very different kind of night when my nerves just would not let go of me because of problems in the barn BEFORE we even got to the riding ring.
Stay tuned!
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See other Fear of Riding posts by Horse Gal
As is typical in New Hampshire spring, there was lots of mud in the paddock. In order to protect the ground as it thawed and so that grass would get a good growing start, we restricted the horses to a small area close to the barn for a while. Otherwise, their hooves dig up the soft sod and ruin the pastures.
This happened in mid-March, due to an early spring thaw this year. Even on Lake Winnipesaukee, the ice went out earlier than ever in recorded history, on March 23.
Note the temporary fence to the right keeping them out of the pasture, and the pile of limbs, which is a felled tree.
The light-colored areas are rounded river rock, which helps prevent the mud areas from getting totally potholed by the horses’ feet.
To help stabilize the mud, this year we placed riverstones in the wettest areas, We had bought this stone last fall and used much of it then on a woods path which is perpetually muddy most of the summer. This stone is kind of like a giant pea gravel, 1 to 3 inches diameter; it is proving to be very effective, and I’m hoping it will toughen their feet even more than smaller pea gravel.
While they were in confinement, we happened to have a dead tree which we cut down for them to chew on! They were delighted with this for many days, and eventually stripped the bark off every limb.
A little late posting I know, but something else we enjoyed with Antoine, our exchange student from Liege, Belgium. Don’t tell anyone– we let Antoine play hookey from school and took him with friends Bob and Martha to Mount Sunapee.
Skiing (well, some of us snowboarded!) at Sunapee on March 3. Sunapee Lake is below us.
The 4 stooges: Bob, Hubby, moi and Antoine.
Martha is in this one (on left) taken by Hubby.
It really was spring… this is only 5 days later, on March 8 at Gunstock Ski Resort when Bob and Martha paid Gilford a visit. (Antoine was in school this time, much to his regret…)
Antoine had never been even close to a horse before he came to stay with us… so in late March we got him on Willy mare and showed him how to ride. At least a first lesson. The mare was good and she’s a great riding horse, but she’s smart enough to know when a complete novice is on her so he had to work a bit to get her to go where he wanted.
OK, standing is no problem! Hubby was on Gilford and one plan was to get the mare to follow Gilford around… but she was not motivated to do that.
At first Antoine was able to get her to walk only when she was headed towards the barn, but not in another direction. After a lot of practice he could get her to walk in circles around me.
Maybe not an avid horseman-- but Antoine has another new experience to take back to Belgium! (Love the snowboarding helmet!)
In January I was volunteered and elected to become President of the Granite State Carriage Association. There are close to 100 members currently in the Northeast, mostly in New Hampshire. The Club is hosting a dozen pleasure drive/rides this year in NH, Vermont and Maine.
