What's eating you?
Biting flies are more dangerous than they appear.
Biting flies, are the bane of a horses existence during peak fly season. Flies can be a misery for horses, not to mention, how many diseases they carry. In addition to biting flies, mosquitoes and ticks are also common disease carriers.
It is very important to keep your horse on a regular horse vaccination program, to prevent diseases from ocuring in the first place. The non-biting flies (housefly and face fly), feed on secretions from the eyes, nose and mouth. They will even feed on open wounds usually produced by the bites of other insects. Housefly and stable fly - lay eggs in manure piles, decomposed hay, bedding and plant debris. These types of flies feed mostly during the day and roost at night.
 Biting flies (horseflies, deerfly, stable fly and horn fly), are blood-suckers. The black fly and some species of gnats also bite.Black Fly - sometimes referred to as a buffalo gnat or turkey gnat. Like mosquitoes, to which they are related, they gain nourishment by sucking blood. The bites from a black fly are very painful and extremely itchy.
 Horsefly and Deerfly - these flies are over-achievers when it comes to biting. The bites are very vicious and painful. They can also open the door to screwworm attacks. Horseflies are carriers of more than 35 different horse diseases. Some of these diseases include: anthrax, tularemia, anaplasmosis, equine infectious anemia and filariasis. Horseflies lay their eggs in leaves and moist soil around the edge of ponds or drainage ditches. Keeping you horse in a stall during the day will help in peak horsefly season. Most species of horseflies will not fly into a dark stall. So the darker, the better.
Face fly and horn fly - breed only in cow manure. So unless you have cattle nearby, you probably don’t need to worry about these to much.The face fly feeds off of secretions from the eyes, mouth and nostrils. They can carry eyeworms and a contagious form of conjunctivitis. The best control for these little buggers are face masks or fly collars. The biting horn fly is relatively easy to control with fly spray. A light mist to the shoulders, neck and withers will often keep them at bay.
 Gnats - There are many different species of gnats. The more common types are no-see-ums or midges and buffalo gnats. No-see-ums are only about a 16th of an inch long, but they can deliver a good bite. They are highly irritating to horses. Gnats cause head tossing, skin twitching, ear twitching and severe rubbing and biting.
Fly mask and fly sheets are good for stopping most biting flies. During peak fly season, it is also a good idea to put your horses in a dark stall at the peak hours of the day.
Fly eliminators are great for controlling the fly population. Biting flies can be potentially harmful to your horses. They are also a great natural alternative to insect control. If you do not know what fly eliminators are; they are tiny wasp-like insects that eat fly eggs and keep them from developing. They do not harm humans or animals. They are great for controlling some species of biting flies.
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