The July 15th club ride was at Tenoroc, which is usually a reasonably bug-free place in the summer. But THIS day the horseflies, especially on the north loop, were not only ferocious but swarmed in such numbers to make the ride intolerable. SO: we went back this past Saturday for an experiment. One member–the one who has the horse that goes nuts when a fly even buzzes past his ear–got a bottle of EcoVet, and we all applied it to our horses. We did it as directed–just on the legs and lower bodies, with a tiny bit applied by hand to the face. Our verdict is a qualified success…there were a LOT of horseflies buzzing around, but the horses were MOSTLY avoided. A fair number of flies still tried for the horses’ necks, and the riders were attacked frequently (we should have put some on us, since Backwoods Off didn’t seem to be working). The trails were really wet after all the rains, so by the end of the ride (2.5 hours later) the spray’s effect seemed to be diminishing. But the EcoVet really did seem to help far more than our usual fly sprays. Next time we will put a small amount along the horses’ necks, though. And I–the one with the horse that goes nuts with flies?–will probably be buying a gallon of the EcoVet soon!
Florida Sport Horse Club 