We’ve been in a drought for a couple years now. It recently rained, and rained and rained… and now we are inundated with flies, and they HURT! I was watching Tik Tok one day and saw someone put coconut oil on their horses to repel flies. I didn’t think there was any way that could actually work, but low and behold… it did!
It got me thinking about fly spray and creating a diy horse fly spray that might be a little healthier and economical than the Pyranha fly spray we’ve been using. In the past it has worked really well, but this year it’s not working all that well.
I did some googling and found some essential oils that work well for fly repelling and everyone is talking about apple cider vinegar, and I knew the coconut oil worked… so here’s what I’ve come up with.
Homemade Fly Spray Recipe
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp lemongrass essential oil
1/4 tsp eucalytpus essential oil
1/2 tsp bitter orange essential oil
2 tbsp dawn dish soap
Add all the ingredients to a spray bottle. I melted the coconut oil in the microwave a little bit so it was liquid, and I could combine it, but it will stay melted once it’s outside. You could also use fractionated coconut oil, which is liquid at room temperature. Fill the bottle with water. Shake and apply.
Make sure you test a small spot on your horse so you know they won’t reacte to the oils.
I probably wouldn’t use this on their face or near their eyes. We have ours on fly masks, but tummies, legs and especially bellies this is great for. Runaway’s belly gets swarmed by flies. I don’t know why he is so attractive to them, but he sure is, poor thing.
I gathered up my test subjects Runaway and Goose. We’ve got rain coming through, big storms north of us so the flies were very active. I sprayed just their legs and bellies to test it out. They were swishing tails, and moving all around at the hay bale, but once I sprayed them they moved off to graze and haven’t just been standing happily grazing.
This is probably going to need to be applied daily, I can’t imagine it lasting much longer than a day. We’ll just make it part of our morning routine. I feel so much better about using this than the harsh insecticides in the spray we’ve been using, especially if it works so well!!
Here’s Runaway and Goose after I put it on them. A storm is coming in, the flies were definitely biting, but not them!
What are you using to beat the flies this year? I’d love to hear!
