It’s fly season. When we first got into horses I think this was our biggest surprise… flies. They just come out of nowhere with a vengeance. The first season of flies hit and we were overwhelmed. We got out the “sizing chart” and measured Runaway and got him the cheapest fly sheet I could find. ha ha ha.
It was too small and was shredded in a day.
We’ve definitely learned a lot in the last 5 years.
We have tried multiple fly sheets over the years, but the last couple years we’ve landed on our absolute favorite.
I don’t know what it is about Runaway, but the flies SWARM his belly. We had been getting fly sheets with the regular two criss cross straps under the belly, but I felt so awful for him I went searching to see if there was a better option for him. Of course there was. The fly sheet with a belly band.
We’ve settled in on the Weatherbeeta ComFiTec Ripshield Plus with Belly band. It also comes with a detachable neck piece.
Here’s a few reasons I love this Weatherbeeta Fly Sheet with a Belly Band.
This Ripshield Plus material is awesome. It’s ventilated, air moves through it. It feels so light I don’t feel bad leaving fly sheets on in hot weather. But the best thing about this material is it is made of tiny little squares, so if your horse happens to tear it or make a hole in it, it doesn’t spread!! It just stays a tiny little hole, compartmentalized by these little squares.
We are going on our second and third season with some of these fly sheets and they are holding up great. They are not cheap, so it’s nice they are holding up.
The belly band is a gift. Instead of straps you have a whole piece of cloth that comes under their belly so it’s covered and the flies can’t get to it. It works really really well. I can see immediate relief for poor Runaway once we get it put on.
I love that these fly sheets come with a neck cover. It’s removable, so if you have a horse that’s not too bothered by the flies you can leave it off, or if you have a horse like Runaway… you can leave it on.
I don’t know what it is about him… I’ve read the flies are attracted to darker colors. Because he and my gray mare can be standing at the same hay bale, same field and he is being eaten alive and she is fine. It’s so strange.
This fly sheet doesn’t come in a wide variety of colors, we’ve got blue and red.
I have also read an interesting study that showed flies become confused by zebra patterning. I’ve noticed they are starting to make fly sheets in zebra patterns but I haven’t found one in this material, and I’m not sure I’m willing to risk longevity to experiment with the zebra pattern. If you’ve tried it please let me know how it went.
We finish out the fly coverage with Shoo Fly Leggins. We just love these. We found them 3-4 years ago and didn’t see how they could possibly work. They have a gaping hole at the top. We just knew the flies would just go right in, but they don’t. These fly boots are like magic. Horses are usually getting swarmed by flies around their feet, so for some of horses, like Goose, shoo fly leggins and a fly mask are enough for her to be comfortable. But pretty much everyone here gets fly boots as soon as the season starts. The velcro on the shoo fly leggins is really strong. Sometimes when they are new it’s hard to get them off, but that just means they stay on even in the pasture.
There are some cheaper products that look similar to the shoo fly leggins on the market now. We’ve stuck with shoo fly because they last forever, the ones Runaway has on in the picture above are going through their second or third season now, and I have some loyalty to the brand that saved us in the beginning. 🙂
We’ve tried a variety of fly masks as well. Last year I saw an ad on Facebook *eye roll* and ended up getting a large number of fly masks for very cheap but they were complete junk. They were WAY smaller than they said, the eyes were weird and they just didn’t work. We generally stick to the lycra pull over the head face masks. The ones with velcro never seem to stay put. I don’t know how animals without thumbs manage to undo velcro, but they sure do. I just saw this set of cute fly masks on Amazon and I think I’m going to buy them! I just can’t help myself. They are coming out with such cute patterns now.
If you’re still trying to find the best fly sheet to manage the flies for your horses, I can’t recommend the Weatherbeeta fly sheet with belly band highly enough.
And don’t forget the homemade fly spray… the tiny bit of fur Runaway has showing gets sprayed. 😀
