Cheap, Natural and it Sends Horseflies Packing!

The Legal Equestrian recently shared thoughts about fly sprays (The Fault in Our Fly Spray) not living up to their advertising claims.  Regardless of which spray you choose to control flies, not one of them will repel horseflies--those nasty things that are roughly the size of a B-52 bomber and have a bite like a crocodile.

This description from Wikipedia is enough to strike fear in the heart of every horse owner.  "Most short-tongued species of horse flies use their knife-like mandibles to rip and/or slice flesh apart....They are often not deterred by attempts at swatting them away, and will persist in attacking, or even chase their intended target for a short time."

Ugh.

I've been researching homemade fly sprays and found one that specifically targets horseflies.  The recipe is simple--one part eucalyptus oil and five parts water or alcohol.  Believe it or not, I happen to have a 4-ounce bottle of eucalyptus oil so I mixed it 20 ounces of water in a spray bottle.

A four-ounce bottle of eucalyptus oil costs between $6-8. 

 
I had a ride scheduled at Rachel Carson Park.  The first part of the ride is through a meadow of tall plants.  It's horsefly central--the perfect testing ground.

I sprayed Queenie thoroughly and met up with Denise and her quarter horse, Bits.  As we started through the meadow, I saw the first large horsefly land on Bits.  Over the course of the ride through woods and fields, Bits' rear end looked like a landing strip for horseflies.  I had to admire Denise's deadly aim.  She managed to kill eight horseflies during the ride.  There were others that landed but escaped annihilation by Denise. 
 
While Bits was a favorite target for the horseflies, only two landed on Queenie but they quickly flew off.   Common flies and some other insects landed on Queenie's ears but I realized that I had not sprayed them and I had forgotten to put her fly bonnet on her.

Denise and I were very impressed with the results of my experiment.  The eucalyptus mixture will be my go-to fly spray, particularly when I will be riding in sunny open fields.

I found bulk eucalyptus oil online for $19.89 for 16 ounces.  The 16-ounce bottle will make 96 ounces of spray.   Not only is that more cost effective than most commercial fly sprays, it actually works.