As the warm seasons are right around the corner, so do bugs.
And as soon as they see your equine companions, they’ll instantly swarm over for easy picking.
So, what can you do about it? Well, by choosing the best fly spray for horses, you’re sure to protect your companions from any old pest!
Best Horse Fly Spray For Horses
The best horse fly spray for horses that we tested are
1. Piranha 001GWIPEG 068022 Wipe N’Spray Fly Protection Spray
Just from its name, the Piranha Wipe N’ Spray (Available From Amazon) serves as a pests’ deadly opponent from how it works to kill and repel them.
Its pyrethrum-based formula is guaranteed ready-to-use as it’s a common ingredient for pesticides, therefore flies won’t even think twice about staying away from your horse when it provides superior fly protection!
Just after applying one to two ounces and your horse will experience how it feels to be protected by the best fly spray in 2021.
For vanity, the citronella works as a refreshing fragrance of lemons while it does the work in repelling mosquitoes. Talk about multitasking!
Although it’s advertised to have lanolin in the mix, this fly spray may be too strong for your horse, as it can burn and lose its hair once you use it.
In this case, this situation can depend on whether you applied too much of it on your horse or your horse has high skin sensitivity that you might not know about.
Also, due to how the lanolin is waxy, the grease it brings would cause your horse’s hair to be matted and sticky, which leads to its skin being unable to breathe and result in blisters or rashes.
So, the Wipe N’ Spray does work, only it works TOO well as far as your horse is concerned.
2. Farnam Bronco Gold Equine Fly Spray
You’ve probably heard of Farnam often when you’ve been tending to your equine community for so long. If not, then prepare yourself to be amazed by the Farnam Bronco Gold! (Available From Amazon)
This equine fly spray comes as a good thirty-two ounces of strong insecticide that you can use with a trigger sprayer or a wipe to keep your horses from getting bit, with citronella to freshen it all up.
Unlike the last one, though, you can also spray this on your barn and stables to safeguard your horse’s living space from any pests outside because, as important it is to pour all of your care on your horse, you’ll be able to keep it healthier in a clean, pest-free environment!
It’s advertised that this is a “non-oily” formula, but once you used it, you could tell it still has the lanolin, which is supposed to work as a balm for your horse’s skin while the fly spray works its magic.
But, as you’re already here and reading this second one on the list, if you don’t want a situation to happen that’s closely similar to the Piranha, then it’s best to test it out on your horse first before applying it all the way.
3. Absorbine UltraShield EX Fly Spray
Claimed as “the most advanced formula” from Absorbine, the UltraShield EX has everything to offer to be a strong contender in 2021 for being among the best horse fly sprays out there!
The first and most important function it has is to kill and repel, and this stuff is guaranteed advanced enough to do so on more than 70 species of bugs, including the common flies, mosquitoes, ticks, and gnats!
Other than the fur, this fly spray also tends to your horse’s skin! Its formula works as a sunscreen and coat conditioner to maintain the skin and hair nicely as, compared to other brands, this includes aloe right next to lanolin.
Another feature it has is the water-based formula that doesn’t need to be mixed anymore as it’s already ready-to-use.
However, this aspect clashes with UltraShield EX’s other feature: the weather-proof formula.
As it’s water-based, then its promise of being able to stay up to 17 days is unrealistic as this formula could only stick in less than a week on your horse.
However, being able to use this spray on both horses AND dogs does make up for it. You can even have this as a barn premise spray!
4. Farnam Endure Sweat-Resistant Fly Spray for Horses
Another creation from Farnam, but let’s hope it’s better than the last one!
The Farnam Endure, as it already mentions in its name, concentrates more on sticking to the horse from its advertised “sweat resistance” with the unique RepeLock conditioner added into the formula, which binds everything together to stay on the hair shaft up to 14 days for fly control.
However, just like the UltraShield EX, this is deemed untrue as you would need to apply it time and again for it to stay effective, but this is because of an entirely different reason!
Instead of it due to having a water-based formula, the Farnam Endure uses pyrethrin, or also known as pyrethrum. You’ve read about this at a glance from the Piranha; how the pyrethrin is a common base ingredient for insecticides.
It’s because of this that the entire spray formula may be considered ineffective in situations when bugs aren’t repelled to it at all.
As this ingredient is common, it’s a possibility that these insects were able to build an immunity against it by now.
Luckily, this doesn’t apply to every species of bugs out there, so you could still hope this could work on your horses!
5. Farnam Repel-X pe Emulsafiable Fly Spray for Horses
Three in a row by now, so if you’re a big fan of Farnam, then you’re in luck!
Farnam Repel-X does its job as it kills on contact and repels all sorts of flies (mainly horn, house, stable, horse, and deer flies) and also gnat, mosquitoes, and ticks, especially deer ticks that may transmit Lyme Disease.
However, compared to the other fly sprays, this is a concentrated formula that you’ll have to mix with water before having a go at it.
In only a quart of its formula, and you’ll be able to make 8 quarts of ready-to-use mixture already!
For some of its directions, all you need to do is to have your horse’s coat thoroughly wet before application. Then, apply the formula between one to seven dilutions for optimized protection.
If you want to be sure, you could repeat every three or four days but not more than one treatment a day!
Instead of having only the pyrethrin to shoulder everything, working alongside it are prallethrin and piperony butoxide.
Regarding prallethrin, this doesn’t have miles of difference from pyrethrin as it’s considered a pyrethroid insecticide, which is used more for mosquito control.
As for the piperony butoxide, this buffs up the pesticide’s potency to be stronger and more effective against the general population of pests.
But you should still be aware that there’s still a chance for some pests to be mutated enough to handle this formula, so you better keep an eye out for them!
6. Manna Pro-Force Fly Spray
Right next to Farnam, you’ve probably heard of the brand Manna Pro-Force if you’ve been handling the equine community for so long.
If this is your first time hearing it, then let this be a fine example for Manna Pro-Force’s stellar products!
Rapid knockdown is what this fly spray can guarantee, as you can use this as a premise spray when it can kill and repel more than 70 listed species, like the UltraShield EX.
With its ready-to-use formula, as soon as you spray this on a swarm of mosquitoes, it’s an instant death sentence for them! Even those big, bothersome horse flies will be slowed down, and give them more time to think twice before latching onto your horse!
What’s more is you can also use this on dogs as the formula effectively kills their fleas and ticks, as well!
However, just like those couple of Farnam and UltraShield EX fly sprays, this is advertised to last long enough to protect your companion up to 14 days when, in reality, you’ll need to reapply it a lot within those 14 days to maintain the mentioned protection.
In-between re-application, though, is you must be diligent in grooming or brushing your horse’s coat to keep its healthy shine!
7. Espree Aloe Herbal Horse Spray
Out of all these fly sprays, the Espree Aloe Herbal Horse Spray might be the most unique.
Just by its name, you can immediately tell the Espree makes more use out of herbs than chemicals. Containing aloe and various botanical oils, they’re all supposed to work on repelling pests without irritating the skin, which is a common problem regarding fly sprays.
You won’t even have to find any problem in whipping this formula together by yourself as it’s already premixed and ready-to-use!
As it does its job, this also works to promote a healthy coat due to the aloe, citronella, cedarwood, and peppermint oils, heightening your horse’s fragrance the entire time!
And it also works as a sunscreen because of the aloe, therefore protecting your horse both from pests AND the sunlight!
However, the problem with this is glaringly obvious: as the ingredients in this are more “green”, although they’re guaranteed safe, are ineffective in the long run.
Its “repelling” only lasts a few hours at maximum due to how weak the formula is. If you have the money, then maybe you could stick with the Espree as this works more as cologne than a proper fly spray.
Nonetheless, the idea of a “clean and green” fly spray seems good on paper, so who knows? Maybe this could grow and improve to be more in the future.
How to Choose a Horse Fly Spray
Beforehand, you should be aware of what condition your horse is in. Is it an adult or still a foal? If it’s an adult, is it a lactating mare?
Another matter to consider is its health. Does it have cuts all over its body? Any open wounds? Because if that’s the case, then you should patch them all up and wait for them to heal before anything.
Also, you must know whether your horse has sensitive skin or not because, instead of helping them, the fly spray you chose will cause more harm! To know this, test the fly spray out on a small patch of your horse’s skin, then you’ll be able to tell its sensitivity.
In continuation, this is all the more reason to check the ingredients of whatever fly spray brand you pick up before purchasing.
Read its ingredients and each of their percentages thoroughly. Make sure you do your research because there may be active ingredients inside that don’t apply to your horse!
Conclusion
As you support the equine community, you should already know what summer brings to your horses.
Therefore, you should prep them up with everything you can to help them in fending off those pests, and you can achieve that by choosing the fly spray that’s best for your horse!
Once you do, you’ll be able to strengthen the bond you have with each other.
