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Discussion on Pigeon fever in several Florida horses
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 1, 2010 - 4:23 pm:
Here's something we are not used to seeing in Florida but there have reportedly been several cases. This is thought to be due to recent climactic conditions.
https://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=16433
Out on our trails the biting flies are absolutely fierce recently.
Guess it is time to dig out the fly leg wraps.
The biters completely ignored freshly sprayed DEET on our last trail ride. In fact, one variety didn't seem to be affected in the least by being sprayed directly!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 1, 2010 - 6:01 pm:
Vicki, what concentration of DEET was used and how old was the can? Also which type of biting flies did you see?
DrO
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Tuesday, Jun 1, 2010 - 8:55 pm:
Dr. O,
When we sprayed the flies directly some didn't budge at all while others flew off but came right back.
Perhaps the sprays were somewhat damaged after having been kept in our barns under some long hours of freezing temperatures this winter?
The DEET-containing spray was in a very small green can, which I borrowed out on the trail thereby not noting the brand although my friend usually uses Deep Woods Off.
Before the ride I had (carefully, I thought) applied Ultra Shield EX as a wipe, which is a very long-lasting and supposedly effective product against horse flies, ticks, etc.
On other rides very recently (we go every week) this spray had worked quite well for me when applied as a wipe, but not last week.
So I was applying the DEET spray (only on the inner legs and belly) out on the trail over the other the layer of Ultrashield EX.
It was the horse flies that were really thick on the poor horses plus a lesser number of black flies and a few deer flies.
Lance had lots of blood streak marks after the ride, especially on his legs and belly.
I hate for my horse to feel miserable but now am even more worried about the possible chance of disease transmission.
While here on my farm, poor Lance has received several black fly bites this season and each one creates a terrible, oozing cavity within a very nasty sore. He's got several right now at various stages of healing.
We are all amazed how bad the flies are this year because there are usually a couple of places that we can count on riding from without too many flies, but not this year, it seems.
There are some places where we never ride during the summer.
Here's hoping the biting fly season doesn't last too long at our usually-pleasant trail heads!
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