Home Remedies for Fly Control on Horses

Horses can become plagued by gnats, flies, horse flies and other insects during the warmer months. There are literally hundreds of chemical horse fly sprays on the market, but most are expensive and don't last. They can also cause a negative reaction on your horse's skin. Using home remedies to control flies around your horse can be a safe and inexpensive alternative.

  1. Ingredients

    • Several ingredients from your home or local grocery store can be used to control flies. A mixture of apple cider vinegar and water in equal parts can be sprayed on your horses. A gentle product made for people, Skin-So-Soft, can be safely used on horses to keep flies and mosquitoes at bay. Vinegar, water and liquid dish detergent mixed in equal parts can be sprayed on your horse for fly control. The dish detergent allows the mixture to stay on longer when the horse sweats or gets wet.

    How To Apply

    • When applying any type of home remedy fly spray, use a small amount on your horse and allow it to remain for one full day. Make sure there are no negative reactions on your horse's skin before applying the solution to her entire body.

      When spraying any type of product around horses, make sure to not get it into their eyes. Spray the product onto a rag and then use the rag to wipe your horse's face. This keeps the spray out of his eyes but keeps his face free of gnats and flies.

      Home-remedy fly spray can be applied every day.

    Other Forms of Fly Control

    • Another method used to control flies around horses is to keep the horse's living area clean. Flies are attracted to horse manure, so keeping the manure picked up is a good way to attract fewer flies. Adding a small amount of apple cider vinegar to your horse's drinking water can help keep flies away as well.

      Other methods include adding a mist system to your barn that sprays a mist of fly repellant into the air, resulting in fewer flies around the barn. Hanging fly traps also works. Fly predators can also be added to your barn area to keep the fly population to a minimum.