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Re: [RC] advice needed - Truman Prevatt

Got to love the horse files you guys get up there. They are as big as the B1 bomber but slow as the dickens. I take batting practice with them using a crop. I've seen them fly 20 feet off a whack. They are so slow they are easy to hit. I got to watch it though. If old Rocket gets one on his butt - he'll try to buck it off.

We don't have the big guys, but we sure have the deer flies. A few years ago I bought this stick with about 18 inches of horse hair on the end. I just swing it to get ride of the flies pretty much how you use you sappling. Works fine. I also ride the Jbird and Rocket with a fly mask to keep them from landing on their face. There is nothing more disconcerting than cantering on down the trail and have your horse try to rub a fly off his face on his leg.

I do put fly spray on the belly. It seems to keep bugs off better then when I don't. But the horse hair things works better.

Truman

rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:
Before I ever get on I cut a sappling or limb off a tree about 4' long
and strip the leaves off all except a tuft at the end to use to swat
flies away. I look like a helicoptor...or fan dancer going down the
trail. I swing a steady pattern over and down the left side, over and
down the right, whack around his ears (he loves it) can reach down under
his belly if he starts acting like there's one there. Fly repellents just
don't do much against deer & horseflies.


If a horse has any problem with my swatter I'll just cut a good long one
and stand out in the yard swatting flies as he grazes. They learn very
quickly that it's a great addition to their tail. Kaboot had no problem
distinguishing between this and a whip. He would go bananas if you
touched him with a crop, but you could flog him with the fly swat and
he'd doze.

Eventually, my horse will "point" at one that's landed that I don't see.
My daughter and I also have a running competition on horsefly kills so
we're grabbing them out of the air and crunching them too. If you can
keep them from getting eaten alive while warming up for 15 min. a good
trot usually keeps them from landing again and I just tuck my swatter
back facing his rump while we're making time, then start swinging again
if we have to walk down a hill or something. I think it works a lot
better than vinegar, and you'll come to enjoy knocking them out of their
flight patterns. :-)

Angie




--

"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." Niels Bohr -- Nobel Laureate, Physics




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Re: [RC] advice needed, rides2far