Hi everyone. Was just wondering if any of you guys have experience with Think Fly, the herbal supplement?

I've been adding it to my horse's feed since the beginning of February this year, and he had it all last summer until the fly season ended. But I'm not sure if it's actually making a blind bit of difference.

He suffers from sweet itch, and wears a Rambo fly buster rug, that's the one with the fly repellent in the fabric (supposedly.) But he still gets bitten. He has a mask on too when the flies are out in force. This year he's the most comfortable he's been in the last five summers, which I'm pleased about, but I think that's mostly due to the new anti-itch product I've been applying to any scabs/spots that come up.
I'm just not sure whether or not I'm wasting my money on the Think Fly. (Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't skimp when it comes to making sure he's cared for, but I don't have money to throw away.) I daren't take him off it in case it actually is doing some good.

So, does anyone think that Think Fly actually works?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

I used it it didn't work for me

Hi, I've not come across that product or tried it, but certainly the flies seem to be out in force this year!

I think unfortunately you need to take a holistic approach to dealing with these things. Yes certainly a good horse fly sheet is important, but also things like try moving your horse to another area of the field, particularly at certain times of the day can help.

I've also heard that other supplements to the horse's feed such as garlic or brewer's yeast can also put off the midges! They make your horse's blood carry a higher ph acidity - doesn't harm the horse but tastes horrible to flies!

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Claire

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Claire
horse rugs & horse blankets

Marmite's ment to be good for sweetitch, sadly i lost my old girl before i could try it

I don't know this product, but we've used 'killitch' and have been extremely happy with it. We find that it now only keeps the flies that cause sweet itch (pretty effective!!) but also if we don't bother to use it for a couple of weeks and a problem develops, apply it daily for a few days and the problem clears up really well.

The manufacturers say to ideally start it before there is a problem. However, we find it works well on existing ones.

No, I don't work for the company. Just super impressed with the product. If you want a quick result, I would suggest that you use it more often than the package says is neccessary. When we have a bad case, we use it every day or second day until it clears. We normally see a big difference within a few days or a week.

If one uses it from the start of the season on a regular basis, we find that it is pretty effective. However, we have a number of owners who board horses with us who don't want to pay for this, so they generally wait until it gets bad, then have us use Killitch to clear it up.

Although it is great against 'switch itch', useless against most other things (e.g. horseflies). So I can suggest it for this specific application, but not for general fly issues. For that, we use either a fly rug (fly sheet) or a good fly repellant.

I would also suggest that you use both killitch and the fly rug until the symptoms have cleared. Then you could try and see if you can get away with just one or the other.

Thanks very much for the advice, you guys.

My poor guy has such a hard time at this time of year, it's awful. He's been wearing his fly buster since February. I started really early this year to try and protect him, and he is much better than this time last year, but... I dunno sometimes I just despair, you know.

Thanks for the suggestions though, I'm very grateful.


Has anyone tried using Vicks as a fly repellent before?

No but Avon so soft work's don't no why but it does

Avon so soft, eh? Thanks much for the tip. I've got quite a lot to try out next year. Poor beggar'll be covered in so much stuff he'll probably have a reaction to it or something.

thanks again.

For the Avon product there are a lot of fly recipes on the web. One is at section 2.3 of Fly Repellent for Horses

There are also other recipes using garlic (internal or external) and using essential oils.

Personally, I find that the results are fairly sort term (have to respray daily) with the homemade stuff. However, other people swear by them and say that it is as good as the commercial chemical products.

Please let us know how the Avon product works. If I hear a success story, perhaps I'll try again. Also, if you try the essential oils, I would be interested to know your experience with them.

Thanks, that link's very interesting, I'll be sure to have a good look at that when I get some spare time.

Watch this space.