Apple Cider Vinegar 4 Horses

[trillium]

OK, I think I remember reading somewhere that apple cider vinegar helps repel flies that like to bite horses.
Teddie is still plagued with welts and bites from whatever loves to bite her. She is the only one of my horses to be effected this way.

I wondered if anyone has tried this, and how much you should give a horse the size of Teddie. I would guess she is over 1000 pounds.

Any other suggestions are welcome too. What kind of itch relief ointment to use, etc.

[lisam]

My Arab mare Kara has bug bite allergies. I've found that putting spirulina in her beet pulp seems to help. I start in the spring and end in fall. When she's on the spirulina she doesn't get as many hives.

[sunrisestables]

I feed my mare GarlicC and use swat under her belly and keep a fly sheet on her all summer, she too is the only one affected by the biting creatures, it drives her insane

[cutiepiepmu]

Sweet itch and bug bites can be a hard issue. ACV won't hurt at all - for 1000 pounds I think around 1-2 cups a day is the standard - but it can take some time. The new buzz off blankets from rambo/amigo works really well! Also - giving some regular benedryl during outbreaks can help. give 1 25mg tab per 100 pounds of body weight 2 times daily. I just crush up the tabs and add to some food.

also - if thehorse is really itching the area, try mixing together a tub of Bag balm, some camphophanique, and some coat calm. Stir together and slather on. Seems to help.

take care,
Sara

[trillium]

Yes. She is really itchy. She is constantly kicking her hind feet up to her belly. It was bleeding the other day. I rubbed some oinment on it to help with healing and as a barrier to the biting.

So since Teddie is so big, I would have to give her about 12 pills, twice a day? Correct? I think I can buy the jumbo bottle at Costco. Will benedryl make her sleepy? It makes me sleepy. LOL

[cutiepiepmu]

The benedryl might make her a little sleepy - some it does and some it doesnt. It makes my big percheron(who needs 28 pills!) really jumpy. Don't do the benedryl for more than 7 days straight. If you don't see some relief at that point, talk to your vet.

Doing a shot of Vetalog can REALLY help some and has less side effects than dexamathasone or predisolone does. Also - rinse the area often - don't use soap unless your kid is really dirty, but rinsing seems to help my guy.

also - the topical benedryl gel does help some it seems like.

Sweet itch can be a true bugger. I know eliminating alfalfa did help my big percheron. Made sure he was not eating anything that had it. although, he wasn't to begin with outside of putting a few pounds of alfalfa cubes in his amazing graze toy at night in his stall. I use carrots and apples cut up now So - sometimes changing the diet a bit can help.

Take care,
Sara

[bsnlark]

All you need to kno and then some..................

Horse Care – A Natural Fly spray

Another benefit of feeding your horse apple cider vinegar is to make the horse less attractive to flies and insects. Some specialists believe that horses sweat the vinegar out so that it becomes a natural horse fly spray.


Insect bites not only cause your horse itchy discomfort, they can be areas where skin bacterial and fungal infections can occur. As well, some types of hives are commonly caused by insect stings or bites.
They can cause other health risks by spreading such diseases as West Nile virus, encephalomyelitis viruses and equine infectious anemia.

Never use a commercial fly repellant containing DEET on horses (or other animals) since it can be absorbed or ingested by them and cause unwanted toxic side effects.

For those who prefer not to use insecticides for horse care, especially on foals less than 12 weeks old, try feeding your horse ACV and make up your own vinegar based natural horse fly spray that you can rub or spray onto your horse's coat as needed:
2 cups (500 ml) Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup (250 ml) Water
1 cup (250 ml) Avon Skin so Soft (bath oil)
2 tsp. ( 10 ml) Eucalyptus oil (or citronella oil)
Mix all ingredients well and store in a handy spray bottle.



While you're at it, you can take care of all those pesky flies that hang around enclosed areas like barns or transportation trailers, by using you own homemade vinegar fly trap:

3 cups (750 ml) Water
1/4 cup (60 ml) Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup (60 grams) Sugar

Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar solution then place in a large jar and punch holes in the lid. The flies will get in but won't be able to fly out.

For even more protection against insects and flies, try to identify the type of insect or fly bothering your horse because they all have their own preferred breeding spots and feeding times as shown in the table below, then use the appropriate horse care tips for natural fly protection listed below the table.




Fly Type Breeding Spots Feeding Time
------------ -------------- ---------------
Black flies Running water Morning & late afternoon
Deer flies Water & Vegetation Daytime
Stable flies Manure Daytime
Horn flies Cattle Daytime
Mosquitoes Water Dusk to early evening
NoSeeUms
(Culicoides) Standing water
Manure
Decaying vegetation Twilight to dawn



If you don't mind having Muscovy ducks around the barn, they will remove adult house flies more than 30 times faster than the most efficient commercial devices.

www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/horse-care.html#nfs

---------------------------------------------------------------------

As a child we used to soak paper towels in ACV to put on our mosquito bites, and to also suck the vinegar out of the towel....yummy yummy

[trillium]

Thanks for the recipes Peggy. I will have to try them.
Humm, ducks huh. I do not know if I can talk Kurt into that one. LOL

[bsnlark]

Trill, yea, I laughed at the duck part , too.

If I wanted to walk my gaggle of geese/ducks/chickens to the pond everyday and back again at night to save them from the big bad coyotes, I would have them. But my Lil Bo Peep / Heidi outfit doesnt fit anymore,and I cant find my 'backless'maids uniform, so that idea wont work.

I think I'll stick w/the water,jar,sugar and vinegar...
Sweet n Sour Fly Killer, add your own rice or noodles...

[lovemyhorse]

I used to feed my filly garlic and she loved it, would eat it straight. I never had any fly problems until I took her off it and moved to the barn I am at now.

Once off it at the new place the NO SEE UMS ate her face! She rubbed her face on the tree in her paddock, it happened in 2 days of moving there. I showed up one day and freaked because she looked like she had mange. I used a sponge to clean her face wounds real good and then put aloe vera for bug bites all over, then sprayed her fly mask with fly spray and sprayed some on the sponge to dab on her face where there were no sores and the mask didnt cover. Her body got sprayed down too. I did that for about a week and those bugs didnt bother her anymore.

We didnt have any problems the next spring or this spring, I think its because she is further from the barn in a pasture now, not near the creek behind the barn anymore. But the aloe for bug bites and itchy skin is the best I have found, its not toxic and I can use it too. Its the blue kind, I also keep the green one on hand too. Its cheep too and last a long time, about $6 or so.

Also the fly spray recipe up above works good too, my friend gave me it about 9 years ago or so. I gave in and bought a gallon jug of fly spray as I was going through alot and didnt have a way to store the homemade kind. Maybe next year I will make a huge batch, and use it for the dogs too.