-Fly mask and sheet day.

I'll get pictures of this in the next couple of days, but Shelby wore a fly mask and sheet today! Wow. The no-see-ums are horrible for some reason and all the horses are rubbing on the fences and trees for relief. I didn't realize they were this bad (or they weren't until now), but a couple horses even had welts and what looked like hives from either the flies or rubbing themselves raw to get relief.

To comment a moment on our fly control; we use Fly Predators which are fantastic at keeping the general fly population at bay (house/horse/deer/etc. flies), but the little tiny buggers are apparently unfazed by my studious application of the Fly Predators. So, we use WarPaint and Equi-Spot topically. I also use a Citronella-y based fly spray when the flies are bugging them in places the other ointments don't go. I use fly masks and sheets too. I think the leg wraps (to ward off flies) don't work very well and are something of a hazard at pasture. The fly collars (like a flea collar for dogs) work okay, but can irritate the horses skin and smell really bad.

This morning, Shelby came right up to me and just stood there as I was doing something else. She wouldn't budge. I noticed the flies on her first and scraped them off with a metal brush. Ewwww! Then I applied some organic type fly ointment to her really irritated areas and used the Spot repellent. I never haltered her or tied her in any way.

Still, she hung right by me. I brought out a fly mask and she stood perfectly still while I RIPPPPED the Velcro apart. I put it on her face and she didn't move. Not one little bit.

I found a lightweight cotton, waffle-weave sheet. All my actual fly-sheets are way too big for her. I didn't want her to get tripped up in something too big. I put the sheet on her and she didn't mind at all. After I was done, she continued to follow me around.

I don't know who put the happy juice in this filly's oats, but keep putting it in!!