With the coming of spring, also brings out a good number of insect pests that will annoy and even threaten the life of your horse. Flies and mosquitoes can not only be an annoyance to your horse as he feeds and goes about his day, they can also threaten this life in form of West Nile virus, encephalomyelitis type disease, and a host of other diseases.

While it isn't possible to keep all flies and mosquitoes away from your horse, you can lessen the problem. Many types of flies seek out manure piles to breed in, keep the manure around your horses grazing and daily exercise areas to a minimum. Other flies will breed near a water source and fly in miles just to bite your horse. Stable flies love old moldy alfalfa and hay to breed in, even better if there is leak where it is stored and it gets wet. Keeping feed storage areas clean will eliminate this problem. Also, walk around your property on a frequent basis and check around your area and pasture to make sure there are no standing areas of water, these can become mosquitoes breeding grounds in a hurry.

There are no miracle cures for flies and mosquitoes. There are some great rubs for horses (these are far superior to the sprays as you can protect your horses sensitive head and neck area without worry about getting it into his eyes). Most of these insecticides are only effective for a day or so at the most because sunlight is a huge factor in breaking down the protective ingredients in most chemical insecticides.

Sanitation and removal of insect friendly breeding areas is the key to controlling these pests. Horse and deer flies will not enter deep shade or the interior of a building and since the majority of mosquitoes come out at night to feed, you can protect your horse by bringing her indoors at night. Screening on barn windows will also help cut down on incidences of your horse being bitten.

Yes, there are more of them then there are of you, but you can win the fight against biting bugs and mosquitoes by keeping your horse clean, using a veterinarian approved insecticide if the problem is really bad and removing all breeding sites around your horses areas.