Horse Tales
Islanders Concoct Own Remedies To Combat Flies
by Candice C. Dunnigan

It is a known fact that the flies that come to Mackinac Island love the horses more than they do the fudge. At certain times in the summer, these pests seem to come in from all directions, south, east, west, and even north. They attack their targets with abandon on their fetlocks, forelocks, gaskins, croups, necks, and chests, and they love to bite hard. Horses' legs are particularly vulnerable.

To tie into an article written by Town Crier columnist Trish Martin several weeks ago, I began a little research of my own. This is a documented fly war among the insects, the equines, and the Islanders. Over the years, people have tried to come up with, at best, temporary solutions. Once, I found out, they thought they were onto a permanent one. In early July, a Mackinac friend handed me an article that had been written about the fly problem 56 years ago.

The Escanaba Daily on July 7, 1951, devoted almost two full columns to how the town, the State Park, and the young Mackinac Island Carriage Tours (established in 1947) were faring with the war on flies. Back then, for a short respite, it seemed as if the humans and horses were ahead. Those were the days when random chemicals were in use, like DDT. With an arsenal of toxic chemicals, people were winning. The flies were dropping.

As the disastrous effects of pollution and chemical spraying became known, not only to Mackinac, but to the rest of the world, the problem did not disappear. The flies still arrived over the waters with a vengeance, and continued to target the horse population. The flies didn't care. Just ask a becalmed sailor about flies.

The solutions these days have been varied. Manure control and collection improved, and supplements in equine feed, used by some owners, has lessened the number of the pests. Hanging natural fly traps, ripe with a putrid odor, has helped to capture thousands of the bugs. Many also use lightweight mesh horse sheets, called fly sheets, when the animals are not being worked or ridden. Some people also use fly masks worn over the head of a horse.

The horse stables here, both commercial and private, try to keep their horses hosed off daily, as the less sweat and odor on the equine, the fewer flies they attract.

Control still comes down to using some sort of horse spray for immediate relief. So what do horse owners use in the way of fly sprays for their horses?

A chemical-based fly spray still seems to be the most effective method to deal with the bedeviling nature of biting flies on Mackinac. The sprays are a far cry from DDT, but they all have some percentage of pyrethrins and permetherin. Some brands are oil based, and some are water based. Some are pre-mixed, while others need to be diluted. A great many of these sprays can be obtained from catalogs, online, and at your local mainland feed store. One of the old standbys that has been around as long as that article from the Escanaba Daily is a product called "Wipe." It has a smell that I can immediately recognize. Some days I use it, applying it with an old piece of towel. While it won't kill the flies, it does seem to offer temporary relief. There are longeracting products that are rolled onto a horse's back, chest, and legs. One such item has the distinct name of "War Paint."

There are also natural products with fly-repelling properties. These natural repellents include oil of citronella, marigold oil, clove, thyme, cedar wood oil, and eucalyptus. But, like their chemical counterparts, they're expensive to use for one horse, let alone two, five, or 30.

Nothing really works well when the flies are out, except for keeping the horses in the barn during the day and turning them out at night. Yet, on an Island where everything is transported by horse power, that solution is impractical.

Many Islanders rely on concoctions of their own. A magic exile does not exist, however, Islanders have come up with some pretty good temporary solutions in the name of fly spray. Here are a few:

Take a chemical-waterbased bottle of 3/4 fly spray, and add your own oil of citronella, and a dash of kerosene. Shake well, and presto! This also has been used with oilbased sprays. Another method uses a product called "Skin So Soft" in conjunction with citronella, vinegar, a dash of ammonia, water, and menthol.

One of the cheapest and easiest methods is something I feel is the least harmful to the horses or the humans around them. Take a quart bottle, fill it with part white vinegar and a dash of Ivory soap dishwashing liquid, add water, shake, and spray. Vinegar has been used by Mackinac horsemen for many years as an economical cleanser for horses.

Several years ago, East Bluff cottagers Dr. and Mrs. Louis Putz met a vacationing family from central Indiana who were here on Mackinac and told them about the natural organic fly traps that they had success with. They had gotten this solution from neighboring Amish farmers. Here is the solution they gave me:

The trap consists of a twoquart plastic pop bottle with two banana peels shoved into the base. Add to that one tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of vinegar. Fill the bottle to the label (or two-thirds full) with water, and suspend the bottle by its neck. The flies enter the trap through the opening at the top, and the majority will not escape because flies cannot fly straight up or climb the sloped walls inside the bottle.

Note: Discard when truly foul.

It's worth a try. Let me know what you think.

Have a good week.

Candice C. Dunnigan is an active member of the American Equestrian Association, the Waterloo Hunt, and the Mackinac Horsemen's Association. Seasonally she resides at Easterly Cottage.