Is there anything that will help keep mosquitoes
from biting? I am about to go crazy. We have had an unusual amount of rain this
past month, and it appears we have a bumper crop of mosquitoes. I have never
seen them this bad. My poor horses are just running around the pasture and are
very restless. In the evenings it gets soo bad, that they roll all the time.
Chemical warfare does not appear to work, I have an arsenal of chemicals that
the mosquitoes just laugh at. It's a condiment for them.
Guys, I am not exaggerating, they attack viciously,
they horses are literally covered with them. When you walk outside, it just
hums, you can hear them!
To give the horses some relieve and rest, my
husband installed an extra heavy duty industrial sized fan in the barn, we now
have hurricane force winds inside the barn, but it does a good job of keeping
the skeeters out. It's funny to watch the barn swallows fight the air current to
get to their nests now. The horses keep arguing who gets to stand closest to the
fan, they look so funny with their manes and forelocks blowing in the wind,
looks like they going really fast on a motorcycle, HE HE.
But to keep this endurance related, I don't know
what to do about conditioning. Today I told myself to just suck it up and go
ride. The skeeters are least active in the middle of the day, so I went out
there to get my horse. He just gave me a dirty look. I liberally sprayed myself
with 100% DEET, and soaked the horse in "Mosquito Halt" HA! What a joke that
was, within 15 minutes, I had about 25 mosquito bites, and I react badly to them
and swell up. Jazz was stomping and throwing his head, he was covered in
mosquitoes. The way it looks right now, I might as well forget about the rest of
the ride season, there is no way I can ride in this.
The only other endurance rider in the area is in
the same boat I am in, and the casual riders just don't venture
outside.
Any ideas? Some old cowboy guy mentioned spraying
the horses with Tempo, but it's not labeled for that use, and I don't want to
poison my horses. ANY Ideas (other than moving)???
