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)???
