Flies
Liver Problems & Chemicals
I am seeing an increase in Liver issues. My suspicions are, this is a direct result of the chemicals being used to raise the feed we are feeding as well as the various detergents, fly sprays, wormers, antibiotics, etc. we are using which is very new and different to the way horses have always been taken care of.
Fly Bites?
From time to time I have someone call me and ask the question, “What are these bumps all over my horses’ body and how do I get rid of them?” I like to common sense as much of these questions as I can, and personally I have never seen a fly bite a horse often enough to cause that many bumps without the horse being able to move him. True enough you will see a fly get a good hold and be able to get a free lunch from time to time but, for the most part, that horse is going to be able to frustrate most of the attempts the fly makes before the fly actually penetrates the skin. I personally do not think the smaller gnats and mosquitoes cause the kinds of welts I am talking about here. So, if they are not fly bites what are they? Well, we will get to that, but for now let’s talk about the fly and its roll in keeping the horse in working order. If you will sit and watch when the flies are bothering your horse you will notice certain kinds of flies working on certain parts of the horses’ anatomy. In my area, Southern Idaho, we have a wide variety of flies and gnats, as they do in most parts of the world, but I will just mention a few of them to demonstrate my point.
Horse Flies – Can flies actually help a horse?
The horse fly, which is the largest of the flies we see, obviously has a pretty painful bite, and likes to work the top line of the horse. It makes an attempt to land on the horse generally from the top of the shoulders and the withers to the tail head. When it tries to land on the withers and shoulders, however, the horses’ “fly flicker” response will generally keep it moved, which doesn’t distract the horse. If it tries to land on the rump or the hip it is moved by the tail, which also does not distract the horse much. It will, however, find it’s way to the top of the tail head from time to time and it is at this point the horse can not move it in any other way than to stop what he is doing and assume a very unorthodox position and stretch way around there with his muzzle and move the fly, which will stretch the horse better than he will get stretched any other way he moves. If the horse is unable to reach the well positioned invader he will sometimes drop to the ground and roll. This too is good to help align the bony structure.
Deer Flies & a Horse’s Midsection
We also have deer flies which tend to work on the mid line from the shoulders to the hips, under the lower chest, along the sides of the neck and down the legs. These flies are a little smaller than the horse flies but also have a painful bite. This keeps the horse from ignoring him when he lands. This fly is also kept at bay most of the time by a simple fly flicker except when he finds a spot on the side of the neck or the lower legs where there is no fly flicker response. When they find these places, the horse now has to stop what he is doing and figure a way to move the fly. If it is on the neck he can do one of two things. He can either rub on something like a post or another horse, or he has to reach it with a hind foot, which is a nice stretch. This stretch also keeps the horse nimble and straight, and is completely different from the other stretch the horse fly causes. When the deer fly finds the spots on the lower legs where there is no fly flicker response, the horse is forced to move him with his nose. This, again, is a beneficial stretch needed by the horse to keep him working freely.
Bot Flies & Worms
The fly the horse seems to dislike the most and which causes the most unrest, in our area is the Bot Fly. This fly resembles a honey bee, at a glance, and obviously inflicts a brutal sting, which causes the horse to respond furiously at times, by striking at the fly with a front foot or kicking. This makes the horse somewhat dangerous to be around. This fly has a method to his madness. It first lays an egg on the ends of the hairs around the knees and the girth areas and then when it stings the horse on the lips or the legs this irritates the horse to the point he feels a need to rub his lip on something or scratch, so he will usually rub on either the knee area or the girth area thus ingesting the eggs, which then find their way into the digestive system where they become worms to feed on the blood in the horse.
Bot Flies as Chiropractors
These are my most unfavorable fly as well and I will usually try to swat them out of the air when I am around where they are. Horses will also spend more time dealing with them than they will pay attention to what they should be doing. Therefore they are hard to put up with. They do have a purpose in keeping the horse adjusted, however, in that they cause the horse to jerk his head hard in an upward motion which aligns his occipital area and his upper neck. Therefore I try not to interfere too much with these guys either. I simply deal with the inconvenience of the pest.
Eliminate Gnats with Equisalve
Ear gnats are another pest we have which works the ears and sheath area over pretty badly and causes the ears to be quite sore. I do put some Equisalve, one of our topical products, which is made from natural essential oils, in the ears and under the throat latch and sheath areas to help slow these pests down. I am not sure they are not here for a reason too, perhaps to help align the TMJ, but for now I deal with them in that manner.
Help the Liver and Remain Natural
The thing I work hard at is keeping everything as natural as I can, to keep from causing a problem somewhere else in the horse. I do know the chemicals in the fly sprays are tough on a horses’ liver so I personally do not use them, nor do I have a large need for a chiropractor. I will also add at this point, there are some great chiropractors out there and there is a definite need for them.
So if these bumps all over my horse aren’t fly bites, WHAT ARE THEY?
Now, back to the question of what these bumps are that are all over your horse. For quite a while I have had people call me with that question. I have felt like we could get rid of the problem by building up the immune system, but I also felt like the liver was the specific organ involved. It has worked well to put those kinds of horses on a liver cleanse and also help rebuild the damaged tissue in the liver. It was not until I bought a horse in Arizona, which is an aged horse (9 yr.), that I had a chance to check it out personally. My personal horses have all been here since they were young horses and have had the feed varieties I have been talking about. I do not have liver issues, kidney issues, feet problems, joint problems etc. So this was the first advanced case of liver toxicity I had had the opportunity to deal with on my own property. The horse had bumps all over him, and as I suspected, his liver acupressure points were very responsive, so I started him on the #27 Liver supplement, mixed with whole oats. It took about three days to get rid of all of the bumps. I continued to feed him the herbal supplements until his acupressure points were no longer responsive and then went back to feeding him like all the rest of my horses, which is pasture during the night for twelve hours and then I bring them into the corral with their oats and herbal supplements (#10). They will spend the day in the corral and then will go back out for the night. I might also mention, when the horse mentioned was having these bumps, he was also very irritable when he was roped on. He is now to enjoying life again.
General Overview
As stated earlier these are just a few general dietary suggestions, but through time, I have proven every point that I have been making to be extremely beneficial to the welfare of most horses. It is my recommendation to remain as natural as possible when dealing with all of these situations. If at all possible refrain from feeding hay that has been raised with chemicals, and refrain from using fly sprays. By doing both of these things your horse’s liver will be much healthier. Seek out the best feed for the particular weather your area is experiencing, this may be difficult, but it will be very beneficial if you do so. If you turn your horse out on pasture, I recommend rotating them for a period of 12 hours on and then 12 hours off. Last but certainly not least, it is of utmost importance to feed your horse a beneficial whole horse supplement like the #10 Training Mix in order to help him out with the vitamins and minerals he is lacking in the everyday feed program.