Every evening the mosquitoes come out and the horses start trying to outrun them. Sometimes if it's really hot out, Gussie gets sweated up from running, so I have started bringing them in from pasture earlier; the 'skeeters tend to hang out in the grass, and their pen is a dry lot. Even so, near dusk, the hoards find them, and off they go, around the pen. Beamer, poor boy, is by himself so he doesn't have the benefit of another horse to swish tails with. So, last night I built them a smudge. I took some of the hay that Beamer has wasted, some dry and some wet, and put it near the middle of his pen and lit it up. At first, Beamer gave it the hairy eyeball, so I haltered him and made him stand in the smoke for a minute.
The smoke drifted over to the mare pen, as the airflow was just perfect, and I couldn't believe how quickly they went and stood in the smoke; Gussie first, then Chickory, and then mama and baby. (Coyote Belle is the suspicious type). I took the halter off and Beamer stood there.
It must have been a relief ! No little biting monsters !
New perfume for horses, Eau de Smoke!
Enough smoke filled the air that by the time it burned out the 'skeeters had buggered off (pun intended!)
Ted is going to cut a steel barrel in half for me, and I'll put the smudge in them, one in the mare pen and one for Beamer. Sure beats the cost of bug spray!
17 comments:
I've been surprised at our lack of mosquiotes so far, considering how much moisture we got this year. However, the knats are HORRIBLE and really irritating! I can't beleive the horses willingly stood in the smoke. I'd of expected them to avoid it! But how wonderful that they recognized relief and welcomed it so easily!
That's a new one on me. Thank you. I love surprises like this. I'm simply amazed they went to stand in the smoke. A horse usually has an inclination to get the heck away from smoke. They must have been suffering pretty bad from those blood-sucking-buggers!
That's a fabulous idea. Definitely cheaper than the fly spray!
I do that fairly regularly in the summer here too, such a relief for the horses
Ha! Love the tongue out in the last photo. We had sparklers and my kids were playing with them outside and noticed the absence of mosquitoes. Smoke is great, as long as they don't breath too much of it in... right?
Great idea!.....I`m gonna get me one! or two!
Great idea!..I would have never thought of that.
I always wanted to trya smudge, but Im awfly afraid of praried fire, but maybe the barrels would work, I may try that!
Smudges are great, and goodness knows I've got a bunch of old crappy hay I could burn (stuff the former owners left) However I work most evenings and its probably not a good idea to light a smudge and leave lol
Huh, i wonder if our horses would tolerate the smoke. the fly spray only works for so long. We don't have the mosquitoes, right now it's some kind of b*st*rd biting flies. welts all over some of them.
- The Equestrian Vagabond
Cough, cough, choke, choke......but hey it works!
Brilliant idea!!! I bet the gang thinks so too..:-)
Smart smart smart!!!! Way to go!
Interesting!
I don't dare try that with Moon though. He already has a bit of a breathing 'thing'. I have to load him up on MSM and have been trying a breathing supplement to ease his chronic cough.
shirley, sometimes you really make me laugh:D true nicholas humour:D
yeah, the smoke thing looks like its a good idea. i feel bad for the horses getting chewed by those bloodusckers! we have hoards of them in calgary. poor frank gets eaten alive everytime he steps out the door for work. and the landlord is very good about keeping the grass cut. perhaps the hot dry weather will knock em down a bit. but yeah, they are horrific this year! i saw one woman at the superstore in shorts last night, and her legs were covered in bites. poor thing!
Our mosquitoes are also HORRID this year. I have a 2-acre bug zapper and it gets clogged up every night and I have at least a 2-3 inch pile of dead skeeters UNDER it every morning. The chickens love the snack, but it just grosses me out.
A smudge is a great idea for those just after dusk hordes. I know my horses don't care about the smoke because I constantly burn stuff around their paddocks.
I'd have thought they wouldn't like the smoke...interesting!
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