horseflys and living out

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Hi have two questions please!!!

We are new pony owners- horseflys evrywere - do they hurt ponys - eg poss infection or just annoying...what do you do about it please.we have a cob that lives out and a conemara that is out in day in a t night.

Also ,cob lies out - what do i need to watch out for - mud fever if field wet // and can thay live out all year or until winter--thanks all am on speep learing curve.....but loving it .!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The flys are annoying, and bites can get infected. So either use fly spray when they are bad or put fly rugs on.

Check legs for mud fever or general yuck, and rain scald on back. They can live out all year no probs - just add the lightest rug you can when it gets really cold.

thankyou - any advice re how to treat mud fever or rain scald...

Touch wood, dpony hasn't had either really (one patch on one occasion), but I got a Muddy Buddy kit of descabber, disinfectant and barrier cream to have to hand. For prevention, I use 7 day mud away spray which stops mud sticking, and am careful to never use any hard brush on lower legs so theres no scratches.

Rain scald seems to be a problem more in clipped horses, but treatment is the same. And not leaving wet rugs on - esp ones with a pad at the withers which hold onto wet. As dpony mostly has a rug to keep the mud off in the winter, I use a no fill fixed high neck rug so theres no rain getting down it, and he's been v happy

Do you have a first aid kit ? Things like hibiscrub, wound gel, purple spray etc ?

Wait til you get bitten by a horsefly, it hurts! Some horses seem to find them more irritating than others but I put fly rugs on mine when they are about. The good thing is they have quite a short season.

Cob should be fine living out all year provided he has either natural or man made shelter of some sort and hay when the grass is poor. I tend to think if they're not clipped they are better off without any rugs. When my gelding was on field rest he grew a big thick coat and was always dry underneath all the hair in the rain and snow.
I'm not a big fan of lightweight rainsheets in the winter as I think they interfere with the ability of the coat to 'fluff up' and insulate the horse.
It really depends how much you're going to ride him, if he's going to come back all sweaty from rides you probly need to give him some sort of clip. Unless you're going to be doing heavy work go for a neck & belly or chaser clip, keep as much hair on as you can so he can keep himself warm and then go for a medium weight rug. Also if you are grooming him regularly he won't build up as much natural grease in his coat which helps with waterproofing.

Bear in mind horses aren't overly bothered by the cold, they are made up of a massive barrel bodyshape which constantly generates heat (as long as they have forage to eat) and they don't feel the cold in their legs like we do. What does bother them is a combination of cold and rain.

We have fly rugs on ours because it seems quite bad this year. Usually if they have good tails they can swish them away but they are annoying.

We also put some fly repellent on their necks and undersides every other day -we use that white stuff that looks like brillcream and comes with a red sponge on top of the pot. Sorry can't remember name.