Photo via Horze.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand in the summer (aside from heat and humidity) it’s BUGS. Flies, mosquitoes, ticks, horse flies — the options are endless for flying bodies that seem to be on this earth for no reason other than to torture us.
One sight I particularly hate seeing is my horse’s face covered in flies. I mean, covered. They like to congregate in and around his eyes and take a siesta on his nose, and it just makes my skin crawl. For that reason, I definitely make sure to have a fly mask on him at all times. The issue is that his playful pasture mates like to play this game of “tear off the fly mask and throw it in the giant field somewhere.” Then they laugh (I swear I can hear them) as I traipse cluelessly around the pasture trying to find said mask, only to repeat the process the next day.
Needless to say, this is a frustrating process and one I’m sure most of you can sympathize with. In my search for a mask that would stay on without causing any discomfort to my horse, I found the Horze Fly Mask with Spandex.
I was eager to try this option, as the pull-on nature seemed that it may prevent it from getting lost (and trampled, etc.) in the pasture. Upon opening the package, I did find that the Horse size was just a tad large for my horse, who normally wears a full-size for everything. However, I was pleased to find that the bit of extra room allowed there to be plenty of room for the Spandex/Lyrcra around the nose and throat to stretch comfortably to fit.
I will be honest, I was a little worried about the seemingly snug fit and the black color — would my horse still stay cool in the disgustingly hot temperatures with this new mask?
Less than thrilled but safe from the nasty biters! Photo by Sally Spickard.
I put my horse out in the pasture for a couple of hours the first day and returned to the barn later to check on him. I was happy to see that it had not been pulled off, and when I reached underneath the snugger parts I did not find any abnormal sweat marks. When I pulled the mask off, I did not see any increase in sweat or discomfort from my horse — he’s a pretty cool customer as it is.
The Horze Fly Mask with Spandex also covers the ears, which is a great bonus as well. The mesh material covering the eyes and ears is light, flexible and breathable. I have always liked fly masks for the eye protection they can offer as well, and this mask does a great job of shielding and protecting without limiting vision.
Now the real test was to leave the mask on overnight and find out if it survived the test of the pasture horse teeth. I’m happy to report that, so far, knock on wood, it has. Now, this is a pull-on style mask, so if your horse is particularly fussy about his head, it may be more difficult to get on. I’m fortunate that my horse really couldn’t care less (unless you’re holding a hose) if I mess with his head, so pulling the mask on is not a big deal for us.
Overall, I would recommend the Horze Fly Mask with Spandex to those who are looking for an affordable and efficient option for fly control. Do I think it will be an end all, be all for all horses? I wish! As I said before, it’s easy to pull on but a fussy horse is the only type I could see that wouldn’t take to it as easily — I could be wrong though!
The Horze Fly Mask with Spandex retails for $17.95 and is sold in Pony, Cob and Horse sizes. You can find out more about this and other Horze products here.
