With summer just around the corner it’s time to start thinking about someinsect control for our horses. Personally speaking, my preference is always for naturalproducts so Heritage Downs Bug Spray and Bugz Off Cream were a welcome choice to trial hereat the farm.

Our two major insect problems at my place are flies and mosquitoes. Flies we mostly controlusing traps though that doesn’t get all of them so the horses still need protection.Mosquitoes are another issue altogether. Especially has it has been hot and humidrecently.

This gave me the opportunity to try these two marvellous products. I’ve been using them fora week now.

I have nine adult horses and two foals at the property and, because of the recent rain, afair amount of lush green grass, so mozzies are definitely a problem.

We have a mix of thin and thick coated horses so I tried the spray on some of each, andcompared the results to horses who weren’t sprayed.

Horses who were treated with the Heritage Downs Bug Spray had noticeably less insectshanging around, and were generally less bothered. Indications I used to measure their levelof comfort were foot stamping, tail swishing, nipping at insects, shivering and headshaking. Sprayed horses seemed happier to just hang around or graze peacefully.

The other indicator I used was the presence of bits – raised, hive like bumps that indicatea bite. Again, treated horses had far less – to none in a couple of cases – than untreatedhorses.

The one thing I will say about the Bug Spray is it smells ... weird. Notbad, just strange. BUT the horses seem to love it! Most were really happy tosuck up great lung fulls of the scent. One mare even spent a good five minutes licking itoff her foal!

So, would I use Heritage Downs Bug Spray on my horses throughout the summer? Absolutely.Because it works. But most of all because it is natural and I really hate the idea of usingchemicals on my horses. Bug Spray contains stuff like apple cider vinegar, neem and otheressential oils. Apparently it can also be used to treat hoof conditions such as thrush andseedy toe – spray onto affected areas.

Similarly, the Bugz Off cream was also really effective. From my perspective itsmells nicer too (from a human perspective)! It contains Basil, Lavender and Citronellaamongst other things. It also has Sunflower oil which is a very mild natural sunscreen andit is ideal for soft parts – particularly around the face, eyes, nostrils, pink skinnedmuzzles etc. It is very gentle and soothing and can be used in conjunction with the Spray,or as an alternative for horses who are resistant to spray.

Both these gentle, effective products are also safe enough to use on ourselves.

Heritage Downs Insect repellents ... highly recommended!

Bug Spray comes in a 750ml spray bottle and an economical 5lt refill bottle

Bugz Off comes in a 500ml pump bottle and a handy 125ml travel bottle.

Visit HeritageDowns.

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