Protect Your Horse from West Nile Virus and Sunburn At The Same Time
Wherever your horse goes, flies and mosquitoes won’t be far behind. Not only does your horse find them really annoying, they also pose carry the deadly West Nile Virus. You want to protect your horse from these biting bugs as much as possible. The product of choice is a horse fly mask. But did you know that some horse fly masks can also protect your horse from sunburn? They can. Here’s how…
Horses get sunburn just like you and I do. This is especially true of horses with pink-colored noses and horses with a blaze on their face that goes all the way down to their noses. And while some commercial fly masks only protect your horse’s eyes, there are some that longer and protect his nose as well.
The Cashel Company makes a couple of fly masks that they claim can protect your horse’s nose from both flies and sunburn. Here’s one of them.
They call this one is called the Crusader fly mask. The one in this picture covers the nose, eyes and ears (although they do make one that leaves the ears exposed). And because it’s made of plastic-coated mesh, it filters out 70% of the sun’s ultra-violet (UV) rays.
Notice that this mask fits very loosely over the horse’s eyes, which is what you want. If the mask comes in contact with the horse’s eye lashes, it will be more of an irritant than a help - your horse will probably find the flies to be less of an annoyance than the mask, at that point. And if it touches your horse’s eye, it can cause a painful abrasion. So you’ll want to make sure it fits loosely.
The lower portion of the mask appears to fit tightly around the muzzle. However, you want the mask to have a little bit of “give” to it when the horse is grazing. So how tight should it be? if you can fit one finger comfortably between the mask and the muzzle, it’s tight enough.
Don’t worry about insects sneaking in from underneath the mask. Bugs generally don’t try to climb in the mask from the bottom. They typically climb up the mask from the outside. When they find that they can’t, they generally just fly away.
The other fly mask Cashel makes is this one…
They call this one the Quiet Ride. Same basic mask except this one is designed to be worn over the bridle.
Flies and horses seem to go hand in hand. You’ll never completely eliminate them from your horse’s life (it would be nice if you could). But a horse fly mask can help you in a two ways. You can protect your horse from a major annoyance, and keep his nose safe from sunburn at the same time.
Yours for Better Horse Health,
Sierra Lynch
horse horse fly mask horse tack west nile virusTags: Horse Tack, Horse Diseases
