Your horse can swish them off, stomp them away or shake his head in defiance. But hoards of mosquitoes add up to a much bigger problem than simple annoyance. At least 30 species of mosquitoes have been found positive for West Nile Virus. And while you can’t keep your horse locked in a stall all summer long, you can reduce the risk of exposure by following the four steps below.
Step one: Treat the horse.
Vaccinate. One of the most important things you can do is vaccinate against West Nile Virus. If you are vaccinating your horse against WNV for the first time, some vaccines require a two-shot series spaced three to six weeks apart. Until your horse has received the second vaccine, he is not fully protected. It is critical during this time period to protect your horse from insects with other means.
PreveNile™ West Nile Virus vaccine, however, requires only one dose for complete protection, so your horse is protected weeks sooner than with other two-dose products. This faster protection can be life-saving in the face of a West Nile outbreak. Additionally, a single dose also means added convenience – to both the horse owner and the veterinarian – and less stress on the horse.
Protect. You can help prevent that disease-transmitting bite from ever happening by using effective insect-control products on your horse. The key is to look for a product that not only kills, but also repels.
You can add even more protection with masks and fly sheets. Depending on your horse’s tolerance, these products are good for physically blocking the insects’ access to large areas of your horse.
Turnout time. Choose your turnout time wisely. Mosquitoes are most active during dusk and dawn, so avoid turning your horse out at those times. Also, mosquitoes will rest inside barns during the day.
Step two: Treat the barn.
Daily mucking. Manure is the breeding ground for many types of flies. Removing it at least once a day can go a long way in reducing fly infestations.
Fans. Large fans placed throughout the barn, or a box fan attached to your horse’s stall, can keep air – and insects – moving. If they can’t land, they can’t bite.
Doorway strips. You can hang pre-made commercial products or your own contraption of stiff netting at the entrance to run-in sheds and stall doors leading to paddocks. Horses can still come and go as they please, but insects will be discouraged from entering.
Lights. Mosquitoes are attracted to lights and heat, so try to keep the barn lights to a minimum at peak mosquito times, dusk and dawn.
Pesticides. Look for mosquitoes near the ceiling between cracks and crevices in the walls. You can spray mosquitoes to reduce the in-barn population.
Step three: Treatment of the environment, paddocks and ground.
The manure pile. Where there’s manure, there are pests. If you compost manure on-site, be sure to store it away from stalls, paddocks and pastures. Better yet, try to arrange for local farmers or gardeners to take some of it off your property.
Turnouts. Regularly removing manure from paddocks, arenas and round pens will also help reduce insect populations in those areas. For larger areas such as pastures, consider breaking up the manure by dragging a chain or harrow to speed up the decomposition process.
Step four: Eliminate mosquito breeding grounds.
Search out standing water. Mosquitoes can breed in the shallowest of water. Once you start looking around the barn, you’ll notice there are a lot of potential breeding grounds. Simply turning open containers over can prevent water from accumulating. Or, drill holes in the bottoms of items such as inner tubes to let water drain. The most important thing is to not let water stagnate. Here’s a list of items to watch out for:
- Old tires
- Unused buckets, feed tubs and water troughs
- Abandoned wheelbarrows
- Bird baths
- Clogged gutters
Troughs. Making your pastured horse’s water trough mosquito-unfriendly is easy to do. In addition to thoroughly cleaning the troughs monthly, just add a few drops of light mineral oil. It’s safe for the horses and will make the water inhabitable to mosquito larvae. This method won’t work if you keep fish in the trough to eat algae, as the oil will kill the fish.
Pastures. It may look idyllic to have your horse grazing next to a beautiful pond, but in reality that situation puts your horse closer to danger. During mosquito season, try to pasture horses as far away as possible from large bodies of standing water such as ponds and lakes.
