War Paint

[dbtoo]

Has anyone ever used War Paint on their horse? Does it really work? I need it to keep face flies and mosquitoes off of my horse.Does it irritate the horses skin? I understand that once its on its "on" for quite a while but we aren't going anywhere.

Any feedback?

[appychik]

I tried it on Gringo last year... found that Vasaline worked better for my guys. You're right about the War Paint staying on... and I guess I just didn't like that. But, I did love the applicator. Kinda like a deodorant stick... made applying a breeze.

[Guilherme]

Effective, but VERY expensive.

An effective, and much cheaper, alternative is to take a sponge or old sock and soak it in Wipe. Put it into a small, plastic container and carry it in your saddle/cantle/whatever bag. Apply as required while riding.

You can do this with a Repelex mixture, but it doesn't work as well. It is, however, even cheaper.

There are competitors to War Paint (Farnam, at a minimum, makes one) but they all suffer from the "High Price Syndrome."

G.

[Riva]

I have some. It does stay on a very long time and it is hard to get off, so I only use it on my non-riding horses. It does work, though.

[Raleigh's Mom]

I have used it on my horses in ears, on belly line, etc. in place of Swat. It seemed to work well and sure stayed on much better than Swat (which just melts in the Georgia heat). In fact, it stays on so well, that is why I stopped using it. Now, if my horses were boarded where I couldn't see them everyday, I would consider using it again.

[SMF11]

I use it and I love it. But I only use it in their ears and on their belly to stop the biting gnats. And it is 100% effective -- no gnat bites after applying for at least a week. It wasn't too bad at Valley Vet, pricewise, and one stick lasts me almost a summer with five horses.

It is probably highly toxic, but I did try gentler methods, like putting vaseline in their ears instead which I found made much more of a mess and had to be reapplied almost every day to work vs once every couple of weeks.

I don't put it all over their bodies, or all over their faces though.

[SteppinEasy]

I use War Paint all summer on my horses. It keeps the flies, gnats and ticks off my pasture horses for up to two weeks, so it seems extremely cost-effective to me. And these are horses I ride frequently. Yes, I do believe their are gentler formulas out there, but they aren't nearly as effective.

I love War Paint. But just be aware that the white stuff doesn't come off for a LONG time, so you wouldn't want to use it before a show.

[fourmares]

Yep, it works. I haven't had any horses have reactions and it helps keep the summer sores off the donkey.

[dbtoo]

Thank you for the feedback! Do you think if I just put a spot on the face, where there is already white,a spot under the belly, and maybe one in the middle of the back the whole horse will be protected?

[Pookah]

Unfortunately, I find that I have to use it in several areas for it to do any good, and even with that, it's no magic cure for bugs. I have an old, grey TB, and I swear the bugs just seem to know that his skin is thin, so maybe it works better on other horses. It is pretty icky, but it seems to work for a few days for me.