I killed it! \o/

[twofatponies]

One of those darn B-52s came to visit today. I was chatting with a friend, and zzzzzzzz....it landed on her, landed on her horse, zipped round and round, flew over the barn, came back again.

Then it landed on the hood of her car.

I raised an eyebrow at her, and she nodded.

I had a gel-pad in my hand. WHACK! SPLAT!

It made a great hood ornament.:lol:

(ETA: had to add my fave emoticon of the week to the title: \o/ )

[Guin]

Excellent! I was at the beach all last week and there were HORRIBLE horseflies. My poor big dog came running back to me whining and pawing at his face - he had blood running down his nose from one of the b@st@rds.

Kill 'em all!

[MistyBlue]

Yay! I slammed one in the window of the barn today. It landed on the window sill, I slammed the window shut. Ha! :D
Then I left it's corpse hanging half out of the window...as a warning to all other B52s.
Vet came today for floating/shots/etc and got a laugh out of my dead B52 display.
And it's all my fault that one was even around. I mentioned on a thread just recently that I hadn't seen any yet this year. Major jinx.

[sidepasser]

Good for you, if another comes by, kill it for my pony who was bombed today while trainer was working with her - said awful dinosaurus rexus blood thirsty fly hit pony on the neck and then somehow got lodged under saddle pad right at the front of the saddle and poor ponykins lost her mind - went into full bucking, squealing mode and when saddle was removed, there was a large bloody welt under the saddle pad.

Felt so bad for pony. Pony was hosed, had some baking soda and water applied, then rinsed and still has a huge plum size welt on her. No work tomorrow at all.

[eventmom]

My girls were out playing in our back pasture last week. One got my younger daughters pony on the belly. She went into a bucking fit, then fell flat on her gut to get the thing off! My daughter somehow managed to stay on, but it was a close one!
Tonight I got two of them right on our other ponies back side. It never ceases to amaze me how those horses don't move a muscle when you are wacking the pesky flies off of them. I guess they know your trying to help:)

[Buffyblue]

I had to smack one off my horse's butt as she was bucking next to me! I HATE THEM!

[SarahandSam]

I hate those things! Today I had Sam on crossties and was grooming him when he suddenly swung his butt around toward me, stomping on my foot, tail lashing angrily. Despite having just sprayed him, I looked for flies but didn't see any; assumed he was being a butthead. Then he did it again. I looked for flies; none. Went to the other side and he swung his butt out at me again--and then I saw the B-52 attached to the top of his tailbone. Poor pony, here I was getting mad at him for threatening to kick me, and he was restraining himself enough to beg me to kill it for him.

I am generally a pacifist and lover of all things, but I wish slow death and dismemberment to all horseflies.

[twofatponies]

What astonished me was yesterday when this same* B-52 chased two of the mares into the shed. One actually turned around and tried to bite it with her teeth - I've never seen a mature horse flexible enough to touch her tailbone with her nose!!!

These flies like to land exactly on that spot, don't they.

* I say "same" because that way I killed that exact one, and it was the only one for miles around and we won't see another one this summer. :lol:

[SarahandSam]

* I say "same" because that way I killed that exact one, and it was the only one for miles around and we won't see another one this summer. :lol:

Sure, keep telling yourself that... d;


I drenched my poor horse's tailbone in two kinds of fly spray and put Swat on it to boot. It may not deter them, but at least it'll make biting there unpleasant and hopefully lethal...

[mroades]

it must be their time to emerge, as I killed one today too! Unfortunately the pony whose butt it landed on didnt think I was helping him out right at that moment....poor fella.

[Pony Person]

* I say "same" because that way I killed that exact one, and it was the only one for miles around and we won't see another one this summer. :lol:
Shut up.:lol: I hate hate hate hate HATE those! Sometimes, if they are buzzing near my horse when we are riding, we try to "outrun" it.:lol:

[EqTrainer]

The ba$!@rds are out. I killed one on Whoasies butt today and left it there as a sign to its friends. Not sure she appreciated that - she is a lady, after all - but it felt right.

[twofatponies]

Check out this unpleasant data:

Blood loss can be significant. In a USDA Bulletin 1218, Webb and Wells estimated that horse flies would consume 1 cc of blood for their meal, and they calculated that 20 to 30 flies feeding for 6 hours would take 20 teaspoons. This would amount to one quart of blood in 10 days.

from U of K college of agriculture entymology article: http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef511.asp

[GilbertsCreeksideAcres]

There was one on my Clydesdale today and that fly was so big, I just couldn't believe it. I had to take a picture of it.

Take a look:
http://www.ananova.com/images/web/1514123.jpg

[twofatponies]

There was one on my Clydesdale today and that fly was so big, I just couldn't believe it. I had to take a picture of it.

Take a look:
http://www.ananova.com/images/web/1514123.jpg

You'd have to hit that one with a phone book to kill it ! :D

[mswillie]

I've killed about half a dozen this past week. I thought I killed one today. Hit it hard and it laid on the ground for about a minute in front of the trough where the horse was drinking. I couldn't get to it to squish it and it managed to right itself and fly off.

I try to stomp on them but this one out-smarted me. :mad:

[luvmytbs]

I just ordered fly sheets from Big Dee's. They have some on sale for $ 10. They are not for turn-out.
Came in today. They are fab! Took horses out to graze around the yard and those pesty B-52's were all confused.

[Fixerupper]

(ETA: had to add my fave emoticon of the week to the title: \o/ )

\o/....beauty :lol:

[Dr. Doolittle]

These creatures are the DEVIL!!!! :mad:

I take personal, visceral pleasure in murdering them; I only wish I could provide more *torture* beforehand, so that they would suffer as much as do the horses they feast on.

I am an animal lover to the max, but these pieces of shit are disgusting and cruel predators (and yes--they "rebound" when you smack them, dammit, and you have to be quick with a "crushing foot" to destory them before they "shake it off" and take to the air again, swooping and divebombing.)

Please God, is there ANY WAY to create a potion of some kind that will actually DETER (since they are apparently are impervious to anything but Quentin Tarantino methods of dispatching them) these villanous single-minded missiles of pain and misery?! (They laugh at fly spray, and have actually bitten THROUGH my mare's very sturdy Rambo fly sheet.)

My BM is sufficiently brave (or crazy) to SQUASH THEM WITH HER BARE HANDS! :eek: Her rationale? "They hurt the things I love." Good for her, I say--though Yuck! She says she derives satisfaction from hearing them "pop" when she crushes them to death. :yes:
I could never do this (I just whack them, and if I manage to stun them so that they fall to the ground, I crush them under my boot, while cackling maniacally), but I give her major kudos. I would be afraid that they would bite ME while I was crushing them! (And their bites are excruciating! Poor horses. :()

eventmom is right: horses are pretty smart about this, and all my horses have KNOWN that if *I* am there with them, they will be protected--they patiently wait for me to kill (or at least chase away) the monsters. WHACK AND SMACK AWAY, they say! ;)

The ONLY upside is that the Horsefly season is realtively short, and we should be rid of these monstrosities by the end of Sept., thank heavens!

[Calvincrowe]

Love the emoticon! And, I am SO glad I live here in the drippy PNW, where no such flying devils live. Your horror stories are enough to convince me that 8 months of gray, wet, algae producing weather is a fair trade. The worst we get are the occasional deer fly--ouchy, and voracious, vicious yellow jackets. Hardly a comparison.

[JollyBadger]

Congrats on your kill!

My boyfriend has fly tape hung inside his barn, and he put two strips right next to a window. Within minutes, each of those tapes has at least a dozen B-52s stuck. . .little legs flailing, wings madly buzzing.

Sometimes I'll grab a flyswatter and stand by that window and smack the little b@st@ards before they get stuck. It's actually kind of therapeutic. . .:winkgrin:

[Rubyfree]

They've been out for a week here, and the barn has coincidentally been doing kiddie clinics/ daycamps for the last week. I've been helping out. All of the lesson horses now know me as the B52 slayer- to the point that when I went out in the pasture to grab Marsey today, one of the old boys intercepted me and presented his butt, horrifyingly resplendent with massive horsefly, for my inspection. There aren't many circumstances under which I would be happy to be charged and presented hind end in a pasture, but I understand that these are special circumstances. I swear that Marsey stuck her tongue out at him as we walked into the barn- "She's MINE! I shall attract flies just to prove how swiftly she will smack them off me! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
:)
\o/

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

Those nasty little ba$tards have no socially redeeming value.

[CB/TB]

Ours came and went ( hopefully!) a bit earlier this summer. It's a good thing they arrive one at a time, isn't it? My girl will come to me and stand while I try to smack the nasty thing. And, you have to be dam* sure they're dead once they hit the ground beacuse unless you hit 'em with a brick, they can sometimes just be stunned- to rise and bite again!Fall and winter have their good points after all. Another 90+ day, then relief---70s!

[caradino]

i have been able to apply my B52 whacking-and-stomping skills to save my friends from biting flies at the beach.

a big ol' nasty one landed on my bf's sister's butt as we were lounging on the sand.

"JENNIE... DON'T MOVE!"

*WHACK*

"you can thank me later" :cool:

[arabhorse2]

I found out how limber Casper really is, when he had one of those demon spawn on him this morning.

He can actually reach his butt with his muzzle, and shooed the thing off.

The problem is that they just keep coming back, until I get out there and do the whack-stomp. Gah!!! :mad:

My horses will even let me whack them in the face, if they have one of those evil things on them.

[pj]

For those who think these dive bombers ought to be tortured here is something to give you a few giggles. :)

My friend used to have a pet blue jay. One she raised and couldn't be turned loose as he had no toes on one foot..his name was no toes. :lol:
Anyhoo .. when we would ride she would capture the dive bombers, pull their wings off and put them in a little bag she carried for this purpose. When she got home they were presented to no toes. Betcha they were very very sorry they'd ever tried to snack on HER horse.

[JSwan]

Those nasty little ba$tards have no socially redeeming value.

My chickens think they're delicious. When I kill one I toss it to any chicken that might be hanging around. They act like they've won the lottery. :lol:

[GoodyTwo]

I stunned one last year on one of my horses and then used what was handy – the aerosol Cool Lube – and sprayed it into oblivion. It ended up entangled in a large spider web and was struggling to get out when my step-mom came into the barn. She rescued it and spent a good long time actually holding it in her hand and picking the spider webs off it – that’s how big it was. :dead: I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was only a matter of time until it died from Cool Lube poisoning. She just couldn’t imagine why it didn’t survive after her kind ministrations. :lol:

[caradino]

I stunned one last year on one of my horses and then used what was handy – the aerosol Cool Lube – and sprayed it into oblivion. It ended up entangled in a large spider web and was struggling to get out when my step-mom came into the barn. She rescued it and spent a good long time actually holding it in her hand and picking the spider webs off it – that’s how big it was. :dead: I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was only a matter of time until it died from Cool Lube poisoning. She just couldn’t imagine why it didn’t survive after her kind ministrations. :lol:

okay, and i actually LIKE most bugs, but WHY WOULD YOU GO TO SUCH LENGTHS TO SAVE SUCH A HORRID CREATURE?!?!?!?!?!

i don't understand!!!!!

[GoodyTwo]

In her defense, she's new to horses and she didn’t know what it was… but she’s also one of those that opens the screens to let flies out of the house, carries spiders out to safety in her bare hands. :dead: Blech!

[GrayTbred]

Just last night, a helicopter descended on horsie's tail dock, just out of reach from the saddle. Good-boy QH gave me fair warning to hop off before things got ugly. I tried swatting, but the bugger flew off. I will have my revenge!

[gieriscm]

I don't know if I'd whack my horse with this, but you can catch a B52 in the air before it lands.

Electric Tennis Racket Fly Swatter (http://www.electricflyswatter.net/)

[twofatponies]

I don't know if I'd whack my horse with this, but you can catch a B52 in the air before it lands.

Electric Tennis Racket Fly Swatter (http://www.electricflyswatter.net/)

That'll get your horse moving! :D

[Camstock]

When I was a kid, we had a mare that had laminitis. We used to lead her out to the cool, spring-fed pond to soak and cool her hooves. I'd lead her out up to her point of shoulder in the water, and then I would swim/wriggle aboard and let her soak for an hour or so. Since she was supported by the water and I was a skinny kid, she didn't mind my additional weight. I'd swat B-52s while she dozed. After a while, the trout learned that they could wait in the shade of the big mare, and dazed flies would drop magically out of the air. It was pretty satisfying!

[Chardavej]

It never ceases to amaze me how those horses don't move a muscle when you are wacking the pesky flies off of them. I guess they know your trying to help:)

I know me too! I WHACK WHACK all over their body chasing it around and they just stand there, still as statues. They know what I'm doing. Sometimes they give just the slightest flinch but that's about it.

[Pony Person]

I wonder what PETA would think of this thread.:lol:

[Camstock]

Maybe I'm a freak, but I don't smack them, I SMUSH them on the horse so that I don't have to swat the horse. The flies don't bite because they are busy trying to bite the horse.

[see u at x]

My chickens think they're delicious. When I kill one I toss it to any chicken that might be hanging around. They act like they've won the lottery. :lol:

JSwan, I have you personally to thank for the image that pops in my mind every. single. time I kill one of those horrid creatures. I specifically remember last year as we were riding along, and seeing you swat one that was on Opie's butt and then squish it with your hand. At the time I was in awe and thinking, "Wow, she's badass!" :lol:

I am too much of a sissy to use my bare hands on the really big ones, so ever since the evil bastards started coming out this summer, I do not even lead my horses anywhere without wearing gloves. If I have to kill one of them, I want my hands protected from fly guts. :dead:

[TheRedFox]

I don't know if I'd whack my horse with this, but you can catch a B52 in the air before it lands.

Electric Tennis Racket Fly Swatter (http://www.electricflyswatter.net/)

I worked in a garden/farm supply store when I was a teenager and that was one of the things that we sold. The little crackling sound it makes when you hit a fly with it is sickeningly satisfying. Never saw it used on a B52 and honestly, I'm not sure that it has enough juice to do the trick.

[WhyGeorgia]

I actually grabbed one right out of the air yesterday, haha! They are terrible at my house. If I don't bring the boys in by 6:30 am they are running the fence-line trying to get away from those terrible things!!

I have seen those "fly-predators" advertised in a few magazines. Do they repel these massive horseflies too?

[Sakura]

Those nasty little ba$tards have no socially redeeming value.

I've stated before that I hate them with the burning intensity of a thousand white hot suns... I rip their little heads off and feed their bodies to the chickens... violent but satisfying :cool:.

[Foxtrot's]

From what my husband tells me the tennis racquets do have enough juice - he's tested them.

Calvin - if we don't have those pesky things in the PNW what are those huge yellow buzzing, hovering flies that take bites of flesh out of our horses???? My horse took no offence to my whacking her with the corn broom when she was turning herself inside out trying to get away from one the other day - said thank you kindly, ma'am.

[kookicat]

Now, I don't know if our horse flies are the same as your horse flies, but I still have a scar on the back of my neck where one of the -swearwords- bit me. I've never felt pain like it before. :eek: