So, what’s the best fly spray for horses? Probably even for a horse with sensitive skin, irritation, or open wounds or sweaty? 
Use a spray that’s effective and safe at the competition, on a ride, or in the barn. It must kill a variety of bugs (e.g. houseflies and gnats) plus horse flies, and safe to humans.
Choose a brand that’ll also kill the bugs on horse boots, saddle pads, and blankets. Also, it must be safe t use on or around dogs, mules, and donkeys.
Sprays: Top 9 Best Fly Spray for Horses in 2020 Reviewed
1. PYRANHA Wipe N Horse Fly Spray Protection ALL SIZES – #1 Top Pick
To repel and kill horse flies, mosquitoes, consider using PIRANHA Wipe N Spray. Keep horses healthy, comfortable & smelling nice. The ingredients in this Pyranha Wipe N Spray are 15.00% Butoxypolypropylene Glycol, 1.00% Piperonyl Butoxide, and 0.10% Pyrethrins.
It is water-resistant and offers triple-action – it is a coat conditioner (thanks to the lanolin ingredient), in addition to repelling and killing horse flies. Further, it’ll control insects such as horse flies, mosquitoes, gnats, houseflies, deer flies, and stable flies.
It’s loved by both horse owners and riders. If you brush the horse, this Pyranha Wipe N Spray provides some high sheen to the coat of your horse. An oil-based formula contains 0.10% pyrethrins that you can use directly on your horse to control fly sprays.
The PYRANHA spray is ready to use and has a citronella scent that will leave your horse both fresh and healthy. Notably, the PYRANHA Wipe N Spray (full review) as it is oil-based, it will not easily wash away from the horses’ fur when it rains. The formula will repel and kill face flies, horse flies, deer flies, and stable flies.
Pyranha Wipe N Spray provides an easy and effective way to protect your animals. You can wipe or spray on your horse directly on its hair or coat. In addition to the mild scent, it’ll give the horse a nice sheen without leaving an unkempt or greasy look.
2. Absorbine UltraShield EX Brand Fly Spray for Horses – #2 Pick
Absorbine UltraShield is approved & used by US Equestrian. It’ll leave the horse’s skin shining with its coat conditioners like lanolin and aloe. Do you know why the Absorbine UltraShield EX Always Wears Black?
Well, this product will also control flies, gnats, ticks, and mosquitos. The spray contains Pyrethrins. (0.10%), Piperonyl Butoxide (1%) and Permethrin (0.50%). Interestingly, you can also use this spray to control fleas and ticks that could be attacking your dogs. 
You’ll also love its citronella scent that is pleasant for both the horse and its rider. Since it has the lanolin and aloe ingredients, Absorbine UltraShield EX will offer excellent coat conditioning and act as a sunscreen for the horse.
An added advantage is that this formula also controls ticks on the horse in addition to leaving the animals with a shiny skin, which is great for horse shows. It’s a defensive fly control product that is both weatherproof (sunshine or rainfall) and sweat-resistant to allow about 17 days of fly protection for your horse.
Therefore, since it’ll last a number of days you won’t have to reapply very often. Absorbine UltraShield EX spray (full review) is a ready-to-use and weather-proof solution for the flies and ticks that have been disturbing your Equine creatures. UltraShield EX has similar active ingredients like Farnam Endure. It’s great for wet conditions such as being sweat-resistant.
Further, the bottle nozzle design is great and hence allowed an even distribution of the fly control formula over the horse’s coat. Therefore, we didn’t get to miss some critical body parts of the result of having large wet spots. As a premise spray, UltraShield EX will kill all the biting and crawling flies in your house or business premises.
3. Farnam Endure Horse Fly Repellents – (Sweat-Resistant) – #3 Pick
Farnam Endure Fly Repellents contain both 0.20% pyrethrins (natural) and 0.15% cypermethrin (synthetic) that will guard your horse against the terrible flies. Luckily, its a ready-to-use spray that’ll protect the equine friend against deer ticks, gnats, and flies that could transmit conditions like Lyme disease.
Also, the repellent has RepeLock®, which combines with the horses’ hair to make the product sweat and water resistance, preventing washing off, and hence more effective. It has an additional sunscreen ingredient that will shield your horse against dangerous rays (ultraviolet).
Interestingly, Farnam Endure Fly Repellents will protect your horse against flies for about 4 days from the day of application. Further, its continuous spray (non-aerosol) feature allows even and consistent insecticide application to offer uniform protection. You can spray upside down too at an angle to the difficult areas.
The Roll-On application technique used by Farnam Endure Fly Repellents will make it easy to apply the formula on your horse. Also, check the best fogger for fleas. For use on the sensitive parts of your horse, the Farnam Endure Fly Repellents has an amazing bottle with an applicator ball that will ease the application process.
In addition, the product allows easy-pour refills with its spill-proof handle and spout that’s positioned at the side of the product bottle. Also, there is also a smaller – 50-ounce bottle – that’ll be great for competitions and while you’re traveling with your horse.
4. EcoSMART Horse Fly Spray & Repellent Ready-to-Spray – #4 Pick
EcoSMART Horse Fly spray is an effective and safe natural formula to repel and kill horse flies, and mealybugs. 
Luckily, it has an amazing scent – flie-fresh specifically. It has no bad chemical smell.
It uses the power of essential plant oils to repel the mosquitoes and horse flies. The spray is based on all-natural plant oils that will be safe to use on your horses and dogs without leaving a severe chemical smell on their skins.
Also, it won’t contaminate groundwater or poison fish, birds, or mammals – its eco-friendly. As an organic product, you should not worry about safety while using it, particularly the safety of your kids, and other pets – its pet and kid-friendly.
It’s safe to use on your home, garden, and lawn to control those filth horse flies. Further, the formula is safe or fish and birds as it does not contaminate water bodies or groundwater. Thus, use the EcoSMART Horse Fly (full review) to hit flies that keep biting & disturbing your horse.
EcoSMART Horse is made from natural oils that are blended – including peppermint oil, lemongrass oil, cinnamon oil, thyme oil, and clove oil – these will work excellently for children, horses, and pets killing flies, mosquitoes, and gnats.
5. Espree Aloe Herbal Fly Repellent Horse Fly Spray
Espree Aloe Herbal can prevent the irritation and bite trigged by flying insects such as gnats and flies. Created from Peppermint Oil, Cedarwood Oil and Citronella Oil this product will be gentle on the skin but harsh on the flies.
It works great if you use it when your horse is clean and when it applies to areas such as stall and barn. However, you’ll need to apply again after about 3 hours and avoid spraying onto the horses’ faces.
You’ll love that the product has sunscreen and coat conditioners that enable you to be gentle on the horse’s coat and product against the harsh sun rays. Espree Aloe Herbal has herbal concentrates plus different botanical oils to give your horse a soothing and gentle effect.
To use, you’ll require diluting one part of the Espree Aloe Herbal (comprehensive review) to five parts of water. Use a clean cloth or hold the bottle about 10 to 12 inches from the animal’s fur. Also, the insecticide is easy to dilute and use providing up to 24 hours of relief from the horse flies.
Espree Aloe Herbal is a more natural spray that’s definitely safe to use on your horse. It has natural components such as aloe vera to give the horse a healthier and shinier coat.
6. Stat! Spray Pet Wound & Skin Care Enhanced Hydrogel
Stat! Horse Spray will ease the healing process of your horse’s wounds after its bitten by flies. It contains Aloe Vera that enhances the growth of hair, it’ll soothe hot & itchy spots. Aloe Vera reduces pain in your horse and promotes comfort.
HydroStat is a fungal and bacterial repellent, and hence will heal all the horse fly wounds and it’ll repel the flies with the amazing eucalyptus. The animals will enjoy the plant-based formula as it’ll moisturize and hydrate the skin to heal the wounds.
It’ll also prevent tail rub and mane in horse plus regular scratching and chewing in cats and dogs. It has an amazing trigger sprayer that’ll allow you to spray even the hard-to-reach places. It allows regrowth of hair in the horses’ devoid of discoloration.
Stat! Horse Spray is the USA made and clinical proven spray that’s quality guaranteed. Luckily, it has no stimulus, steroid, bleach, and alcohol. Therefore, this horse fly spray is effective against itchy wounds.
On directions of usage, Stat! Horse Spray can be used 1 to 3 times for horses daily while for cats and dogs, you’ll need to apply 1 to 2 times daily. Also, it’ll be great for dogs paws when they’re hurting – it allows faster healing. It’ll finish the skin redness and allow the hair to grow back.
7. ECOVET Horse Fly Spray Repellent with Fatty acids)
ECOVET Horse Fly Spray is not like your traditional insect repellents – it’s effective yet safe to use on your equine friends. The spatial repellent formula is made from 3 main fatty acids that are also food-grade and combined with silicone oil – it’ll prevent the horse flies from even getting into your animal’s spaces.
As the fatty acids evaporate from the horse’s skin, as varied rates in 1-3 days, they’ll disorient the horse flies. However, you’ll need to reapply the ECOVET within that time – particularly if your horse isn’t sweating excessively or getting wet from a bath or rain.
ECOVET has a musty or “traditional spray” smell with some bits of coconut it might be irritating or harsh for your eyes. Luckily, the product will leave the coat of your horse being shiny and smooth without leaving behind the unattractive greasy residue.
ECOVET will only be toxic to flies and other insects. Fatty acids are common components (non-toxic too) while the silicone oil is a base carrier (and inert too) used in cosmetic products for hair care and skincare in humans and equally with horses.
The fatty acids used for Ecovet are stabilized and thus won’t denature – therefore you won’t have them rancid or damaged when you expose them to warm temperatures. However, avoid using products that have a high pH since they’ll irritate the animal’s skin and equally react dangerously with ECOVET Horse Fly Spray.
ECOVET was developed through a USDA partnership aimed to create insect repellents without the incorporation of essential oils. It has decanoic acid, nonanoic acid, octanoic acid that are safe and efficient too – you won’t require to use gloves.
8. Farnam Bronco Gold 32 Oz. Equine Fly Spray Plus
Farnam Bronco Gold is definitely among the top budget-friendly horse fly sprays that are equally very effective against flies and other insects.
Luckily, Farnam Bronco Gold repels and kills pests like gnats, Lice, Chiggers, Fleas, deer flies and mosquitoes and hence it’ll be cheap to use.
Farnam Bronco Gold is made with the citronella scent that’s both loved by horses and other animals plus it’s pleasant to most humans. Further, the formula isn’t greasy – doesn’t leave a bad residue an will not cake up on the horse’s coat.
As a spray made from natural ingredients – the spay will be safe to use on horses of different ages – from babies to the aged ones. You can use it on stables and horse barns for either Foals, Ponies, or Horses. You can also spray on doors and windows to safely repel flies from outhouses or pets.
9. Pyranha 001ZEROG 068263 Zero-Bite Fly Repellent
PYRANHA Zero-Bite is a natural horsefly repellent that’s made from natural extracts. In comparison to Wipe N Spray, PYRANHA Zero-Bite is safer for use with either cats, dogs, or horses. The natural extracts include peppermint oil, Clove oil, and Geranio.
This product qualifies as one of the best fly repellent for horses due to its effectiveness and safety – its made from natural extracts. The insecticide is effective in repelling a range of pests including mosquitoes, fleas, ticks, gnats, and finally horse flies.
PYRANHA Zero-Bite has a pleasant smell loved by pets and humans. It’s both water-based and oil-based while it leaves only a light residue that’s soapy – you can wipe out the residue using just a light wipe. However, it doesn’t have a long residue effect – it’ll prevent and kill horseflies just a few hours or only 1 day.
The active ingredients have a hydrogel that’s cellulose-based with its active ingredients being eucalyptus oil, Aloe vera, and Benzalkonium Chloride. It’s safe and will heal different skin conditions on your pets and horse: rashes, burns, scratches, bites, and cuts.
Choosing the Best Fly Spray for Horses
1. Active Ingredients
The active ingredients (synthetic or natural) affect the horse spray’s repellent and killing power. However, not all are suitable for foals and lactating mares. Here’re the most used actives: permethrin, pyrethrins, picaridin, cypermethrin, tetramethrin, and resmethrin.
- Pyrethrins – A natural active ingredient extracted from one of the chrysanthemum species. Pyrethrins provide fast knockdown – it’ll kill the horse flies quickly. Piperonyl Butoxide plus pyrethrin will give a quick knockdown by damaging the central nervous system of the horsefly.
- Pyrethrins: – These are derivatives of the pyrethrum (the popular chrysanthemum) plant. However, these pyrethrins are highly poisonous, which means that it’ll readily penetrate the skin or shell of the fly and other comparable insects.
- Further, the pyrethrin insecticides will immediately move to the fly’s nervous system with the aim of immobilizing them. However, this will not kill the insect as they have some enzymatic action that’ll detoxify the pyrethrins and enable the flies to recover.
- Therefore, the spray formulas contain “synergists” that work to slow the enzymatic functioning of a horsefly. Thus, the pyrethrin would have adequate time to paralyze the horse fly. But with moisture, Oxygen, and sunlight, the pyrethrin ingredient will erode easily and hence won’t harm plants and animals – but you’ll need to take top precautions with fish.
- Synergists – But Pyrethrins must be mixed with additional synergists to prevent being broken down by sunlight. Synergists offer long-lasting protection an boost the killing power of the insecticide. But you can try one of these homemade fly sprays for horses (essential oil-based).
- Permethrin (a Pyrethroid) – The synthetically created permethrin is comparable to the natural pyrethrin. It stimulates the nervous system of the horse fly and has neurotoxin, in addition to the synergists that takes down the insects. Permethrin is highly stable and will protect your horse longer.
2. Oil-Based or Water-Based Spray?
Oil-based or water-based spray? Well, both have their unique pros and cons. But first, the water-based sprays don’t attract dust or dirt and won’t irritate your horse’s skin. But for the water-based sprays, you must use synergists to prevent break down from sweat, rain, and sunlight.
However, the oil-based spray (marked as having Petroleum Distillate) offers quicker knockdown (through insect suffocation) and stick better on the horse’s hair coat. The downside is that the oil-based brands will attract dust or dirt and may irritate or burn the sensitive horse skin.
3. Special Horse’s Conditions
Consider if your horse has conditions like sensitive skin, open wounds, or another health issue that might be worsened by using the horse fly spray. For, minor issue you might simply need to be extra careful when applying the insecticide.
However, any adverse reactions from spraying must be reported to your veterinarian. But you’ll be safer if you first test the horse fly spray on a spray section of your horse to check its effectiveness and the presence of any adverse reactions.
4. Number of Horses and Residue Effect
Depending on the number of horses you’ll be treated, you must consider the type of formula to use or maximum effectiveness. Horseflies are not active at night. Thus, horses can comfortably graze during the night since the horse flies will be least active.
You’ll need to consider the number of days that the repellent or fly killer will be effective on your horse – horse flies are mainly active from May to September. For example, UltraShield EX Equine Spray will repel horse flies for 7 days.
Are Natural horse fly repellents effective?
Natural horse fly repellents are made from naturally grown plants or animals. Further, the processing the repellents undergo must not downgrade the “natural” form of its ingredients. In addition, the natural horse fly repellent needs to be safe for both plants & animals (at least the non-targeted ones) and human beings.
Can you use DEET on horses? Diethyltoluamide (DEET) is a highly effective ingredient in insect repellents. Notably, it was first created by the United States Army in World War II. The ingredient can kill ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes. Further, DEET has a yellow die that could stain your clothes.
At high concentration levels (or with highly sensitive skins), DEET could be toxic to animals and people. Icaridin is an odorless and colorless chemical formula. This ingredient is a great DEET-alternative since its less toxic. However, it’s great in controlling horse flies in addition to other insects such as gnats and mosquitos.
– Will Apple cider vinegar Repel Horse Flies?
When you need to treat any numbers of horses, you’ll need to utilize an aerosol fly spray since it will be easier to use. However, YES, apple cider vinegar will repel horse flies – but it must be apple cider vinegar must be natural (unpasteurized). You’ll simply need to spray the apple cider vinegar on the horse’s hair coat – externally to effectively kill the horse flies.
Any Essential Oils That Repel Horse Flies?
To repel horse flies, I recommend you use a combination of these essential oils: Cedarwood, Lemon Grass, Tea Tree, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Lavender, and Citronella.
The natural repellents include ingredients such as natural grape seed oil, rosemary essential oil, natural lemon eucalyptus, tea tree oil, peppermint oil, avocado oil, and Aloe Vera juice.
Finally, natural products need to be both environmental-friendly and bio-degradable, which is thus sustainable to the environment and human beings. However, you can use other products like fly masks, boots, and fly sheets to protect your equine friend.
Conclusion
These best fly spray for horses are effective in treating horse lies once and for all. Such steps will enable you to not only keep your horses comfortable but will reduce the probability of spreading diseases. So, what’s your go-to fly spray for horses?