Jurassic Flies!

Yes friends, it's that time of year again. The season we horse owners both love and dread! Actually, we horse owners tend to moan during all the seasons for various reasons - spring because to much of the new grass can make our horses desperately ill; winter because, well, it's bitterly cold and keeping horses is tough enough in good weather, but throw in snow, rain, hail and ice and the fun starts to go out of our lifestyle choice; autumn has us complaining because we've had the whole year to clean, repair and re-proof our rugs for the coming winter but we've left it until the last minute; and in summer we complain about the flies. We're a tough lot to please!
As you know, we moved our horses to a new farm in April. It's a beautiful place; rolling hills, green fields, moorlands, woodlands, and the wildlife that goes with each one. Unfortunately there are flies. Of Jurassic proportions! It's only to be expected that wherever there's farm animals and their... erm... deposits, there's bound to be flies, but has anyone else noticed that the flies seem to have bigger teeth this year? Taz came in a few days ago with a fly bite the size of a cricket ball on his neck! We're spending a fortune on fly spray (which is immediately redistributed as soon as the horses go out into the field, as they roll and scrimmy on their backs purposely, it seems, to wipe it all off again!) so I turned to our storage box to search out our trusty fly masks. Except... Where are Humbug and Toby's masks? Anyone?
After a lot of searching and some swearing, new ones have been purchased as the originals were absolutely nowhere to be seen. Humbug, having a head the size of a bus, was provided with a black 'Pony' sized mask, which makes him look like the lovechild of Darth Vader and Batman. Sourcing a mask for Toby, being the tiny little orange pip that he is, was more of an issue. Every online shop I looked in had every size except 'Mini Shetland'. I know from experience that 'Shetland' clothing is too big for him, so I needed 'Mini' or preferably the elusive 'Extra Mini'. Finally, after many phone-calls and much searching I found a mask that sounded like it was the perfect size...
Except it isn't!
Poor Toby - the mask covered his face completely; even his little nostrils were covered up and he struggled to graze as the bottom of the mask covered his mouth! His ears and his considerable forelock poked through the top, and I tied elastic bands around the headpiece to lift the whole thing. It looks a little unorthodox, admittedly, but unless he sneezes or shakes his head (or if Humbug spots the big loop on top of Toby's head) it should (should!) stay put and hopefully stop the flies from lunching on him.
Obviously, as soon as I arrived home I found the original fly masks festering in a storage box that I swear I'd already searched in...

Lisa xx

Post Views : 39