01/06/2026
FLY RUGS ON OR OFF?
It's boiling hot late into the evening, but as is so often the answer with horses, the answer to whether they're better off with fly rugs on or off is 'it depends...'.
My own horses come in by day into the relative cool away from flies and to have a good sleep & to rest their tummies from the grass and pick at some fibrous hay instead.
I generally use Aussie allrounder fly rugs during the summer months as part of a strategy to protect them from being bitten, but once temperatures hit around 28°C, I generally take them off. That's because they start to sweat under them, even though they're a light fabric rather than nylon mesh. Hot, sweaty horses become a bigger target for biting flies and mine make themselves even hotter in their efforts to communicate that they're uncomfortable. So for them it's fly rugs off, insect repellent on, fly masks on and that seems to work.
But it really does depend! Sweet itch horses may not have the luxury of ditching their rugs, so for them it may mean constantly wetting them to keep them from cooking. A plus point in the heat of day is that midges don't like extreme heat because they can quickly lose too much water from their tiny bodies and dehydrate. They prefer to hunker down in cool, shady places and await dusk to reappear. On the flip side black flies love the sun, and as they are also a trigger for insect bite hypersensitivity, there seems to be no safe time of day!
Putting on fly rugs may also be an option when your field catches a cooling breeze or when there is plenty of shade. Whatever you read on social media, whether to use fly rugs or not in a heatwave is really a choice that only you can make by judging the conditions your horse is turned out in and monitoring how hot your horse is getting if you don't already know their comfort threshold.
Let's hear your tips and tricks to keep the horses happy!
