A flymask made out of zinc oxide.

Well… my boy Dalton is not ready for his fly mask, just yet. Sure, he’ll sniff it… but please don’t try to put it on his head.

Today, I didn’t have time to be patient with his flymask training, so I decided to slather on some fly repellent – because he doesn’t have an issue with me rubbing my hands on his face.

Usually, I would use my favorite fly repellent, but today, I only had EquiDerma Zinc Oxide. I figured that if it could be used for sunburns and scratches in horses, it must have some sort of fly repellent?… (I know the Equiderma LOTION and FLY SPRAY both have Neem oil…)

Hmmmmm. It didn’t seem to have any of the normal fly repellent ingredients like neem oil (which Equiderma is known for). But I decided that I had to use what I had, and maybe the lavender oil would help. Here are the ingredients:

Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Cetearyl Alcohol & Ceteareth 20, Zinc Oxide Powder, DI Water, Glycerine, ColaLipid St, Chlorhexidine Gluconate, Lavender Essential Oil, Trichloromethyl

MY AVENGER!

Yes, he looks like an Avenger. But, he is fly free! As I hand walked him today, not one fly lighted on his face – and they were all around.

So, who knows… I’m not advocating it since I don’t know what I’m doing here. I’m just saying, if you don’t have a flymask and do have this ointment on hand, it worked for us!

I guess I could have been more artistic with it – but it worked!

Here he is with his Equiderma Zinc Oxide mask… it worked! I love his hair color. I wish mine would do that.

MY FAVORITE FLY MASK – just as a reminder…

This is the best flymask that I’ve tried. (I haven’t tried Shire’s new one this year.) Make sure to get the one with the silver nose piece. The other Opti-Force fly masks without the silver, do not stay on as well. Anyway, this is light, airy mesh that they can see through easily, it had eye darts and it stays on.

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Go get some produce bins! SO GREAT FOR FEEDERS

I’ve told you all about the wonders – finally – of my grape bin feeders.

But you don’t have to live in wine country to acquire this feeding solution. These bins are used for any kind of produce… fruit, olives, tomatoes… Ask your local growers.

So, if you need to get your hay out of the dirt, mud and wind, this is a great solution. Just purchase a bin that is no longer serviceable for the grower (doesn’t stack well anymore), but perfect for you. (You can purchase them new, but they are spendy.)

Below is a note from a friend of mine in Grass Valley who solved her feeding issues with bins.

FROM FRAN (This is my friend who took Princess LaaaamaLaaaaamLaaaama.):

We live on a very windy exposed ridge with 3 horses, a donkey and a llama, lots of acreage but NO horse barn. I desperately needed a way to stop hay blowing away and getting trampled into the mud when fed on the ground (you can see the mud in the last photo – ugh!!). Thank you, Pilot Peak Winery! We picked up three hefty grape boxes, drilled some drainage holes, and voila! (They have more to sell, great price – contact Len Stevens at Pilot Peak Winery.)

I could fit two in the bed of my truck. This is a much more efficient idea.

New and clean! She gave a feeder to each equine. No muss, no fuss. And, no more loss to wind! Deep enough to prevent the horses from throwing it all around, but low enough to clean and reach.

Fran used bungie cords tied to her posts. A good idea.

HOOK THE BINS TO YOUR FENCE POSTS

I see that they drilled holes and used bungies to keep the bins close to the fence. You will need to do something like this because the horses will push the bins around – if they can.

All you need to do is drill holes. Drill holes in the bottom for drainage. Drill holes in the sides to tie them off.

This is my drill and drill bit. You need a spade bit like this to burrow a hole into the heavy plastic. I do it easily. It isn’t difficult.

This is one of my bins. I drilled that hole you see. I think bungies are a better idea than baling twine. But I use baling twine on this one because it is tied to a wood post and therefore doesn’t fray to split (twine doesn’t hold up against metal posts).