!!!!!!!!!!!! Bugs !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Jade and Lily( mother & daughter) they have been having issues with flies this year. All of the horses are being chewed on this year. I have had horses for ......well what seems like forever and I have never seen this before, the flies are feeding off these poor animals and leaving quite a mess. Jade was so bad I hauled her into the vet to make sure it wasn't something else.This is what Jade's chest looks like after some treatment. It was much more swollen and the ridges across her neck were huge. The vet said they have had a few horses brought in with this problem, one of them was put on antibiotics because it was so infected.This is a shot of Lilies poor baby chest, if you run your hands over the affected area the flies come out.......very gross. All the horses are now being treated with product I got from Shirley over @ Ride A Good Horse. I wash them with antiseptic soap and then I have been putting Lavender (so they don't scar) and then over top of that I am putting Animal Scents( the flies are not liking that). When that wears off I put Swat on them. ( That's a product I didn't even know existed until this year) Everyone says this is from no see ums.....trust me you can see um.
So thanks to Shirley's essential oils and the colder weather hopefully these guys (girls) heal up. I will be prepared for next year in case this happens again.