Bl**dy Flies!

Echo is still inconsolable first thing in the morning. She has scratches all over her from where she's rubbing her shoulders and neck in the stable and she literally drags me to the field. I'm going through a bottle of fly spray a week, have borrowed a fly rug (am going to buy one, I just can't work out which one!) and have some anti-itch wash that I've been using. But as soon as we get to the field in the morning, she walks two steps, drops down and rolls violently for about a minute. Then she gets up and bucks about 3 times, seeming to be so frustrated.

It's so weird - she wasn't itchy at all at Tammy's. she's never liked flies, but they'd never made her like this before. I always used to turn my nose up a bit at fly rugs, thinking they were more for owners who didn't like their horses to be naked. Turns out they're pretty bloomin' useful if your horse gets bitten by flies.

Any ideas? I know the flies won't be around for that much longer but it's so horrible to see my horse so miserable. (It's mostly just first thing in the morning after she's been in her stable all night - the rest of the day she grazes quite calmly.)