Fly Rugs

Which fly rug should be used for turnout?

The best fly protection during turnout, besides fly repellents, are fly rugs and fly masks. The horse usually wears these for several hours a day in high temperatures. Therefore it is important

• that the material allows sufficient air circulation so that the horse does not sweat underneath and possibly suffer from heat stroke.
• that the fly rug has a light colour. Light-coloured fly rugs reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it.
• that the fly rug has an adjustable chest closure.
• that it has a gusset on the front leg.
• that a padded wither provides more comfort for the horse.

What size should the fly rug be?

Since the horse wears the fly rug for several hours during turnout and moves around a lot with it, it should fit perfectly and follow all movements without chafing or cutting in. At the same time, the rug must not be too big, otherwise insects could slip underneath and irritate or disturb the horse.
The rug size is always given in feet and refers to the length of the horse. Use a soft tape measure and measure horizontally from the center of the chest to the end of the rump. You can now compare your measurement with our size charts. In addition, you will find an informative product video for each horse rug in our shop, which shows you all the important information about measuring, fit, types of rugs and their materials.
You can also read more detailed instructions on how to determine your horse's rug size in our horse rug guide.

Does the zebra fly rug really help?

For some years now, we have seen them grazing peacefully in our fields more and more often: Supposed "zebras", which on closer inspection, however, quickly turn out to be ordinary horses wearing rugs in a snazzy striped design. At first you might think that this is mainly for fashion reasons, but the fancy zebra rugs actually have a great benefit for the horse: they help to keep pests like mosquitoes and horseflies from settling on the horse. Because of their compound eyes, insects see quite differently from us and are confused by the striped pattern when approaching - this is why they avoid landing on the black and white stripes. A zebra fly rug helps the horse to be spared as much as possible from the annoying pests.
In our online shop you can buy zebra rugs with different stripe patterns or in the sweet itch variety. You will also find zebra styles in our exercise fly rugs.

Which fly rug for horses with sweet itch?

If your horse is a particularly sensitive sweet itch sufferer, then you should put a sweet itch rug on him during the summer months. Online we have a wide range of inexpensive sweet itch rugs that offer your horse the highest level of protection from insects. Made from specially developed, breathable functional fibre, these rugs will keep even the smallest insects away from your horse. They are extra robust and always have a neck piece as well as a belly bib, which no longer allow annoying insect bites. Some versions of our sweet itch rugs also have a removable genital and udder protector made of air and fluid-permeable mesh material. This means that the hairless part of the body is also optimally protected from annoying black flies.
You can complement the sweet itch rug with a matching fly mask, which also protects the sensitive head and eye area. With our fly and sweet itch rugs and other fly protection products, you can enjoy the warm season with your horse to the fullest.