Removing Bot Fly Eggs on Horses

Summary:

Professional horseman, Ken McNabb from Ken McNabb Horsemanship, demonstrates how to remove Bot Fly eggs from a horse. Bot Flies are a type of parasite that plagues horses during the summer and fall. These parasites will lay eggs on your horse’s legs or stomach and can be detrimental to your horse’s health. Horses can ingest the eggs when itching or licking themselves and can cultivate the larva in their stomach. Using a Bot Fly Knife from Weaver Leather, it is easy to prevent Bot Flies from infesting your horse’s intestines!

What You Will Need:

Bot Fly Knife

Halter

Lead Rope

Put a halter around your horse’s head then attach a lead rope. If you need help putting a rope halter on your horse, visit our tutorial Fitting and Tying a Rope Horse Halter

Safely and properly tie your horse to a post, stall, cross-tie area or any other area where you can work freely around his / her legs. If you need guidance to tying your horse safely, view our tutorial Properly Tying a Horse

Using the Bot Fly Knife, gently follow the hairline down the infected area with the metal teeth gliding through the horse’s hair removing the yellow hair follicles of the parasite. Please note, we suggest you crouch down to the level of the infected area instead of kneeling or sitting by your horse’s hooves. Horses can be easily spooked or fussy; therefore to prevent injury, maintaining a position with both of your knees bent will allow you to quickly remove yourself from the path of moving hooves.

For smaller surfaces on your horse’s leg, such as behind the knees, ankle or in the tendon grooves, use the small straight edge on the Bot Fly Knife. Repeat this process as often as needed to remove all of the parasites from your horse's skin. That's it!