If you don’t like to ride with a fly mask on your horse, you know how serious and annoying a problem face and ear flies can be on trail. Sprays and wipes don’t work well to repel all flies, and they lose effectiveness quickly when the horse sweats.

For an effective repellant mixture for your horse that stays in place and also provides a physical barrier to biting gnats, try mixing 9 teaspoons of petroleum jelly with 1 teaspoon of concentrated (2.5%) permethrin and half a teaspoon of Campho-Phenique, available at any drug store. Apply a thick layer on and just inside the ears, around the eyes, and around the nostrils. This mixture also works well on the belly.