Bots in Horses

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 44, 22 February 1936, Page 12

Bots in Horses

Veterinarians agree that bots in horses are capable of giving rise to severe diseases ,and this being So, horse owners should do what they can to prevent the ravages of the fly. Horses which are being constantly handled and worked are more easily protected than those ‘‘turned out” for the summer. The latter should be caught occasionally and given a thoroough brushing down, some one of the preventives mentioned below being afterwards rubbed on any par* where the animal can easily lick himself, such as the base of the neck, the shoulders, and forelegs. It is a good plan to apply a singo to tho long hairs of the lower jaw, between the legs, etc., for it is there and upon the chest, and shoulders that the female Ibot fly deposits her small, white, cylindro-conical eggs. When the maggots emerge they cause an itching sensation, and tho horse licking the place, they are thus conveyed to the mouth. Once in the stomach they feed upon the host for eight or mere months, attaining a length of about three-quarters of an inch and about half that width. Towards the ensuing summer they release their hold and are passed with the excreta. Then, boring under the drop-l-jings into the ground, the larvae proceed to transform into a pupa. After remaining in this state for six or seven weeks, the winged bot fly emerges from the ground a mature insect. With regard to preventives, good grooming and perfect cleanliness should never, when possible, be neglected. In a busy time, or when hands are short, run the horses into the yard twice a week and look them over. If eggs are found wash tho shoulders and other parts where they may be with soap and warm water. To prevent the eggs being deposited, smear tho parts that the fly most favours with a dressing of castor oil or some fatty substance. This should be repeated at frequent intervals. Another dressing is linseed oil and oil of creosote, in the proportion of | ten of the former to one of the latter. A mixture of tar and grease is sometimes used with good effect.

Whatever is done should be done early, before the flies have made headway. It i s little use to defer treatment until they have worked their will and covered the horse in places with the too familiar and decidedly unsightly bot lumps, which cannot but be a source of discomfort to the animal and from whence in a l'ow weeks the small white maggots emerge.