Whew, you really had me worried/concerned that you were looking for a trainer to send Toby to. It's so nice that your daughter wants to ride him into shape for you and spare Kansas the extra riding. Sounds like a win win to me!

Sorry about your sprained ankle, & hope it's feeling good soon! I came 'this' close to straining my knee with a tumble this morning along the path to the barn, hence the no workout for Ms. Boots today. I over bent it, but was able to walk it off. Whew, again, only sore.

You may not have these flies in Maine, yet, but if Cyniska and Jack&Java have experienced them, unusual as the flies are, it may be you just haven't seen them ....yet. LOL!!

They aren't around all the time, & today was the first time I've seen two at the same time, otherwise it's only been a single. And they aren't around for long, so must have a short cycle. I've been reading a bit on flies and some are short lived in fly form (thankful if these are!).

Nasty beasties though! I read about how the bite of horse and deer flies are like knives scissoring through the skin, then the flies sit there and lap up the blood. OK, I know, TMI!!

Unlike our friends the s ss snnn aaaa kkkk eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees who rid us of another disease spreader: vermin. Our dogs know: No kitty, no horse, no toad, and no sna..... well you know. ;-)

Ratings??!! OK, whenever I post here, I'll rate it. I haven't been cause I haven't paid any attention to what those stars meant.

Let's not start a ratings war, lollollol!

Once everything is set up and I know jack's value I will go ahead and take out that insurance, It just makes sence to be covered.

I'm not sure how the whole UBB code/ HTML things works. It's a bit confoosing as some threads allow both while others only allow html... Sometimes you can use it and at other times you can't.

Oh my...I think those might be different than what we have. It's a bit hard to tell from the pics. Ours seem to be more V shaped, but maybe that's when their wings are folded close to their bodies.

Maybe do a search for "huge horse fly" and see what comes up. If they are new, and we have both seen them, chances are other people have too and there are discussions out there about them. Whatever they are, they are disgusting and I think I heard one even after dark last night when I went to remove Java's fly mask. **shudder**

Perhaps they're the worst of both worlds, a hybrid crossing of horsefly and *gasp* June Bug!!!

Okay you guys...please tell me I'm doing the right thing.

I have separated Jack and Java. I have Java in the "winter pen" up by the house and I have Jack back in the summer pasture. There is very little grass in the winter pen, but Java could stand to lose a little weight anyway. I have given him a few flakes of hay morning and night to help keep his mind off being separated from his buddy.

I know horses are herd animals, but this is my last ditch effort to resolve their buddy issues. It nearly tore me apart when I got home last night and Jack was calling from the pasture and Java was hollering too.

It doesn't help that, even though he hasn't said anything, hubby thinks I'm crazy for separating them. I'm sure he's thinking that if a wild animal gets in with them, they'll be better off together. But then again, he complains when I go riding, because Java is pacing and whinnying the whole time I am gone.

Am I doing the right thing? I wonder how long it will take for them to adjust? I'll probably have to start all over next spring because I'll have to pen them together for the winter, but I just have to do something...

Beth, I posted to you over on that thread. Rather than retype (while I'm supposed to be working), I'll just point you there and wish you luck.

These are definately "v" shaped, only she was busy with her wings while trying to press her abdomen onto the cedar siding. When the wings are folded, it does look more moth shaped or stealth fighter shaped. And, they are louder than the standard horsefly. Your B52 bomber is a good description.

While the wings are see through-ish like most flies, they are also 'solid' black. Most flies have clear wings with black netting or webbing look to them. So when their wings are folded, they look like a solid black moth or large solid black deer fly.

Oh, I have searched all kinds of word pairings. I even had a government program micro mechanical spy fly pop up! Not to mention the scads of trout flies sites. There are some sites with photos, that list sizes, colors, etc., but these are just different than the standard horsefly and deer fly. More like a combo of them.

I wish I could have gotten a photo from above, as the photos from below just don't show it as we're used to seeing it. And I didn't see the tan dots until I zoomed in with the telephoto. It looks solid black from our usual sitings. The one photo where looks like a light brown color, is just bright sunshine washing out the color.

I still haven't seen one since I sprayed it with hornet spray.

LOL! Ever smooshed a June bug?? It ain't pretty!!

I'm thinking more like a horsefly/deerfly hybrid, creating the deerfly from h e double hockey sticks!

Ahhh...Stealth fighter is a great description of them. That is the coloring and the shape when viewed from the top. I haven't seen one sit still long enough to really get a good look at them. So far when we've seen them, there's been a lot of running and screaming going on...LOL

You know, that Stealth movie just came out. Maybe it's a publicity ploy...LOL

While they may never completely give it up, Java's pacing and calling while you are out riding Jack, could become less by separating them during the summer riding months. Heck, as small as our turnout/'pasture' is, Bud will still call out when he loses track of where Boots and Gilligan are (and of course they won't answer him!).

Even Boots gave out a few calls (and she's the quiet type) on Saturday when Bud and Gillligan went out for a ride. But, she was coming into season. ;-) When we eventually get to where Bud is left home alone, he will definately call out a lot while we're gone. At least he eats and doesn't pace, just calls out, but I have him (or whoever is left behind) stalled.

In working with Boots and overcoming her anxieties (once saddled), I've begun using Farnam's Quietex. It had to be fed 2 hours before you 'need' it, so for your going out for a ride it might only be sometimes practical. For instance, when you knew you were going out well in advance or scheduled a trail ride that you would trailer one to and leave the other home alone, it might work for the one left home.

I even tried it out on Gilligan last Friday as we had a very windy day. Gilligan hears EVERYTHING on windy days (or maybe it's because he can't hear that well ecause of the loudness of the wind?) and I wanted to feel how he rode with Quietex in him (for the first time hubby rides Gillligan out on the park trails, for instance). It worked great! Gilligan was as nimble as ever, not at all dopey, and only pricked his ears and looked at the spooky noises, no jumpiness what-so-ever~!! I'll use it again for him on windy days because it kept him his usual fun, safe self.

I wish I had had Quietex for Caption, as I just didn't bother riding him on windy days as he was so reactive to it. Not breezy days, mind you, I mean really windy.

If you try Quietex on Java, he may find it's too much effort to pace and get all worked up, but may still call out.

So far, both horses just ate it right up mixed into just a little beet pulp.

They will adjust to it and next year, if you start right out separating them when you're ready to start riding, they may accept it sooner than they will this year. At least you don't have 'right next door' neighbors to complain about the noise. :-)

<Maybe it's a publicity ploy> LOL!!

If not, and if not evoution, i guess that would leave intelligent design!!

:-D

What I'm thinking is that even if Java never gets better, I just don't want Jack to get any worse. He's not bad now and I don't want him to get that way. Their age dictates that Jack will be around a lot longer than Java, so once Java passes away, I don't want Jack to be a fruitcake. I'd like to keep him sane and if that means separating him from Java, then so be it.

I'd feel worse about it if we weren't there to check on them twice a day.

This is a message to all really...

I just thought you would like to see this picture of my ever so cool Shadow...

LOL, yes, way cool!!! (Now, how the heck do I look at the second attachment????)