6 Tips for Avoiding Horse-Flies While Running

Its summer time! While its not the first thing you think of when you think of heat training, trying to escape the wrath of a horse-fly will ring a bell for many trail runners. Horse flies cling onto your clothes or head and then like to bite a nice chunk into your skin. It starts as a little itch for a split second before you realize your being bitten by a damn horse-fly. Then its too late and you they got a nice bite of you. Horse-flies typically are worst in places like Florida or gulf coast where its humid and wet, however we still get them here in Central Texas. Here are a few things you can try no your next trail run to help avoid horse-fly bites.

1)   Bug Spray – Picaridin has been said to effectively ward off horse-flies. You can try Deet as well, which can help repel mosquitoes too.  Remember that if you are running for hours on end in the heat and humidity you will probably need to reapply. You can also apply permetherin which is a natural pesticide to your clothes for added strength.

2)   Some say horse-flies are attracted to blue for some reason. Horse-fly traps are typically blue for that reason. So we recommend choosing a lighter color such as white. You can also wear sun sleeves on your arms, which will help protect from sun and horse-flies too.

3)   Wearing a buff or/and hat on your neck and head will help keep them off your skin. We’ve all been out there when the horse-flies start dive-bombing your head and around your ears. This should help.

4)   Stay away from ponds or other stagnant areas of water. Horse-flies are attracted to water where their eggs are laid and hatched.

5)   Horse-flies are also attracted to heat and movement, so we are kind of screwed there. It’s not easy to run and not move or produce heat…. Horse flies are fast, so it is basically impossible to outrun them.  Even knowing that, it still doesn’t stop me from picking up the speed to evade their attack. I’ve known people to get bit while popping a squat in the woods too, so I can’t quite jump on board with the “stand still” rule.

6)   If you are close to a road I’ve found that jumping off of a trail run to a road run gets me out into the open and the horse fly tends to drop off pretty quickly then. So this isn’t always an option, but if are able to pop up out of the woods onto the road a bit, you can see some reprieve.

Horse-fly bites while annoying are typically not harmful. They do itch a bit, but typically go away in a few days like an ant bite or mosquito bite would. You will notice as well that some trails and areas of town tend to have more horse-flies than other areas. So just take note after your run. You’ll start to remember which trails are the worst. Running away from a horse-fly or swarm of them might turn your peaceful easy trail run into a workout day! If you have any tips to prevent horse-flies that we missed, please drop us a note in the comments. Happy summer trail-running.