Freedom is a tick magnet. Although there are four other horses at our barn, he seems to be the one with the most ticks on him. Maybe they think he looks like a deer?

Lyme disease and other tick-borne problems are a big issue in New England. One mare in our barn just finished a course of Doxy after being diagnosed with Lyme.

I went away for three days, came back and found 12 ticks on him. Regular fly spray wasn’t helping; neither was Deep Woods Off.

I have tried EquiSpot in the past and had mixed results, so after doing some research, I decided to try Frontline spray.

So far, so good. I’ve been applying it every 7-10 days and haven’t seen a tick yet. It must be pretty toxic as your are supposed to wear gloves while applying it. That begs the question, which is worse? The ticks or the cure for them?