Horseflies may not look too threatening, but their bites can be extremely painful to both animals and humans.

What makes horseflies particularly dangerous are the diseases they can transmit with their sting: EIA virus, which can trigger contagious anaemia, herpes and the tularaemia (rabbit fever). Some horseflies even carry Borelia, which cause Lyme disease. Although this rarely happens, it’s mistakenly believed that Lyme disease you can only catch this disease through a tick bite.

Horseflies are quite clever and will land on your horse where he can’t reach them with his tail, this is where he becomes reliant on your help to keep these pests away.

Many owners will use chemical products such as insecticides to keep horseflies at bay. Others swear by home-made remedies that allegedly drive off the insects. In reality, the effect of these products is minimal and can only prevent the horseflies from bloodsucking. Also, only a few commercially available active ingredients have actually been tested on horses, so the effects can at best be presumed. In the worst case, such remedies may trigger allergies.

A simple and effective solution

At the heart of the trap is a black rubber bar suspended in the sun. The black ball heats up quickly and is mistaken by the horseflies for a warm-blooded creature. Above the ball, a close-meshed funnel is suspended, which becomes narrower towards the top. At the top is a waster filled capture container.

The Tabanus Trap can be put in your horse’s field to keep horseflies away

The trap makes use of the horsefly’s ability to fly – they can only fly off vertically. After a few bite attempts the fly realises there is no blood coming out and tries to fly away. Since it can only fly up, it’s led by the funnel into the capture container, which it can’t escape from. Such a simple idea, that’s amazingly effective.

The Tabanus Trap is a flagship model from VOSS. The post can be quickly and easily mounted anywhere, even on rocky soil. This system allows for frequent repositioning of the trap in your horse’s paddock or stable yard. It work effectively over an area of 2.5 acres.

There are a number of other models available to suit your own individual requirements and budgets.

The Tabanus Edge has all the same features as the original Tabanus trap.


It’s just a slightly simpler version of the original trap and is a little cheaper too.

It’s still easily moved so you can put it where you need it to deal with the problem of horseflies quickly and efficiently.

The Tabanus Easy is good option to hang in your stable yard, or if you have trees in your paddock it can put up there instead.

It works in the same way as all the other traps in the range and can reduce the problem of horseflies by up to 95%.

Tabanus Delta is quick and easy to set up, thanks to its three legs that form a secure frame.

You can quickly move the trap in your field, with minimal effort. Despite its size it works over an area 7,500 square metres.

You can only buy Tabanus Traps at www.eletric-fence.co.uk

VOSS electric fence are electric fence experts with over 35 years experience and over 1,000 products available. for more information you can email them at shop@electric-fence.co.uk, or call them on 01452 346204 for a chat.