Cob Jockey

For the past two years, I've started buying my fly spray in bulk.  Before then, I used to run out to Rural King to grab a bottle anytime I ran out.  I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at the cost comparison for all the ways I can outfit Connor with the same fly spray for an entire season.


My fly spray of choice is the water-based Pyranha.  It's extremely effective, and it also helps repel ticks, which I love.  I've not found a tick on Connor since switching to it.

The spray bottle is 1 qt, while the big jug is 1 gallon or 4 qts.  I go through around 4 qts of Pyranha per fly season, with Connor getting sprayed every time he goes outside and before and after every ride.

(For the sake of comparison, I'm going to leave out shipping costs since there's a lot of ways to get free shipping these days.)

Using an old funnel to re-fill my bottle

Here's a list of the ways I can obtain a season's worth of fly spray for Connor from the stores I buy from most, in order from most expensive to least expensive (regular prices shown):

Smartpak: $18.95/spray bottle
Cost per quart: $18.95
Total cost per year: $75.80

Rural King (local store): $17.95/spray bottle
Cost per quart: $17.95
Total cost per year: $71.80

Riding Warehouse: $15.95/spray bottle
Cost per quart: $15.95
Total cost per year: $63.80

Smartpak: $54.95/1 gallon bottle (4 qts)
Cost per quart: $13.74
Total cost per year: $54.95

Riding Warehouse: $43.95/1 gallon bottle (4 qts)
Cost per quart: $10.99
Total cost per year: $43.95

Between what I used to do and what I do now, I'm saving almost $28/year on the exact same fly spray.  I'm saving $11/year just by buying the same thing in the same bottle from Riding Warehouse vs ordering it from Smartpak. 

(Uh, Smartpak, can we talk about that markup?  Wow!)

We're not talking about life-changing amounts of money here, but horses are expensive enough as it is, and I'm sure I'm not the only one always looking for ways to reduce my horse spend.  Be a smart shopper: shop around, do the math, and buy in bulk!

I have been a longtime fan of yellow Pyranha Wipe n' Spray.  Nothing else seems to work quite as well, and bonus, it's oil-based, so it always made Connor look shiny.  (And then dusty a few minutes later, but he'd look good in the show ring!)

This year I saw that they developed a new product called, confusingly, Pyranha Spray n' Wipe.  Really guys?  This was the hardest possible product to Google as a result of basically having the same name as the existing Pyranha.  Anyway, Spray n' Wipe shall be referred to as "Blue Pyranha" from now on and Wipe n' Spray will be referred to as "Yellow Pyranha".  Blue Pyranha is 'new' although I have no idea how long it's been out.  I got a trial bottle of it as a freebie at a horse show last fall, so at least that long.


They tout the fact that it's water-based above everything else, since I guess a lot of people don't like that about Yellow Pyranha.  The oil-based formula does attract dust and leave a sheen on the barn floor when I'm done with it.  What caught my eye, though, is that this one wards off a broader range of insects than Yellow Pyranha, including ticks.

Not shown on this label, but it does say ticks elsewhere on the bottle.

I've seen enough people and horses with lyme disease to know I want to avoid it at all costs.  And yeah, fly sprays aren't a magic flyproof bubble, but it's something.

I've been using it now for this entire season (halfway through already, can you believe it?  I'll be clipping in just over three months!) and I actually haven't seen a single tick on Connor this year.  So...it's working?  One way or another, it's just as effective as Yellow Pyranha at flies, so I'll keep using it.  It also definitely doesn't attract dust or leave a sheen on the barn floor like Yellow Pyranha.

I bought one bottle for around $16, and when that was about gone, I bought this:

That's four refills for $49.95 at Riding Warehouse, or $12.48 a bottle.  If you're smart, unlike me, and didn't order it days before RW's 15% off sale, you could've gotten it for $42.46 or $10.60 a bottle.  It also comes in a tiny trail size bottle size that's designed to be dropped in a saddle bag and applied on the trail.

For me, Yellow Pyranha is officially out and Blue Pyranha is officially in!   Has anyone else tried it yet?  What's your current favorite fly spray?