Which Fly Mesh?

A Fly Sheet or Fly Rug is a mesh rug which offers protection from the harsh sun, allows the breeze to pass thru and keeps flies and insects away from your horse during the summer. Not all mesh is created equally.

Fly mesh can vary from lightweight brittle and stiff fabric at one end of the spectrum, to something that resembles shade cloth at the other extreme. The superior fly mesh’s are a soft weave nylon.  They are nice and soft – but also strong.

With so many fly mesh rugs on the market – what should you look for?

Fabric Weave.  The weave of the mesh is very important – most people need  a nice tight weave mesh to keep the smaller biting insects,  like sandflies, off your horse. There are many mesh’s that have a looser or more open weave – which won’t be effective in stopping mosquitoes or marsh flies.

At the other extreme, we have seen some mesh that is such a tight weave it won’t allow good airflow. Airflow through the weave is important – often the best way is to hold the mesh up to the light to get an idea of the tightness of the mesh weave if comparing fabrics.

Fabric weight or GSM (grams per square meter) is one of the most important factors with fly mesh.  Mesh generally falls in a range from 200gsm to  450gsm. Higher the GSM equates to better strength. Lower gsm fabric is usually a looser more open weave and a higher gsm is generally a tighter weave.   

Colour and Treatment.  Colour plays a very  important part in insect repelling. Those of us  from fly prone areas will know how some colours attract flies and others don’t. Dark colours are generally the worst performing. The pantones we use in our mesh as been tested to be some of the best performing colours.

Some manufactures claim that their mesh fabric is treated to repel insects and that the treatment wears  off after  x number of  machine washes.  We have yet to see any noticeable difference between these and standard mesh rugs (except the price).

Should I use Caribu’s 'Deluxe' Mesh or 'EuroMesh' rugs?

Mesh rugs have many advantages over Ripstop rugs in hot weather,:-

• Cooler, with better airflow, allowing the horses coat to breath helps alleviate itch.
• Similar strength and performance.
• They dry  out very quickly after a shower of rain - alleviating itch.  While they won’t keep the horse dry they do an excellent job in preventing rain scour.

Our Deluxe 410gsm rugs and our 270gsm Euro-Mesh rugs are both very similar. Airflow, UV Protection and Insect Protection is very similar in both types of mesh. Both rugs are durable, but each has its own advantages:-

Deluxe '410gsm' Mesh - The 410gsm mesh is a thicker weave mesh fabric, so its stronger and ideally suited to horses who are harder on rugs or suffer from itch. This mesh has become legendary for its durability and performance. Being a heavier gauge thread, the rugs are also slightly heavier in weight compared to the 270gsm mesh, the advantage being they can be more durable.

Euro-Mesh '270gsm' - The Euro-Mesh is a revolutionary new style of soft fly mesh. It features a flat weave mesh. The rugs are lighter than the 410 mesh and offer a cooler alternative. (but not as strong). They are ideal for horses who don't suffer excessively from itch etc and need a cool general use rug.

Breeze '240gsm' - The Breeze mesh we use in our mini mesh rugs as well as our range of hybrid rugs. It has a slighlty larger weave to our Deluxe 410gsm mesh and is ideal intermediate option for our hybrid rugs that offers excellent airflow.