The adult nematode lives in the stomach of the horse and produces eggs which are then passed in the faeces and hatch into larvae. The larvae are ingested by the [[Musca spp.|house fly]] (''Musca domestica'') or [[Stomoxys calcitrans|stable fly]] (''Stomoxys calcitrans'') in their larval phase, and deposited on equine skin when they feed as adult flies.