Banks - a poll

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madhector

madhector

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Do you use banks? If so why? if not why?

Feeling curious
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Cairo is on rubber mats and only has side banks if I have put in a lot of bedding.

Chancer is on shaving and does not have banks.

Only stable I have used banks on was one that had a lot of drafts coming in through the sides and back as there was a gap between wall and floor.

Is banks a more moden thing to do - I cannot recall ever having banks on the stables as a kid - albeit back in the 60s?

Never yet had a horse get cast but have seen them cast with banks (maybe I am just lucky).
 
big horse = more likely to roll near wall.
i have massive banks because my horse likes to roll and hes a BIG 16.2 (low withers) also because then he finds it easier to get up and can push out without damaging himself!
 
I have banks probably just because they look right to me and allow the shavings to stay a bit cleaner. Pickle wears a anti-cast roller as with a 17.1hh the banks would have to be HUGE to make any difference
 
Yes - I don't agree with not having them either.

I have banks for loads of reasons....Helps pervent capped hocks, much cleaner bed, decent banks does help cast as cannot roll right up agaiest the wall, looks more comfortable and horse more likely to lay down and roll...

On rubber matting I have banks and then inch or so covering to asorb the wee etc.

I do think them some people over bank (Like 5ft tall banks...)and them it surely is a bit counter productive as it becomes a wall its self.

People who 'fluff' up there banks get me, I compact mine down to give a solid leaning bank.
 
Filthy, messy, box-walking fidgets - no. I got sick of him walking his banks all over the droppings/wee he had just done.

Nice clean horsies - yes!
 
I always put banks in my stables because (a) it makes the bed nice for them to lie down in, especially if they lie against a wall, (b) stops any drafts when they are lying down and (c) I thought it stopped them getting cast.
 
No banks for me! My horse has a really thick straw bed. Never had banks, don't need them. He rolls every time you put him in his box and has never had cast ( well not in 25 years!!) What I call 'pretty banks' are a waste of time , i.e banks of about a foot high just to make the bed look 'pretty'. always thought they had to be half way up the walls to stop cast? Which when you think lots of people on matting just have a small amount of bedding and no banks do their horses get cast more? Personally I think if you have a horse whom is prone to getting cast an anti-cast roller is the best bet
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we hve banks because it helps keep the drafts out!! also the girls have to practise foe pony club....neat banks mean good stable management scores.
 
I just cannot make a bed without banks and it's so good to stand back and see a well made bed (imo). I have one on shavings (see my old boy caught on camera in my Avatar!) and one on straw .... its like leaving home in the morning and not making your bed if you dont have banks, if you see what I mean!!!!!
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But I can fully understand why some of you don't use banks, especially if your horse is a mucky pup and messes it up anyway, it must be so disheartening. I am very lucky with both my boys as they look after their beds
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I have banks as -

a) I don't have to add more shavings to the stable all week then, just keep taking shavings off the banks to top-up the bed.

b) Don't have masses of storage so easier to store my shavings in the stable, as banks.

c) My mare Sh1ts on the tops of the banks, so then can't lie on her poo.
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i use banks but not very high ones, agree about it being counter productive if really high, but i get the biggest sense of satisfaction out of a nice bed, my mum in law said the other day "he has a better bed than i do", yep agreed and it looks great with banks. but i was always taught to do it for anti casting, no other reason.
 
never put up banks..

use an anti-cast roller.

banks are a recent addition to stable management.

and as a previous reply has said it doesnt really make a difference, the only why to stop a horse getting cast is a roller...used on most horses during 60's/70's when i was younger.
 
Rubber matts with just a quater covered in about 3 inches deep shavings.

Those horses not on matts do get banks.

I have known one horse who would get cast on the matts and had to go back to a conventional bed though.
 
I am a bit anal about my bed and have to say it looks 'right' as someone else said, plus I think it helps with drafts and may discourage from lying too close to the walls and getting cast. Mostly it is because I like them!
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No banks for my mare. She has thick straw bed and has never needed them. She had them once when i first got her and she dug them all out and made a mess of her bed. So from that day she's never had them.
 
when i trained a the british racing school there would say the bed should look like yours with pillows(banks) and a deep materess??
i have always done banks as my boy loves snuggling in a corner with his head in the banks??
 
My stables have rubber matting and no banks are ever used. I don't believe they are useful in the slightest to stop horses from becoming cast.
 
As said above banks do nothing if they get cast, every horse at my yard has banks and a few have got cast, anti-cast rollers however do eliminate the problem (and pickle doesnt mind his, he still lies down)
 
It's been scientifically proven (though I simply cannot recall the paper on it
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) that to help a cast horse of approx. 16.2hh, banks have to be solid and over 4ft high. In order to achieve such high banks, with a good degree of stability, the base of the banks has to be pretty wide too (almost the same as the height of the bank, when using shavings). So for a 'normal' 12x12 stable, bedded down with shavings, for a 16.2hh horse, there really wouldn't be much room for it to move around in...... Hence why IMO banks are impractical and a waste of time, if you are using them for cast prevention.

However, I will use banks if there is a draft that will come in, from say the drainage channel at the rear of the stable. Or if I have an excess of shavings over my mats (that's usually only ever been just after pay day though). Mine are out 24/7 now and only B will come in prior to foaling, so not till March.

Where I currently work, we have to use banks, with deep beds. In the foaling boxes (all are about 16x16) there is pour on rubber flooring and the banks are ENORMOUS with very thick beds indeed. Where I worked in Kentucky, we didn't use banks at all. Not even in the foaling boxes - just VERY thick beds.
 
i've seen a lot of banks that are just an excuse not to muck out half the stable. they won't prevent a horse getting cast, whereas an anti-cast strip around the walls at 4' will help him get a purchase up the wall, and push himself away enough to get his legs out and get up. i have a small bank around the edges (about a foot high) and 6-8" bed in the middle, on rubber, mucked out as cleanly as possible every day. with huge banks, that becomes much harder imho.
 
Good point kerilli - I hate it when people do not go under their banks. Amonia can gather under there (esp. in mare stables, due to the anatomy of the different sexes), plus you get mice nesting, mold spores - yuck!!! I wouldn't want any horse of mine or one in my care to have to live in that!
 
I usually put small banks around, just because it looks right to me, and more cosy, but Flash tends to either pull them down or eat them
 
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