Banks... bedding

No I don't do banks. My stables are fairly big and so far neither have caused problems casting wise. I have rubber mats and shavings and two bed trashers - one of whom buries poo so the less material he has to work with the better!!
 
Yes my horses do have big banks with deep beds, it's necessary to stop them getting too near the walls and getting cast. one of my horses will gets badly cast if he doesn't have big banks
 
My horse has banks in her stable. She likes to sleep in her stable so I think the banks stop her from lying too close to the walls and getting cast. She also likes to rest her head on them! I think it helps to keep the draughts out too.

It's probably personal choice more than anything - I think if you are really concerned about getting cast then the rubber strips that you can fix on the walls are probably more effective. But this is the way I've always done my stables and it works for me
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I always have banks, my horse is bedded on straw and I mainly use them as extra protection against getting cast, they probably stop the draft and also look cosier then a flat bed. That being said im sure their not strictly necessary, half the people at my yard don't have them especially those on flax/woodchips.
 
I 've had my horse since a yearling - he once got cast so have always given him a deep shavings bed with banks and rubber matting underneath - what with cutting costs etc - was just thinking does he really need banks - he does like to sleep alot so maybe i should keep them?
 
Nope, but we have the rubber anti cast strips, and rubber wall lining for warmth reasons so it's not necessary. If we didn't haev those things we'd have banks for both warmth & casting reasons
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I think the banks have to be about 3ft to be effective against casting.

I have 15 mins each to do a full muck out (including adding new straw) for 2 horses who are filthy. They have very thick beds on thick EVA mats (probably about 8-10 inches straw patted down flat) and so I dont have time to do banks or even start to hunt for poo that they would hide in them.

They both tend to just lie in the middle - they scrape all the clean straw from the sides, put it over the dirty stuff and lie on that. Their beds look like little mountains in the middle.
 
I don't have banks. Farra is on mats and megazorb and Chancer will be the same this year. I have in the past used 50 - 50 shavings and dixons and use to put the excess at the sides but only to save time mixing up and putting bedding in rather than as banks.
 
I do have banks...my lad is on straw...mainly because there is a 1-2ft high brick wall across the back that protrudes about 6inches which i cover with the banks and he has a deep bed...and also to stop any drafts (stables are not totally hole free)!! he doesnt hide poo in them or pull them down unless he decides to have a party overnight and pull them all down!!
 
I have banks for both warmth and anti cast however even if I didn't need them for these reasons I would still have them as I prefer the look of beds with banks to those without.
This is with all types of bedding (hemcore, shavings, straw) and both with and without rubber matting.
 
shavings on top of rubber matting, no banks as no drafts in stable and would have to be HUGE to prevent horse getting cast
 
Always used banks but didnt stop the Princess getting cast and making an en-suite into the next stable. Wooden stable and kicked in five planks clean through. Moved to larger stable with rubber anti-cast rollers all round. Still have banks, although not as large and I suppose for aesthetic purposes more than anything and rubber matting (although did have matting in old stable) and not had a problem since but thats not to say it wont happen again. I think its all down to personal preference ....to have banks or not to have bank that is the question
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I use rubber mats with shavings, and yes I put in decent banks. Mare loves to have a good roll, and even though the stable was designed for a 17.2 (she's 14.2
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) there is still that chance she might go down too close to the wall.
 
I think it would be so much quicker to muck out - well lay beds if i didnt have banks but i just dont think i can take the banks away! I kno he has only had cast once but i just dont think i can do it!!
 
I have a straw bed and have big banks. Primarily to stop him getting cast but also for warmth and to prevent him scraping himself as 2 of the walls are concrete.
 
I have them for warmth and in the hope they are anti cast. I also use them as a 'store' for new bedding so that I don't put a whole bale in the middle of the bed at once - I start the week with really high banks that I gradually put into the rest of the bed through the week. By Sunday night they are normal size. Then I add more bedding and start again.
 
Sunny's on deep litter shavings. I have a bank at the back of his stable but only because that's where the new bale of shavings goes. It gets pulled down every day - enough to cover the surface again. Never had any problems.
 
i do banks but only small ones connor tends to sleep round the edge of the stable, its a big stable but he likes sleeping with legs tucked underhim leaning on the wall
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i do banks because he has a freeze block wall so when he leans on it saves him having his coat on it and being scratched all the time

however when we move housse (we are getting a places with land so we can keep him at home) we will have rubber matting with a small bed, when we first got him we had him on a bed like that for a few days he seemed to prefer it but at my livery yard now we cant as we did not know how long we will be there as we have now sold the house there was no point getting the rubber matting then .
 
mine has become cast a few times, but never in her own stable which has big banks - i dont think they help as such, they just keep her away from the egdes and if she rolls she does it in the middle rather than all around!
she generally keeps them clean and leaves them alone so its quite quick to just get the middle out and turn the banks every now and then.
 
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