Banks-Do they actually work??

B

Bojangles

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 January 2010
Messages
658
Location
Bucks
Visit site
Beau got cast last night. First time for a very long time like years!! I dont have banks as I always belived that they would have to be very wide and soild to actually work. So would lose the space to lay down. Luckly he was found by the YO as they heard kicking and went out to check what was going on!!

The stable is 12x14 he has half of that for his bed now Im going to make it bigger and see if that works. Poor boy got a cut and a bit of swelling on leg. Cold hosed and purple sprayd. See how he is later on.
 
vicksey said:
oh dear sorry to hear about your poor horse, i was told banks had to be 3 ft high to work but Im no expert!
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought too. So he would end up with little space and more then likey get cast again!! He is 17.1hh. Ive got another 2 bales of bedding to put in tonight to make his bed bigger. His on rubber matting too.
 
Hi , im havin this trouble with my 3 year old he keeps getting cast in stable , he is in a mare and foal box with matting and a big wood chip bed and big banks but he still gets cast:( iam going to get the anti cast strips, hopefully will help him. x
 
I had a youngster that used to get cast but fortunately he never panicked and would just wait for us to get in there with the lunge lines (he was only in his stable during the day and in the field at night so it never took us long to find him). He had small banks in his stable which didn't stop him getting cast. He is now in a stable without banks and has never been cast since. Maybe now that he is older and wiser he has learned where to lie down.

I was always told that the banks had to be high, deep and solid to prevent a horse getting cast.
 
As others have said, my understanding is that banks would have to be so huge and so solid in order to prevent horses getting cast that they would be unworkable. Rubber matting on the walls or a strip for them to get a grip on is better. If I had a horse that suddenly strated getting cast, I'd suspect a low grade belly ache might be behind it.
 
I think banks do defintely work if they are tall enough- on the rare occasion that one of my horses has got themselves cast it's always been when i've not made the banks big enough- they have deep beds and high banks (not too square) (about 3ft) up the wall- even my youngster has huge banks and he has never got cast since then- also when he went through a stage of constantly getting stuck we got some thin strips of ply (about 2 packs which were about £5 each) from B and Q or somewhere and fixed them around the stable walls about 3 ft high and if they get stuck they can use it to get some purchase to kick away from the wall- seems to really help and very cheap remedy too.
 
Last edited:
I had one get cast a few years ago on flax with banks and he nearly got drowned with flax up his nose!!!!! Since then I have never banked and have anti cast strips around the walls just in case.
 
very true for banks to be affective they need to be very high, thick and compact, and no mater haw thick they are horses can still get cast. banks are really there to give protection to the horses legs when thrashing if cast. the only sure fire way of stopping a horse getting cast is an anticast roller. i had a youngster that was always getting cast (3-4 times a day) and couldnt find a roller small enough so i used rubber mats that i rolled like a carpet (about the size of a car tire) and bolted them to the walls worked a treat but cost a few £s lol.
 
I would say so however they need to be very substantial. 95% of the time the banks I see in stables are useless and might as well not be there. Little fuffed up banks wont do anything at all.

I think alot of people who have banks in their bed dont realise just how thick, wide, tall and most important tightly packed down to make them as solid as possible in order to have any effect.

Mine are usually between two to three foot tall and the maybe a foot or more wide and very tightly packed down. I can sit on them and they stay more or less in place :)

Its a bit of a work out digging and relaying them once or twice a week!

Sadiemay
 
Bojangles said:
Beau got cast last night. First time for a very long time like years!! I dont have banks as I always belived that they would have to be very wide and soild to actually work. So would lose the space to lay down. Luckly he was found by the YO as they heard kicking and went out to check what was going on!!

The stable is 12x14 he has half of that for his bed now Im going to make it bigger and see if that works. Poor boy got a cut and a bit of swelling on leg. Cold hosed and purple sprayd. See how he is later on.
Click to expand...

My banks were about 3ft high but my horse still got cast. To be quite honest my banks aren't there to prevent getting cast, instead they are there to help prevent injury if the horse does get cast! The belief that a bigger stable will actually prevent a horse becoming cast is a total myth too! I have seen a horse cast in a 10x12 stable and mine in a 12 x 14 stable. I have also seen an old horse cast in a 12 acre field against a solitary tree.
 
I have seen articles on Google re putting a strip of rubber (like rubber mats) around the stable about 2 feet or so up the wall so they can get a purchase on something if they roll against the wall.
 
Many years ago I picked up a tip from the Pony Club site which said that using your spare bales of straw or shavings round the walls works really well as banks - good and solid and especially useful if you are short of storage space!
 
Years and years ago my 12.2 pony I had then got colic and the vet advised putting banks in the stable to stop him getting cast, he told us to use un opened bales of straw.

I use banks with shavings now but only because he seems to stay cleaner with them, they wouldn't do anything to stop him getting cast they're not big enough.

I think they'd have to be very big to actually do anything. Some people put pieces of wood bout halfway up the wall so there's something for them to grip to push themselves back over.

I once found a pony cast against the fence in the field, was on my own no rope or anything, stupid I know but I found some inner strength from somewhere, held the legs that were on the inside and pulled her back over, dangerous I know, I couldn't leave her, didn't have mobiles in them days !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top