Bedding banks not mucked out for decade - normal?

R

Rosie P

New User
Joined
26 May 2013
Messages
4
Visit site
Hi

I have started loaning a new horse on DIY and the owner wants the banks in the stable left alone when mucking out. They are set absolutely rock solid! She says she's not moved them out since the horse was 7 and he's 17 now :eek:

Is this common and does anyone know why you'd do that? I don't want to get off on the wrong foot, but I can't see how I can clean the stable properly as is? :confused:

He's on wood chips.

Tx
 
I would say no that's not noRmal and unhygienic however that is the downfall of. Ring a sharer, you either have to say something and be prepared to walk away if they take it the wrong way or keep stom. Sorry not helpful but honest
 
Thanks. Good to know its not just me! He's on 24 hr turn out at mo so may suggest a spring clean before they come back in at night after summer.
 
I don't see the harm as long as the material was new and clean in the first place although would be worried if it was a wooden stable, more for the rotting of the boards than anything else. If you do clear them out it will cost you a fortune and take you a mountain of stuff and a long time to get that measure of support on the banks again which is why I presume they've been left.
 
It's a brick stable so that's probably ok but I just worry about the years of urine that will be soaked in it....and snakes now lol. Snakes!!!! :-o
 
If its a brick wall I dont see the harm in her leaving the bankings, I worked on a yard with a horse who had solid bankings, horse was apparantly a bad one for casting itself before this tactic, worked a treat and stable was always nice and clean and non smelling as the bankings were bone dry with a covering of clean straw.
 
A previous yard I was at did this. It works fine. What happens is that as the bedding inside the bank starts to decompose if it gets wet you remove a small amount from the bottom if it becomes visible. This way the bank is actually being slowly renewed. I also find that you then end up with stable banks that actually work as banks. I can't understand why people clean and fluff up their banks, I don't think that they can perform their purpose like this. Surely if the horse rolls onto them they will just squash, thus negating the reason for having them in the first place? I still keep my banks this way. Never had a snake nest, they don't look dirty and don't smell and they stay upright!
 
I tend to do this with my banks but only for one winter not ten! IMO either don't bother with banks or spend time adding and building to them to make them firm and useful, otherwise they are just there to look pretty and fluffy!
 
Mike007 said:
Horses should not keep snakes as pets:eek:
Click to expand...

Thanks - I just spluttered Irn Bru all over my screen :D

I go through my bankings every day - my horse tends to poo in his bankings and then masterfully hide his poo with shavings and he also wee's in them so its a must. But I used to be full livery where the bankings were only ever dug out once a fortnight and I was most unhappy about it - was a constant source of gripe between me and YM who fortunately is still my friend though :D
 
blond1 said:
I knew a lady who left the banks in her stable. YO wasn't happy and insisted they were done. They found an snakes nest at the back underneath it!
Click to expand...

OMG....... JEEEEZus. I'd be outa there PDQ, would take horsey with me plus a flask & a duvet, and we'd be grazing some grass verge, somewhere.

I've just done my two's stables and emptied out all the bedding from the winter, including the banks. Then brushed out, hosed down/disinfectant etc etc. Then replaced bedding, inc banks, so its all nice and fresh.

But as routine maintenance, I dig out the banks every week and spread around & remove any soiled, wet or smelly bedding as a matter of course. Ditto if it was a straw bed. Mine are on Bedmax, and I find this simple task just keeps the stables so much fresher. One horse is in a concrete stable with stable-matting; the other horse is on an earth floor (building has concrete walls) - and that tends to be a bit different as regards management but I still dig out the banks regularly.

I cannot see why anyone would wish to leave the banks in place for more than say a month at the very most; and as for 10 YEARS, that's absolutely shocking IMO. That's surely gotta be a health risk as there'll be all sorts of gunk and bugs there (or even a snake :(), and stuff like mould which isn't going to do anyone, human or equine, any good at all.

YUCK is all I can say.
 
Not normal at all, I take down the banks each time I add a new bale whether it be straw or shavings. But I have been forced not to touch them ATM - there's a robin nesting in one!!
 
I don't understand why people have banks in the first place :confused:

You all obviously have more money than I do :D
 
I don't do my banks on a daily basis - in fact, to keep their 'strength' I tend to only dig them out every few weeks, especially in the winter. I've never heard of not doing them in 10 years though!
 
I agree that it seems silly to have fluffy fresh banks which would be useless to a cast horse. When I have had a stable I would bring down the banks when more bedding needed and then replace the banks, but in retrospect you might as well have firm ones or just not bother!

Leaving them for ten years is crazy! How on earth have they resisted a spring clean in all that time! Probably full of mites and things, a right old ecosystem in there... (and snakes) :-)
 
crazyhorse37 said:
A previous yard I was at did this. It works fine. What happens is that as the bedding inside the bank starts to decompose if it gets wet you remove a small amount from the bottom if it becomes visible. This way the bank is actually being slowly renewed. I also find that you then end up with stable banks that actually work as banks. I can't understand why people clean and fluff up their banks, I don't think that they can perform their purpose like this. Surely if the horse rolls onto them they will just squash, thus negating the reason for having them in the first place? I still keep my banks this way. Never had a snake nest, they don't look dirty and don't smell and they stay upright!
Click to expand...
This
 
I'm with Oberon, I don't have banks either :) But if I did, they would be kept as clean and fresh as the rest of my stable.
 
mandwhy said:
I agree that it seems silly to have fluffy fresh banks which would be useless to a cast horse. When I have had a stable I would bring down the banks when more bedding needed and then replace the banks, but in retrospect you might as well have firm ones or just not bother!

Leaving them for ten years is crazy! How on earth have they resisted a spring clean in all that time! Probably full of mites and things, a right old ecosystem in there... (and snakes) :-)
Click to expand...

This makes sense and for that reason I wish i hadn't read it as I'm comforted that my horses are safer with my nice fluffy banks which are turned daily:eek:
 
I only bank new horses for a few weeks till I am sure they won't get cast.

Even if you don't bank up, bedding will go mouldy if never cleared. In winter I like my boxes deep cleaned once a week and skipped on the other days.

How can people go for years??!!! All my stables are emptied, disinfected and pressure washed in the spring, then re-bedded with clean litter. I assume these yards don't have a Spring Clean.
 
Deep litter beds and banks are best left untouched!

The banks need to be solid so that the horse doesn't get cast - should he do so he will be able to get himself up by breaking down the banks.

We used to leave the deep litter beds down for years at a time.

Pine is a disinfectant and urine that drains to the bottom, spreads and dries out. It's only when urine is exposed to air that it smells.
 
Oberon said:
I don't understand why people have banks in the first place :confused:

You all obviously have more money than I do :D
Click to expand...

Wait until your horse gets cast and then you will understand why!

Thick, well backed banks prevent the horse from rolling over into the wall, it leaves them with legs high enough to gather momentum and roll back over so they can get up.

If they do get a little too close the banks give way allowing the horse to get a foot hold and back on its feet.

I remember the day I arrived at the stables to be met by my ex cavelry officer YO crying like a baby - Conker my favourite pony had become cast in the night and in his struggles to get up had smashed the timber wall and a large chunk had impaled him through the skull - he had never been cast before and was in his late teens at the time.

So why take the risk?

If you do it right it only costs you the first time you put down the new bed as you will need a lot more bedding - after that its just replace discarded bedding.
 
I have horses most of my life. None have ever been cast.

If one did - I would investigate why a healthy horse couldn't move effectively or if the stable was suitable.

If I couldn't find the reason why nor guarantee it would never happen again - then the horse would be on grass livery from then on.

Piling bedding around the sides of the stable wouldn't come into it ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top