Do you bank your stable beds or not?

[Alibear]

Does anyone still take the bed up during the day to air and put it down again in the evening. I can't remember where or when I learned that trick but if I'm DIY it saves a lot of shavings and makes having banks rather useful as you just throw the bed up against them in the morning and pull down again in the evening.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Does anyone still take the bed up during the day to air and put it down again in the evening. I can't remember where or when I learned that trick but if I'm DIY it saves a lot of shavings and makes having banks rather useful as you just throw the bed up against them in the morning and pull down again in the evening.

They do it on our yard if the bed is particularly wet all the way through. Normally they leave a thinner bed in daytime and a thicker bed at night, rather than a full throw up and pull down.

 

[Hoof_Prints]

I use banks with straw and shavings, I think they look cosy and I don't like to think of their legs or head against a wall when lying down! One I just sold used the bank as pillow, if there was no bank he would squash his head up against the brick wall instead, daft idiot his new owner is fine with building banks! I'm in a rush with the other horses I don't make fancy ones, just chuck a little up higher near the sides.

 

[Hexx]

I generally do, although there are times when I just can't be bothered! He always has a thick bed though.

One of the girls at a previous yard used to have HUGE banks - we used to run round the top of them to annoy her (childish - I know, but she did find it funny!) but they never budged!

 

[Hallo2012]

i do bank really high in one stable, as the pony does tend to roll over and end up legs to the wall-having bedding there gives him something to push back against and then stand up.

for that reason i dont disturb the banks much, i let them be big and solid rather than loose and fluffy. im aware that harbours dust but feel being cast is a bigger risk to this one!

the other pony i just do moderate banks that i fluff and move daily. he never rolls all the way over in the stable i just prefer how they look and like matching stables!

 

[jj_87]

i have stopped since reading the article. Mare is using much more of her stable since- pooping up the wall included

 

[Blazingsaddles]

Does anyone still take the bed up during the day to air and put it down again in the evening. I can't remember where or when I learned that trick but if I'm DIY it saves a lot of shavings and makes having banks rather useful as you just throw the bed up against them in the morning and pull down again in the evening.

I have always used this method - thought it was the norm? I don’t use banks though.

 

[oldie48]

Always. Big proper solid banks. Can’t say I turn them often either but my horse has never coughed so seems to survive. He’s in a huge stable though and on straw. View attachment 28682

Blimey you could air B&B that stable!

 

[Michen]

Blimey you could air B&B that stable!

Proper straw bed!

 

[Surbie]

Does anyone still take the bed up during the day to air and put it down again in the evening. I can't remember where or when I learned that trick but if I'm DIY it saves a lot of shavings and makes having banks rather useful as you just throw the bed up against them in the morning and pull down again in the evening.

Yup, I do - also useful for a freshening disinfect of the mats before it all goes back down in the evening. I don't use banks, he just poos on them if they are along the back wall. I do store clean shavings in a heap in one corner.

Michen, I have stable envy! Would love a box that big.

 

[Bernster]

Blimey you could air B&B that stable!

I know! That stable looks proper cosy.

 

[AdeleSK]

Always. Big proper solid banks. Can’t say I turn them often either but my horse has never coughed so seems to survive. He’s in a huge stable though and on straw. View attachment 28682

I would seriously consider having a nap in that bed.

 

[ElectricChampagne]

would anyone turn their banks regularly? I get quite annoyed when they haven't been turned!

 

[Michen]

would anyone turn their banks regularly? I get quite annoyed when they haven't been turned!

Nope I don't. Terrible I know, but I like them really thick/compacted and solid to genuinely help with casting when he comes back from hunting and rolls a lot. Horse never had a cough...

 

[Ellzbellz97]

Always. Big proper solid banks. Can’t say I turn them often either but my horse has never coughed so seems to survive. He’s in a huge stable though and on straw. View attachment 28682

My bed looks like this too on straw!! I find my boy is actually a lot cleaner with a bigger bed as well

 

[ihatework]

would anyone turn their banks regularly? I get quite annoyed when they haven't been turned!

If I had banks then yes I’d turn them.
Generally, if doing a full muck out, I’d alternate turning banks - do each bank would get done every third day (unless there was one bank where the wet pooled, that would be daily).
If doing a weekly semi-deep litter system, which is my usual go to, then one day on the weekend the entire bed including all banks would be lifted & turned.

 

[ElectricChampagne]

Interesting. I found a nest of baby mice in my unturned banks - I'm on full livery and prefer that not to happen again so I make sure to turn them myself every weekend.

The mould and black stuff coming out made me wretch. not to mention the dried up pee.

I wouldn't dare not turn them.

I do the same Ihatework - I'm glad I am not mad!

 

[WandaMare]

i have always done banks with shavings beds so my horses have had a pillow to lay their head on...never did them to stop them being cast...however i took my old mare to a different yard who had rubber mats and they said they didnt want banks.....she got cast !!!!!! the only time in the 15 years i had owned her....so i put banks in again as i preferred them anyway....

Same experience. I use shavings and have always banked the beds. I read somewhere that they store fungal spores etc so decided to stop banking and the very first night, my mare got cast. Have never had a horse cast in my stables before. Whether she just lay closer to the wall or in a different position because the banks weren't there I don't know, but I am back to beds with big banks now.

 

[Michen]

Interesting. I found a nest of baby mice in my unturned banks - I'm on full livery and prefer that not to happen again so I make sure to turn them myself every weekend.

The mould and black stuff coming out made me wretch. not to mention the dried up pee.

I wouldn't dare not turn them.

I do the same Ihatework - I'm glad I am not mad!

No you definitely aren't, I'm definitely the mad one as there are plenty of mice diving around in my banks and I don't want to disturb them....!! That said, I do my rubber matting a few times a year so the bed gets lifted then. Can't say I've ever noticed anything black, usually just compacted but dry straw? I have pellets under mine too.

I'm a terrible horse owner

 

[Cortez]

No, never made banks except when required to by employers. Anti cast strip (or groove in my stables) should be about 30" from the floor, but I suppose that would depend on the size of your horse (bigger horse - higher strip?): mine are all smallish (14.2 - 15.2).

 

[ElectricChampagne]

No you definitely aren't, I'm definitely the mad one as there are plenty of mice diving around in my banks and I don't want to disturb them....!! That said, I do my rubber matting a few times a year so the bed gets lifted then. Can't say I've ever noticed anything black, usually just compacted but dry straw? I have pellets under mine too.

I'm a terrible horse owner

I'm on shavings and I think the issue is the beds aren't being done properly in the first place. The black stuff was mould and smelled vile.

 

[ycbm]

I do and have always done as my mare has gotten cast in the past. I'm wondering about the anti cast strips now as only last night I noticed scrapes along the wall but mare was fine and up and moving.

I bed on shavings and might have a chat to my YO now.

heres the article in HHO incase anyone wants to read.

https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/new...2_XHH-X_NWL_EO&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ET

In the first picture in that article, there's a very good argument to say that if the banks hadn't been there, the horse would not have ended up with his head and neck bent at that angle, and would never have got cast in the first place.

I'm remember some research from at least twenty years ago which showed that horses with banks got cast more, not less, but I've never been able to find it since.

I don't bank except to store clean bedding.

 

[ElectricChampagne]

very true YCBM, they also don't look to be the cleanest either.

I think using them to store clean bedding is a good idea, its what I have started doing where I am currently.

 

[ycbm]

On the other hand, there are some horses who simply insist on banks. As you can see, the paint horse in these pictures used to dig a hole for his legs and push the surface against the wall for a bank. It drove me mad filling his flipping holes in every . single . morning!

 

[splashgirl45]

i love your barn, so nice for horses to be loose and more natural than a 12 x 12 stable....