Stable bankings

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Rockman

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When Rocky had a shavings bed I was always very particular about his bankings which went all around his stable. However now he's on straw I've found that I'm letting them slip and now he only really has one across the back of his stable and even that one is only because when he lies down he rests and leans on the back wall!

Are they really that necessary and am I being a bad mum by not having them?!
 
I don't have them at all for either of mine, they are both on shavings beds and rubber matting. In order to be any good as an anti-cast measure, the banks have to be phenomenally large, and I would rather they had more room in their stables than a few square inches to stand in! I have never have a problem with not having banks.
 
That's good then thankyou, he doesn't tend to role too much in the stable as he literally roles all day in the field! So I can be happy knowing he just has something to rest his head on haha!
 
I don't worry with banks for the one on shavings but I just can't bring myself to do a straw bed without banks. I know they don't really serve any function but they look so nice. Yes I know, I need help!!
 
I've always used banks to store clean bedding and just pulled a bit down each day to freashen the bed :)

Agree with others to be anti cast measures they need to be huge.
 
Tern said:
Banks are not just to 'prevent casting' but to store extra/clean bedding which can be taken down once a week or something.
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Each to their own. I prefer to "store clean bedding" in the plastic bale it came in, and put a fresh bale in once a week! My stables are immaculate, so I guess it must work.
 
The only time I've ever had banks was when Roo was due to foal and she had decent sized banks up and again really rather large ones after foaling to help cusion Milo once he was born, otherwise I don't use banks
 
Well, inspired by this thread, I have just broken the habit and done a straw bed without banks despite my perfect- high rise-big banks-bed obsession.

OK just not the sides, still have a bank along the back.

I wasn't ready to go completely cold turkey. I may have to lie down.....
 
I use a combination of beddings.

Merlin used to always lie with his spine against the back wall and his nose to the left hand wall. He also used to scrabble the straw up and leave bare bits of concrete at the edges, so each late Autumn before he began to come in every night, I would buy 2 or three bales of shavings and make packed-down banks around the stable. Then I'd use straw for the main bed as normal. Yes, the wee sometimes leaked into the banks and over the winter season I'd remove them bit by bit but it seemed to work quite well: the banks stayed fairly solid, I used less straw to make the 'middle' and there was less risk of him clonking himself against the wall in the night.

I loved to see the Merlin-shaped nest in the mornings, with a cosy bank of straw-covered shavings behind it ...
 
If your horse is prone to getting cast they are a real must. BUT do you want to wait to find out if your horse gets cast? Banks are soooooo important. Build them big and fat and whack them hard to compress them. Then leave them be, don't fork them up everyday when you muck out, just slide the prongs under and drag out any wet straw. Add to the top if you've pulled stuff out.
Getting cast can cause horrific injuries, from minor cuts, putting the back and neck out, colic and for some death, why risk it?
 
OldNag said:
Well, inspired by this thread, I have just broken the habit and done a straw bed without banks despite my perfect- high rise-big banks-bed obsession.

OK just not the sides, still have a bank along the back.

I wasn't ready to go completely cold turkey. I may have to lie down.....
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I'm joining you with the lie down! I've done exactly the same! We'll see if I can sleep tonight haha!
 
Deep straw bed for Pops, fully mucked out every day and banks turned. His stable is huge (14 x 14) so he has no need of banks for anti-cast purposes, but I have found the imprint of his head in them proving he uses them as pillows, so will continue to build them. Yes, he is very spoiled.

P
 
I put up small banks mainly because I think it looks nicer. My stable isn't big enough to have banks big enough for an anti cast measure, which is unfortunate as Blitz has managed to get himself cast once in the past.
 
I've picked up a lot of useful tips and info on HHO, but doing without decent banks is a step too far. I like the look of them, they help prevent draughts, they leave a nice central area for the horse to snuggle down, and I'm sure that they help prevent horses getting cast. So mine are staying ;).
 
Tiddlypom said:
I've picked up a lot of useful tips and info on HHO, but doing without decent banks is a step too far. I like the look of them, they help prevent draughts, they leave a nice central area for the horse to snuggle down, and I'm sure that they help prevent horses getting cast. So mine are staying ;).
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This ^^^^
 
Rockman said:
When Rocky had a shavings bed I was always very particular about his bankings which went all around his stable. However now he's on straw I've found that I'm letting them slip and now he only really has one across the back of his stable and even that one is only because when he lies down he rests and leans on the back wall!

Are they really that necessary and am I being a bad mum by not having them?!
Click to expand...

my horses only have A sprinkling of bedding and no banks
 
LaMooch said:
Yep agree have to be stupidly high. If a horse is going to get cast it will get cast banks or no banks
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However if you have big banks they tend not to get cast as they lie down well away from the walls and when they roll they cannot get fully over so don't end up with their legs jammed up against the wall and stuck fast.

We had a horse at work once that would get cast so often that I ended up asking the boss if I could bank his bed - I got the permission and after putting in big banks the horse didn't get cast. However some of the other staff were too ignorant to understand why and on my days off would knock the banks down and complain about the amount of straw - the next day I'd come to work and find his bed in a hell of a mess because he had had no banks and been cast.

Those of you that don't believe its necessary to bank beds, just wait until the day you are faced with your horse with a leg through the wooden wall! This happened to a friend of mine. Another, the pony I actually learned on was found dead in his box, cast and with a huge splinter of wood in his head - He'd knocked it out of the wall in his struggle.

He was stabled in a very big box - but with no banks.
 
I have no banks and mine never gets cast, his box is so big he can roll right over if he wants

not only that it is pointless putting banks for my boy, he acts like a mare and climbs the banks to pee in them, ALL banks trodden down and dragged into the center of the stable

Some horses can and do get themselves out of a cast situation.
 
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I have banks, they are about 3ft high but not particularly wide. Purely more for a draft excluder as I have sat in my boy's stable and it's not particularly warm! He's in old converted brick/stone building and he's in one of two stables which have openings at either end of the block so in the winter it can havd quite a wind chill through it.
 
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