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  Discussion on Prevent casting in stall
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New Member:
Remmi

Posted on Sunday, Jan 1, 2006 - 5:19 pm:

Any ideas on how to prevent casting in a stall? Both my horses have been cast during the night and were discovered by the night checker. Our stalls are 12' X 12', rubber mats, wood shavings for bedding. They get turned out during the day. Thanks!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jan 1, 2006 - 6:59 pm:

Most commonly horses roll up against a wall trapping their legs between their bodies and the wall creating a situation where they cannot extend their front legs and roll sternal to get up. But you also see horses trapped in a depression or laying downhill back against a wall with their legs extended uphill that cannot roll up. Which is your case?
DrO
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Sunday, Jan 1, 2006 - 7:58 pm:

I've seen barns where they have a board about 4 to 6 inches off the floor all around the stall walls. This is supposed to give the horse traction, but I don't know if it actually works or not. Some people put anti roll devices around their horses, too. They are a surcingle that is built up over the horse's back and prevents the horse from rolling all the way over.
Member:
Corinne

Posted on Monday, Jan 2, 2006 - 10:09 am:

A tip from my instructor that she provided to our barn manager...She said where she is from in England the standard bedding is banked on the sides...she prefers a deep bed of straw....if you are using shavings you can do the same just put more on the sides in a slope so the horse has something to push off. She said she never seen a horse cast when his bedding was banked and was suprised we didn't do that here....
Couldn't hurt to give it a try.

v/r
Corinne
Member:
Sunny66

Posted on Monday, Jan 2, 2006 - 11:28 am:

I do as Corinne states, bank high on the sides, my horse uses it as a couch :-)
New Member:
Remmi

Posted on Monday, Jan 2, 2006 - 9:29 pm:

Dr. O,

I believe they got their legs caught between their body and the wall. Would banking help that type of casting? If so, how high would you have to bank to be effective? We use wood shavings.

Heidi
Member:
Corinne

Posted on Monday, Jan 2, 2006 - 11:20 pm:

Heidi,
Just by my experience, If you are using shavings you have to bank them pretty high to be affective and if you are buying by the cubic foot it might not be cheap to bank them.
I presume if want some sort of quantification you can imagine them going to lie down then rolling to the side trying to extend their legs to the wall, the shavings would have to be high enough in a bank that when they roll or try to extend to the side they don't have a chance to extend or hit the floor because of the bank is there...
I have a small arabian so the barn owners use 1 to 1 1/2 foot bank in his stall with less shavings in the middle. She uses some pelleted bedding mixed in with bagged shavings to add more bulk because they are nice and fluffy when they expand. The bigger horses take more of a bank.

Good luck.

v/r
Corinne
Member:
Paul303

Posted on Monday, Jan 2, 2006 - 11:36 pm:

We used to fasten a strip of rubber matting around the stall. With our new set-up, the stalls open to an indoor paddock, and, on the outside wall, to an outdoor paddock, so they are locked in only when they eat. We also found, with stall kickers, lining the stall walls with rubber mats kind of "took the wind out of their sails".
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2006 - 8:04 am:

Prevent(?) maybe not, but it certainly makes it much harder for them to get stuck by rolling onto the wall. The barns that I see that do this bank them up about 2 or 3 feet.
DrO
Member:
Cpacer

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2006 - 1:45 pm:

Wow, I had no idea that is why the shavings are pushed up against the wall. I'm always going in with a fork and evening them back out thinking the cushioning should be in the middle where he lays. I won't anymore...
Member:
Skye

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2006 - 2:15 pm:

Perhaps Sara is referring to the strips mentioned at this web site? I've heard people have had success with them:


https://www.horseguardfence.com/pages2k/cat58.html

I imagine there are other sources to check out, too.

Good luck!
New Member:
Remmi

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2006 - 8:01 pm:

Now I am beginning to understand why so many people sent messages of thanks to Horse Advisor at the end of this year. This is great! I really appreciate everyone's input and will start banking my stalls higher and will also look into the horse guard fence web site that Ellie passed along. Thanks to all for your suggestions!
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2006 - 10:34 pm:

No, I was just referring to wooden boards attached to the walls about 6" or so off the floor. The boards, and I assume the rubber strips too, just give the horse some purchase so it can roll back over and get up.
Member:
Angel77

Posted on Thursday, Jan 5, 2006 - 8:42 am:

Dear Heidi,

I agree with Dr.O on the bedding. I am with Aileen and Corinne, I would start banking.

We bank our bedding up 5 feet with 3 feet of ground in the 12x12's. The bedding falls over the railings it is so high. No casts in 5 years.

The horses love it. They use it like a big soft bed with pillows they make for themselves.

After a hard days work and a bath(when horse is dry)the horses roll around like children when they get back to their stall. Even the old schoolers who lesson a couple times a day.

The way I think of my horse sleeping is the same way I think of myself sleeping. My horse lives in a 24x48 open pipe corral in beautiful California.

The ground consists of the sand already present, 8 bags dry stall, 35 inches of pine wood chips(which get stomped down), and 10 bags of shavings on top of the wood chips.

After almost 14-16 inches of rain the two outside 1/4 covered stalls I have at our ranch are the only two outside dry stalls on the entire 95 acre property of which houses 135 horses.

Most all of the other stalls are under water. It will take awhile for them to dry out. Meanwhile sucking off shoes of many of the horses has been a problem.

When one can set up a horses living quarters properly the first time in most cases we can beat the odds. Meaning escape injury or prevent headache.

I find that every year I have to put another layer of wood chips as the rain washes them away.
So far so good.

I hope the same for you and your horse. Good Luck.

Sincerely,

WTG
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Sunday, Jan 8, 2006 - 7:11 am:

Most people here in Ireland who use straw (except in very posh or racing yards with lots of available labour) leave the banks to settle semi-deep litter, we don't muck them out except when "spring cleaning" the stable.

Occasionally you have to remove a damp section but straw banks work best if they are basically semi solid straw and manure (which dries out and isn't smelly/nasty) down below with some fresh straw on top. It provides more of a curve/cushion to prevent casting.

The only time I ever had a horse cast using this system was a large halfbred mare who went for a massive roll just after a day's hunting in a smallish stable. Fortunately I heard her hooves scrabbling on the wall because the stables are close to the house and was able to rope one of her back legs and pull her around.

All the best

Imogen
Member:
Warwick

Posted on Sunday, Jan 8, 2006 - 6:53 pm:

Hi Imogen

I remember from my childhood living in the UK seeing horse stalls banked with straw but can't remember folks doing a major mucking in the spring time. I now know it's common practice in Europe and since I just took riding lessons as a kid, I likely just didn't witness this personally. So my question is how do you handle the large amount of bedding that comes out of the stalls during spring cleaning? It must be a major amount of material especially in large barns. I'm curious as here in the Vancouver area of Canada we have a dreadful time getting rid of even small manure piles (which tend to be wood shavings or sawdust based). I can't imagine having a giant pile of straw bedding removed but maybe there are uses for it that we haven't explored here?

Also, how are you faring health-wise? (So many of us on the HA were privy to your nasty health scare about a year ago.)

Cheers
Sue
Member:
Angel77

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006 - 4:36 am:

Dear Heidi,

The area where the horse lays down can be a good 3 feet deep in the middle and five feet high on the sides. The horses end up packing the shavings down with their weight any way.

Some horses will pull some shavings down from one of the sides and make a cushy bed for them selves. It is a very safe way to bed horses.

It is easier for the guys to clean. As most the horses learn they only want to poop and pee in one place and not on their own bed.

Additionally because of the banking theory all shavings will go back up onto the bank and the excrement is discarded therefore cleaning is more efficient.

We have found if one has to stall a horse, banking is the one of the best ways to insure all involved have safety as a first priority. Peace of mind for the rider and total comfort for the horse.

God Bless all the animals and all the people who care for them!

WTG
Member:
Cometcar

Posted on Saturday, Feb 4, 2006 - 6:43 am:

My horse is a chronic caster. He broke his hip two years ago from being cast and I now use an anti-cast roller AND the anti-cast strips sold by HorseGuard. (Kind of like a belt and suspenders.) No one else in the other 32 stalls seems to have a problem with getting cast when they roll. Go figure.
Member:
Liliana5

Posted on Friday, Feb 10, 2006 - 12:31 pm:

Just wondered could the horses be a bit too big for the stable? in England we did bank higher on the sides and also for the big 17 handers we used bigger boxes.

Just a thought...
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