The owner of a horse who became cast and whose recovery was hampered by the banks aimed to prevent him getting stuck at all has sworn never to use them again.
Like many others, Gill Fuller had always banked up the sides of beds, having been told they would help stop horses becoming stuck against stable walls.
But when her part-bred Irish draught gelding Malley had a badly placed roll on 6 January, she found otherwise.
“Luckily, I was still there when he did it,” Gill told H&H. “I’d put fresh straw in and he decided it looked inviting.
“He flipped right over and that was it; he was wedged against the wall.”
Not only had the banks not prevented Malley’s plight, they made things worse when it came to getting him upright.
“I was lucky there were a couple of other people around, and that he just lay there grunting quietly,” Gill said. “We got lunge reins round his legs but couldn’t roll him over, and even when we managed to move him away from the wall, because of the banks, his legs were still angled upwards, and he couldn’t get them underneath to get up. I think without the banks, he would have been able to.”
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After a lot more heaving, Malley was manoeuvred into a position in which he could get to his feet, and Gill said she will never bank a bed again.
“He was fine; I put him on the school and he had another roll to prove he was fine, and that was it,” she said. “But no more banks.
“I put a post on Facebook because it had changed my view, and it was interesting how many people said they knew it was a risk but still did banks because it looked good,” she said.
“But so many other people have said they’d always been taught to have banks; it was a real eye-opener.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
