# Help - how to stop horse getting cast



## Pidge (7 December 2006)

After some invaluable help please as Pidge got cast in his box tonight! Had left the yard and fortunately other liveries were still there and he got cast in his box, they manoevured him round and he is ok, been checked over just appears slightly shaken up. Sister is en route to yard anyway due to working late so will give him another check over at about 7pm. So question, how do I stop him getting cast? He is on about 6-8" shavings on rubber matting with banks about knee height and about a foot deep. He loves rolling in his box whether he is sweaty or wet or just feels like it! The box is 12' x 14' and he is 16.3 and in a 7' rug so is a big boy. This has really shook me up as if there had been no one on the yard what would have happened? Would he have been stuck all night oh god brain going into panic mode......... Any advice really really needed.


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## Forget_Me_Not (7 December 2006)

Is there any bigger boxes you can move too?? I'm putting my 16.3hh in the foaling box 12x18 oh might be 14x18 but any how.... I know my friends prone to cast was turned out 24/7... Or if a anit-cast roller... Could there be any health etc reson he got cast?? How old is he?


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## Pidge (7 December 2006)

unfortunately not they are the biggest boxes on the yard. He is 9 1/2 and has no health problems, he just adores rolling whether it be in the field or in the box. The box may well be bigger than 12x14 as he can actually roll right over in it with no problems. Unusual for him to roll that late as its normally when sweaty after work - none tonight due to weather - or if wet when he comes in. He'd been in for well over an hour so quite late to be rolling. Just a worried mummy as apparantly he was well stuck! Are the anti cast rollers any good? Can you put them over the top of his rugs? Sorry not had this problem before but can't bear the thought that he could get stuck when no one else there............... I do not stress about my horse, I do not stress about my horse................


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## Forget_Me_Not (7 December 2006)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ANTI-CAST-ROLLER-S...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.horse-tack-and-equestrian-clo...r-prod1797.html


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## Pidge (7 December 2006)

thank you, think my credit card had better come out again. Has anyone used them and are they any good?


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## Happytohack (7 December 2006)

Anti cast rollers have been around for years and really do stop them rolling over and getting cast.  I had a horse (years ago now) who loved to roll in clean straw and often get himself cast, the anti cast roller worked for him.  Money well spent in my opinion, get one asap.


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## Pidge (7 December 2006)

thank you, I will ring my tack shop in the morning to get one ASAP. One slightly less stressed mummy


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## Ludi-doodi (7 December 2006)

One school of thought is no banks!   The idea being that they like to lie up against the banks, if they have no banks then there isn't any one place in the stable more comfy than anywhere else so they are less likely to go to the edges and get cast.  My dentist said that he never has banks and has never had a horse cast!  I'm not sure how valid an argument that is though!

I'm not 100% certain about anti-cast rollers stopping them get cast though.  The mare in the stable next to Ludo got cast once and her owner bought an a-c roller.  She still rolls over on it!  You can tell because all the leather has been torn off the top!  May be she's just a houdini-horse though!


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## RobinHood (7 December 2006)

My vet advised me against using an anti-cast roller, he said they can seriusly injure their backs rolling with one on. He advised big banks, anti cast strips round the edge of the stable, rubber matting on walls and stable bandages to protect the legs, although personally I would rather leave the horse out as it completely resolves the problem.


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## Agent XXX999 (7 December 2006)

My horse wears an anti cast roller becasue he takes it upon himself to rip his rugs over his head. Saying that I think they are great for the function they are designed for. Bruce has a doubled up polypad under his to protect his back....

I really have a thing about too big banks, but that it just me. If they are going to get cast it will happen and the cheapest amd most effective way of preventing it is to put a roller on him.


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## mandy4727 (7 December 2006)

I put a post on here a while ago about my filly who keeps getting cast.  Well not really cast cos she doesn't actually get stuck.  She does it on purpose!!!!  People have watched her.  She is having an afternoon nap.  Rolls as it is time to get up.  Gets all her legs stuck in a crumpled heap against the wall and then slowly rocks herself forwards and back again and again until she flips over, gets up, stretches and shakes and eats her hay!!!!.  You should see the marks on the newly whitewashed walls.  I just leave her too it.  The bankings in a straw bed are about 3 foot high and about 2 foot wide and she still does it.  Good thing about her she doesn't roll at all in the field.  Put a coloured horse out in a muddy field with no rug and the white bits are still snow white (except legs) when she comes in.  Which is great.  Sorry don't really know what do suggest.  Rubber matting on the walls so no damage can be done.


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## Pidge (7 December 2006)

Oh god totally confused now  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 certainly don't want to get him a roller if he is likely to roll right over on it - ouch! He does get very carried away when he rolls and does roll right over if he wants to in the box. What are these anti cast strips around the box, that sounds like a better option?
Can't leave him out 24/7 as the fields are like paddy fields at the moment, we are below the water table so suffer with wet fields, in the hot summer we had plenty of green grass whereas those a couple of miles away had brown grass and were feeding hay.


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## meandmyself (7 December 2006)

I'd go with the anti cast strips- you can make them fairly cheaply yourself if you just want to try them out.


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## Quarrybank (7 December 2006)

My boy loves rolling too........ especially when I've put new woodchips in!!! He got cast a few times when he was younger &amp; I put up anticast strips around his stable walls. They are 1/2 round rubber tubes &amp; are screwed to the walls. If he rolls overs he's got something to push off to roll back. He's not been cast since. Never used an anti cast roller but didn't like the thought of him having to wear a roller all the time when in.


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## Thistle (7 December 2006)

I nailed wooded strips about 2'6" high round the walls of the stable for my elderly 12.2. He loves to roll in new bedding. He hasn't been cast since.

Bit like a dado rail.


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## Pidge (7 December 2006)

Ok, so how do I work out how high the strips go?


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## henryhorn (7 December 2006)

Screw a thin but dense piece of wood all round his box at around  two feet six to three feet in height. often when they get cast they can't get a purchase against the wall to push theselves away again, and the wood acts as a stopping point for their feet up the wall.
The old fashioned anti cast rollers were great for horse like him but I dont think they're made nowadays.


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## Pidge (7 December 2006)

thanks you, will try this option at the weekend when get the bits together.


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## Salcey (7 December 2006)

My mare started to get cast when she was in foal.  She even managed it 6 weeks before the foal was born and she was in a 18' by 16' stable!! (she was then put out 24/7 until foal was born)  We put it down to her changing weight, however she proved us wrong by once again getting cast after the foal was born.    We then used an anti cast roller  on her for about 6 months although I was quite concerned as to what it was doing to her back.  I then decided to risk taking it off, and ***touch wood***shes not been cast since and that was 2 1/2 years ago.  
Get your horse in as bigger box as possible and maybe consider using a roller for a short period to re-educate your horse.


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