casting

[Ix3Morgans]

So horse likes to get cast in her stall[has happened twice]

We decided that it would be best that she keep her halter on 24/7 just to make it easier to pull her up if/when she gets stuck. Is there anything wrong with keeping a plain old nylon halter on? or should I put on her leather halter? Ive heard that nylon halters are the devil but I dont know why.

And most importantly what can I do to prevent her from getting cast?

[WashingtonBay]

The reason nylon halters are not good to leave on is they will not break if they get caught on something, and leather will.

I'd think if the horse is cast, getting a halter on is the least of the challenges, and the few moments it takes to get the halter on would be worth the extra safety of not having it on all the time, and prevent the inevitable wear marks they get from wearing it.

To prevent casting, bank the bedding up the stall walls so it is harder for her to roll over and end up against the wall.

[HaveFaith]

No, no, no nylon halter. They make breakaway ones if you just have to have one. One of our friends left one on a $$$$$ mare once and she got it hung on some farm plough (not smart to have in a pasture). He said by the time they found her she had died.
I left one on Faith after riding and just let her go one day and went out to feed the next AM. The horses wouldn't come up and I finally went to see why. She had put her nose under the fence for a bite and raised her head and the buckle hung on the bottom strand of wire. She had it ripped off several posts wide and the whole post bent over and her nose and face scratched up. I got to her and got it off and she calmed down quickly. Scratches were not bad, but she hadn't been there long because hubby had just left and she wasn't there 30 minutes before. No longterm halters anymore!

[Ix3Morgans]

Oh that makes sense. Thanks for your advice
I was thinking about taking a stall mat and sticking it up so it covers half of the stall wall. Would that work as well? Because there is a bit of a shortage on the bedding we use, and I happen to have 5 or 6 rubber stall matts at my disposal.

[WashingtonBay]

It doesn't have to be bedding, take dirt and bank it up against the wall if you want (and then cover that with mats if it works) the key is that you make a low point in the center of the stall with it banking up the sides like a bowl, and that makes it harder to lay down and get stuck against the wall.

[Ix3Morgans]

Woah. HaveFaith I think you just officialy scared me away from 24/7 halters.
I think Ill just keep it hanging on her door so its easy to grab if needed. ;)
I think this is going to be the first time Im going to thank someone for scaring me

[Ix3Morgans]

Alright thanks WB Ill get to work on that tommorow.
It would have probably looked weird turning my horses stall into the horsey version of a rubber room.

[HaveFaith]

Sorry, but PREVENTION is worth everything! I'm sure most horse people have a halter story.

[MyMia]

I'm with the others on no nylon halters all the time--when I was growing up, a neighbor had a young horse that they kept a halter on 24/7. He was in a round pen, somehow got it stuck on a sticking up part, and tried to paw it off with a back hoof. I don't remember if he broke his neck or had to be put down due to injuries, but he didn't survive; it was terrible.

I never use halters in the pasture--I'd rather have a slightly harder time catching the horses and not having to worry whether it would break or not if they got stuck.

Also--recently a friend of mine (who used to leave a halter on her horse 24/7) had to borrow one of my horses to ride since hers had a rubbed, raw spot behind his ears (on his bridle path) thanks to the halter--she thinks it got wet and caused a fungus-y sore. It was nasty!

Good luck with the stall and preventing casting!

[prissy18]

This thread was helpfull for me 2 read. I might be getting a horse and she will be stall kept. Thanks for all this knowledge.

[IrisGreen]

Muffin would get cast all the time when he was younger. Get Anti Cast strips and mount them along the walls. some people just mount a 2x4s wood flat against the wall about 3 feet up. That gives the horse an edge to put there hoof to push off of when they get stuck upside down. The Anti-cast strips are rubber bumpers that act the same way, giving the horse something to push off.

Banking the sides helps a lot but the horse can still roll over and end up cast with nothing to push off of because there legs are sliding up the wall. So, if the horse is really prone to casting I would bank the sides and use anti-cast strips along the walls.

They also have anti-cast surcingles but I'm not going in to that from the flack I got last time...

[Ix3Morgans]

Thanks everyone.
24/7 halters = bad, and I'll get to work banking up her stall.

Iris Green- I'll do some research to see where I can pick up some Anti Cast strips they sound like a really good thing to have.

Prissy- glad to have someone to learn with :)

[natisha]

What size is the stall? Does she get cast rolling or laying down too close to the wall? Does she have light in the stall? I knew a horse who cast himself almost every night until he got a night light. Without the light the stall was pitch black so we figured he just couldn't tell how close to the wall he was when he laid down. He did not roll over onto the wall however.

I agree banking the stall is the best answer. Even if you have to use shavings you'd only have to add them once.