bank shavings or keep bed "flat," also what to do with water buckets?

The only time I bank the bedding, is in the morning, first thing, after they have ate, and I am cleaning the stalls. I leave the stall banked, so when I am getting my horse harnessed, or saddled, and ready, and there are times he is standing in crossties, it keeps him from messing up a nice stall. I have never banked a stall after that, I have had my horses roll many times, and not get cast due to a flat stall. Something else, when my horse rests, I like him to lay down, all out rest. I would rather see my horse rest in a comfortable stall than standing. To me, when my horse is in the corner resting, he is sore somewhere, or not comfortable. I like to see a horse flat out, or snuggled down. When he is in his glory, he is happy. I have had horses for many years, trained race horses, both standardbred and thoroughbred, and have had riding horses as well.

As for buckets, look at it this way, would you like to drink from a glass that has water in it, and been sitting around all day, or over nite, just topping it off? Ever notice the slime on a bucket?

First thing after cleaning a stall, should be the buckets scrubbed, and filled. You can top them during the day, and in the evening, but please give them fresh water to start out with.

Here is something else about buckets. Do you ever notice what is in your horse's bucket? If you just continuously top off a bucket, nine times out of ten, you do not notice things. As I take it down in the morning to clean, I may notice a lot of grain it it. That could signal a sore mouth. How much did my horse drink that night? Is the bucket still full? Is my horse a bit dehydrated? A lot of hay in the bucket? Is the hay dusty? I can't understand your boss telling you not to dump them, is she paying for a high water bill, seriously. A water bucket may not appear to be dirty, let it set, and you will soon find out otherwise. I can tell when the buckets have been cleaned, and when they were not, even for one day.

with regards to the bed, you can put banks up to prevent the horse being cast, but they have to be pretty big (like a couple of feet high) to be effective. Small banks look nicer, but they use up extra shavings and if the box is big enough the horse shouldn't get cast anyway. If you're moving onto shavings you will find them much faster to muck out once you're used to them, but I always think straw gives a warmer bed.

With regards to the water buckets, they should be emptied and scrubbed out ever couple of days. When ours are in every night if the bucket and water are completly clean and free of any shavings then I don't always replace it completly, just top it up; but every other day or if there is any debris in the bucket then it gets emptied and replaced. The nicest thing is automatic drinkers - saves so much bother although you do need to clean then out regularily.

Sound like you already have great answers, but as for our barn all bucket for water are dumped and scrubbed 2X's a week unless they are dirty sooner then it is more. as for the bedding we don't bank except for when we had one young horse that kept getting cast and we tried it, and it seemed to help that horse does not get cast anymore. None of the other horses here(20 in all) have no problem with the shavings spread flat

Banking will not stop a horse from being cast if he is too close to the wall and can't roll over or if there is a raised wall between stall that he can jam his legs under. Just spread the shavings and bank them after you shovel out the wet spots, fill the spots with clean dirt and rake out the shavings again. Always dump the bucket and put clean water, they can pee in it poop in it. Hope that helps :)

I was taught to bank. Makes stall cleaning easier (poop rolls down hill), and prevents them getting cast. Also always dumped and scrubbed the buckets. Ever watch a horse take a mouth full of water and let most or all run back out? It's like they are "rinsing", so slobber and bits of food end up back in the bucket. In winter we'd use a slotted spoon to scoop out ice chunks and bits of hay.

I always bank the shavings around the outside- as you say it helps to prevent a horse from getting cast.

The water buckets are usually dumped because the horses rinse their mouths and it gets dirty.

We use shavings... and in the morning all the shavings are banked up and the water buckets emptied scrubbed refilled and replaced... at night all the shavings are bought down and the buckets filled up (changed if dirty just refilled if not) we bring the shavings down at night so there is more bedding for them to have a lie down... and we bank up the shavings in the morning to make it easier to dig out the urine... and so that when they have a good roll after their morning work they dont get cast... we find that most of the horse dont roll when they go down for a sleep... hope that answers your question :)

Ive used both straw and shavings and always bank them both.Ive never had a horse get cast but that doesnt mean its because i bank...they have always been in decent sized stables.I think shavings are much easier to muck out and less messy but dont think you can beat the sight of a nice deep clean straw bed.As for the dumping of water buckets....i know what id want my mum (or dad) to do if i relied on them to keep me happy...certainly wouldnt want to be drinking luke warm water with floating bits !!!!!

I bank all beds that i do, i have a horse that has got cast once before and tore skin from above her eye because of this - she now has oversized banks and (touch wood) she has not been cats since! I use straw in the winter and shavings in the summer and bank both of them! I take the water buckets out whilst i much out - but you can cover them over whilst you much out to stop shavings and straw getting in them!

I normally just flatten the shavings. The shavings are easier to move around, so the horses will move them as necessary. If you use smaller buckets, dump and refill them daily. If you use bigger buckets, dump and refil them every few days, unless really dirty. I would also add more water daily if you don't dump and refil daily. Good luck!