WO2007128944A1

WO2007128944A1 - Stable aid

Info

Publication number: WO2007128944A1
Application number: PCT/GB2006/001650
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rachel Parke
Original assignee: Rachel Parke
Priority date: 2006-05-05
Filing date: 2006-05-05
Publication date: 2007-11-15

Abstract

Stable banking units (10) for fitting within a stable to replace the conventional banking of bedding material around the walls of the stable. Each comprises an elongate cushion having a generally right-angled triangular cross section to facilitate its location in contact with the floor and wall of a stable. In use each unit is positioned with one of its two orthogonal surfaces in contact with the floor and the other abutting a wall, so that the inclined face of the cushioning unit defines an inclined plane between the floor and the wall to replace the inclined surface of banked loose bedding as used hitherto. The inclined face of each unit subtends an angle of approximately 45° to the floor. Each unit comprises a shaped cushion encased in impermeable scrubbable waterproof material. The internal shaped cushion is constructed from a foamed plastics material, typically one having a closed cell structure. Similarly constructed corner units (17) are also provided having orthogonally extending arms, the end faces of which can be abuttingly joined to end faces of elongate cushion units which extend along the walls. The units may be joined one to the other and also to the walls and/floor. Each unit comprises a handle means (12, 18).

Description

Title: Stable aid

Field of invention

This Invention concerns Stable Aids and in particular a banking arrangement which reduces the risk of a horse or pony becoming 'cast' in a stable.

Background to the invention

Stable floors are typically covered with loose bedding material such as straw or chips, to provide a suitable surface on which the animals can stand and lay and to facilitate the task of cleaning the stables of the faeces and urine that these animals deposit. In recent years, the development of rubberised matting has proved to be of help as a subsurface in horse stables, reducing the amount of bedding required and providing a more cushioned surface for the animals. One limitation remains and that is the requirement to bank the loose bedding around the edges of the stable. This is done to reduce the potential for the horse to lay so close to the wall that it becomes stuck (referred to as "casting") and to reduce the tendency for draughts from air flow under the walls of the stable, thus providing a more comfortable environment and encouraging the horse to lie down. However, achieving this banking effect requires additional labour to bank up the bedding and to then keep it maintained. This also requires considerably more bedding material than the amount that would be needed to simply apply a level layer across the stable floor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a replacement to the banking of bedding material around a stable, thereby to avoid the need for the larger quantities of bedding material than is required simply to cover the floor of a stable, and reduce the time required to prepare a stable for occupation by a horse or pony. Prior art

An anti-cast safety strip which is attached approximately halfway up the walls of a stable, is described in US Patent Specification 5,540,184 (reissued as Re 36,996). This strip is said to provide a frictional surface for a horse to use as leverage to enable the animal to raise itself to an upright position within the narrow confines of a stable. However such a strip (at approximately waist height) does not guarantee that an animal will not lay down against the wall of the stable in such a manner that it cannot thereafter roll on its back and lift its feet under the strip and thereby push itself into a position from which it can stand upright. The only guaranteed way of preventing this, is to prevent the animal from laying down so that it is so close to a wall of the stable that it is unable to roll over and regain its feet.

Since the safety strip proposed by US 5,540,184 does not replace the conventional banking of the bedding at the bottom of the stable walls, the latter must still be provided to prevent an animal from becoming cast, and the strip merely assists an animal which is already sufficiently far from the stable wall as to be able to regain its feet, in fact to do so.

Summary of the present invention

According to the present invention there is provided banking for fitting within a stable to replace the conventional banking of bedding material around the walls thereof which comprises at least one elongate cushioning unit having a generally right-angled triangular cross section to facilitate its location in contact with the floor and a stable wall so that in use it is positioned with one of its two orthogonal surfaces in contact with the floor and the other abutting the wall, so that the inclined face of the cushioning unit defines an inclined plane between the floor and the wall which corresponds to the inclined surface of banked loose bedding as used hitherto. Typically the inclined face subtends an angle of approximately 45° to the floor, although the invention is not limited to inclined faces having this angle.

Preferably the cushioning unit is encased in impermeable waterproof material.

Preferably the encasing material is scrubbable to allow it to be washed and scrubbed clean.

Preferably the internal cushioning is constructed from a solid foamed plastics material.

Alternatively the internal cushioning may be formed from a plurality of relatively small pieces of resiliently deformable material such as rubber or foamed plastics material, which are packed into a pre-formed external sleeve.

The encasing material may comprise for example reinforced double-stitched vinyl or a polyvinylchloride coated polyester.

Banking proposed by the invention is preferably constructed in two forms, one comprising elongate cushion units each of which can be positioned along at least some of the length of a stable wall, and the other in the form of corner cushion units which are adapted to fit in use between the ends of two elongate cushion units which are located a short distance away from a corner defined by two adjoining walls of the stable. Each such corner cushion unit will typically have two orthogonal arms which when fitted into a corner, extend away from the corner along each of the two walls defining the comer, so that the ends of the arms abut the ends of elongate cushion units laid along the said two walls.

Typically the arms of corner cushion units extend equally in the two orthogonal directions from an external corner defined by the rear faces of the two arms thereof.

Typically each elongate cushion unit has a length of 600 mm or 1200 mm or 1800 mm. Typically each of the arms of a comer cushion unit extends by 600 mm from the external corner defined by the two arms of the unit, to the remote end thereof.

Preferably the end faces of the unit are normal to the length dimensions of the elongate units and the arms of the corner units.

Preferably joining means is provided by which an end face of an elongate unit (or arm of a corner unit) is securable in abutting relation to the opposed end face of an aligned elongate unit or of an arm of a corner unit.

The joining means may include VELCRO (registered trade mark) pads on the end faces of the units, or VELCRO pads on what will be the rear upright face of a unit, and complementary VELCRO straps are provided for tying one unit to another by attaching the straps to pads at the the rear of the abutting units, to keep the end faces of the units in contact.

Preferably each elongate unit and each corner unit includes handle means for carrying purposes.

Typically strap handles are employed.

In addition or alternatively the end faces of units may be cutaway to create handholds.

Where the handholds comprise cavities having reduced cross section openings by which access is gained to a larger cross section cavity within, and where the cavities are located in the same relative position in each end face, the cavities will be aligned when units are abutted end to end. In this event the cavities may be employed to house double headed joining devices which have enlarged ends as for example in the form of a dumbell, the larger ends of which can be pushed into the larger internal cavities through the reduced size openings, to snap fit into the larger internal cavities, thereby to join abutting cushions together. Where stable walls are constructed from timber, and may not be draught proof at floor level, the positioning of cushioning units as aforesaid will tend to reduce the flow of air into the stable and thereby cut down on the draughts.

In use it is intended that the units would be placed around the edges of a stable where the walls meet the floor. This, then, would provide the necessary protection against casting and as stated will also block draughts from entering the stable. Moreover the use of these units will eliminate the need to achieve this function using banked loose bedding, thereby reducing the cost of loose bedding material and considerably reducing the labour required to keep and maintain the loose bedding in this configuration.

The units could be offered in a variety of colours and sizes for different purposes such as race yards, veterinary units, mobile and temporary stables, large events, stud boxes for mares and foals etc. In particular the lengths of the elongate units and the arms of the corner units may be selected having regard to the dimensions of stables so that a whole number of elongate units plus three or four corner units (depending on where the door is situated in the stable) will just fit singly around the perimeter of the stable.

Where it is felt necessary to secure the units to the walls and floor of the stable to prevent a horse or pony from dragging cushioning units away from the wall, securing means may be provided on the underside or rear (or both) faces of the units for joining to securing means attached to the walls or floor (or both). For example VELCRO (registered trade mark) patches or strips may be located on the rear and/or underside faces of the units and similar complementary patches or strips secured to the walls and/or floor as appropriate, to permit the units to be more securely held in place.

Typically bedding material for a stable will be heaped centrally clear of the walls, the units will then be placed around the walls of the stable before the bedding material is swept outwardly towards the walls and levelled, so that the lower front edge of the units is buried by the bedding. This invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: -

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a stable aid constructed on one embodiment of the present invention, and

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of another stable aid for use with that of Fig. 1 to fit into corners of a stable.

As shown in Fig. 1 a stable aid comprises a foam filled cushion unit 10 having a generally right angled triangle cross-section and covered by a tough polyvinylchloride coated polyester material. A closed cell foam is preferably employed.

At each end of the cushion unit 10 are mounted carrying handles - and one such handle is denoted by 12 in Fig. 1.

Attached at one end to the rear wall 14 of the cushion unit 10 is a flap of Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) strip and a complementary pad of Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) is attached to the rear wall 14 at the other end of the unit. The Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) is used to join one unit to another by pushing the one end of one into abutting contact with the other end of another cushion unit, so that the pad of Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) on the one unit is adjacent to the flap of Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) on the other unit. Pulling the flap across to bridge the gap and pushing it firmly into contact with the Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) pad on the adjoining cushion unit, will reduce the chance of one unit becoming dislodged from adjoining units, in use.

The cushion unit 10 is designed to be nested along the bottom of a stable wall with the curved face outwards and the vertical rear face 14 against the wall and the base 16 of the unit resting on the floor. Similar cushion units can be located end to end to fill up the length of the stable wall. Where the cushions are to extend around a corner of the stable, a corner unit 17 such as shown in Fig. 2 may be employed. This again comprises a foam (preferably closed cell foam) interior and tough polyvinylchloride coated polyester cover, but instead of extending as a straight elongate cushion, the corner unit includes two shorter lengths of foam which meet in a right angle to correspond to a right angled corner between two stable walls.

As with the cushion unit of Fig. 1 handles 18 and 20 are provided at opposite ends 22, 24 a Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) flap is attached to the rear walls 26 of one limb 27 of the corner unit 17 at 30 and typically a Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) pad will be attached to the rear wall 28 at the far end of the other limb 29 of the corner unit. As shown however a second Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) flap 32 is shown attached to the far end of the limb 29. In the event the adjoining straight cushions are merely arranged with their Velcro (Registered Trade Mark) pad ends adjacent the two ends 26 and 28 of the corner um^'t.

Since stables are traditionally made to certain fixed dimensions depending on the type of horse to be kept therein, so the lengths of the straight cushion units such as 10 and limbs of corner units such as 17, are selected so that each wall will be spanned by two corner cushion unit limbs and one, two or more straight cushion units, therebetween.

Although not shown the handles 12, 18 and 20 may be replaced by cavities in the end walls of the units at about the same position as the handles are shown. The cavities comprise hand holds into which the fingers of the hand can protrude at each end, so enabling a stable hand readily to pick up such a unit.

The advantage of cavities as opposed to handles is that mere is notfiing protruding from the end faces of the units, so they fit more simply end to end. In a further modification a handle such as 12 may be provided at one end and a cavity hand grip at the other, the cavity being dimensioned and positioned in the end face so that the handle of one unit will fit into the cavity of an abutting unit.

By fitting units as shown into a stable and banking bedding to a depth of approximately one quarter of the length of the units, so a horse will rarely become cast within the stable.

Although not shown, hand-hold cavities in both ends of each unit and which become aligned as the units are abutted end to end in use, provide another convenient way of joining one unit to another. To this end each cavity is constructed so that its interior is larger in cross-section than an entrance thereto, and joining devices in the form of dumbells are provided, one end of which can be push-fitted into a cavity through the restricted entrance thereof so that the other enlarged dumbell like end protrudes from the end face of the unit into which the said one end has been pushed. This protruding end can be similarly push-fitted into a cavity in the end of another unit. By careful selection of the length of the joining device between its two enlarged ends, so the joining device can draw together and join in close abutting relationship the two opposed ends of the two units.

The resilience of the material forming the restricted entrances in the ends of the units, means that they can be disengaged by simply pulling the joining device out of one or the other of the cavities.

The covering may be self coloured and different colours selected to denote different sizes of units, which may differ in size in cross-section or length or both.

The angle which the inwardly facing face of each unit makes to a flat surface on which the unit is placed is typically 45° but can be in the range of 30° to 60°.

Claims

1. Stable banking units for fitting within a stable to replace the conventional banking of bedding material around the walls thereof, each of which comprises an elongate cushion having a generally right-angled triangular cross section to facilitate its location in contact with the floor and wall of a stable, and which in use is positioned with one of its two orthogonal surfaces in contact with the floor and the other abutting a wall, so that the inclined face of the cushioning unit defines an inclined plane between the floor and the wall to replace the inclined surface of banked loose bedding as used hitherto, and wherein each unit includes handle means for carrying purposes.

2. Banking units as claimed in claim 1 wherein handle means is provided at each end of each unit.

3. Banking units as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the end faces of units are cutaway to create handholds.

4. Banking units as claimed in claim 3 in which the handholds comprise cavities having reduced cross section openings and the cavities are located in the same relative position in each end face, so that in use the cavities can be aligned, and enlarged ends of a double headed joining device in the form of a dumbell, can be pushed into the larger internal cavities through the reduced size openings, to snap fit into the larger internal cavities and thereby join abutting cushions together.

5. Banking units as claimed in any of claim 1 wherein each unit comprises a shaped cushion encased in impermeable waterproof material.

6. Banking units as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 in combination with corner cushion units which are adapted to fit in use between the ends of two elongate cushion units arranged along two adjoining walls of a stable on either side of a corner defined by the two walls, to fill in the space in the corner between the ends of the two elongate units.

7. Banking units as claimed in claim 6 wherein each corner unit has two orthogonal arms which define an external corner so that when fitted into a corner of a stable, the two arms extend away from the stable corner along each of the two adjoining walls to abut the ends of elongate units placed along the said two adjoining walls.

8. Banking units as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7 wherein joining means is provided by which an end face of a unit is securable in abutting relation to the opposed end face of an adjacent unit.

9. Banking units as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 wherein the units are adapted to be secured to the walls and/or floor of a stable to prevent a horse or pony from dragging cushioning units away from the wall.

10. A method of preparing a stable for a horse or pony comprising the steps of heaping bedding material centrally in the stable clear of the walls, placing units as claimed in any of claims 1 to 9 around the walls of the stable, and thereafter sweeping the bedding material outwardly towards the walls and levelling same, so that a lower front edge of each unit is buried by the bedding.