Annagain
Well-Known Member
Having had a horse with sheath melanomas that require regular cleaning for many years I thought I had seen it all, but last night I *think* I was proved wrong. I'm not sure though hence my question.
I was feeding and checking the boys in the field when (melanoma free) M decided he didn't like his feed and lunged at (melanoma riddled) A to chase him off his (identical) feed to eat that. They often swap feeds or share buckets. As he lunged, something fell to the floor from his tummy area. It was about the size an egg but flatter. I thought it was a piece of mud stuck to him but it looked an odd colour so I picked it up. It was very soft, slightly greasy and when I sniffed at it, it reminded me of the smell when I have to clean A's sheath out. I knew from A's lip curling reaction when he's sniffed my hand post cleaning that there's a sure fire way of finding out so I let M sniff it and the lip curl appeared so I'm pretty sure it originated from the nether regions.
As they're both grey and given A's problems I keep a close eye on M too and he's never had so much as a speck of smegma on him before so I've left well alone. Last time I checked was about a month ago. I had a quick check last night and everything looked clean and normal, but I didn't delve too deeply as I was a long way from the tack room with no gloves! I know A develops a lot of smegma due to his melanomas but can a horse with no previous history develop this much in a few weeks and is it normal for big lumps to just to drop out like that?
I was feeding and checking the boys in the field when (melanoma free) M decided he didn't like his feed and lunged at (melanoma riddled) A to chase him off his (identical) feed to eat that. They often swap feeds or share buckets. As he lunged, something fell to the floor from his tummy area. It was about the size an egg but flatter. I thought it was a piece of mud stuck to him but it looked an odd colour so I picked it up. It was very soft, slightly greasy and when I sniffed at it, it reminded me of the smell when I have to clean A's sheath out. I knew from A's lip curling reaction when he's sniffed my hand post cleaning that there's a sure fire way of finding out so I let M sniff it and the lip curl appeared so I'm pretty sure it originated from the nether regions.
As they're both grey and given A's problems I keep a close eye on M too and he's never had so much as a speck of smegma on him before so I've left well alone. Last time I checked was about a month ago. I had a quick check last night and everything looked clean and normal, but I didn't delve too deeply as I was a long way from the tack room with no gloves! I know A develops a lot of smegma due to his melanomas but can a horse with no previous history develop this much in a few weeks and is it normal for big lumps to just to drop out like that?