current thinking on sheath cleaning

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Wheels

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I haven't done this in a long while as I feel it's probably best to leave well alone but oneof my horses does have a fairly dirty sheath, no bean from what i can tell

Warm water only or just leave unless I come across a problem?
 
I have a mare now. But always cleaned sheaths!! In the wild male horse are all stallions so 'it's used'. Gelded horses need cleaning. Have known some horrendous stories of infections/sores and maggots.
Yes some are ok and never cleaned but that's just luck
 
I don't clean as routine, most of mine are very clean, whether that is down to luck or not I have no idea but they do get looked at regularly and I think infections, sores and maggots are more down to poor management and not checking regularly.
If they are getting dirty then I usually use just warm water with a little baby oil to loosen anything that is sticking and keep an eye on it until it becomes clean again, usually a couple of washes suffices.
 
My boy has started making that 'noise' when trotting - apparently a sign that he needs cleaning? Something I have never done before.... and I can't imagine him taking to it too well! Without being too rude I take it you have to get right up there?
 
Warm water, with some of the plainest of soap (i.e. with no bacteriocidal ingredients) or baby oil if required, and maybe only once or twice a year should be fine.

Not all stallions "in the wild" will cover mares of course. One of the functions of "willy whacking" may be to keep things cleaner than they would otherwise be.
 
I'm another in the as little as possible camp but have had two mucky geldings. One in particular used to get acres of black grease down his back legs if I did not do it.

YO's OH is a farrier and has seen more cases than usual this summer of maggot infestations, both in sheaths and feet, so I do keep an eye on my horse.

Fortunately, neither of the mucky boys have ever been bothered and are quite happy to have them cleaned if necessary.
 
Don't often wash my Gelding's sheath - if it is noticeable dirty I will give it a wipe with a sponge and water however he keeps himself tucked up and away.

I just leave it alone, mine has made 'the noise' once or twice but I've heard it has nothing to do with the sheath needing a clean. Not sure if it's true, but when he's made the noise he's stopped making it by the time I've finished riding.
 
over the years I have cleaned the ones that really need it, if it is hanging out I pull of as much as poss (twice in the last 7yrs) never had a problem and only had to remove one bean in over 25yrs, usually maggots up there indicate a broader health issue-one at the same yard as my mare had maggots last year and 'issues' that did not progress to maggots this year-he is old and both times have been at the start of a lami episode, so low immune system and dealing with pain elsewhere potentially meaning he does not respond to the flies in that area.
 
I only do frank when he needs it (black gunk on legs), he seems better off straw bedding!

I do think everyone should try and make themselves familiar with it though if possible (grab hold and have a gander ;)) I picked up a squamous cell carcinoma very quickly with apparently complete recovery with creams/liquid nitrogen rather than amputation :p and it doesn't appear to have spread elsewhere.
 
I don't clean sheaths after I aggravated something in my horse when I was a ten, I was very gentle but obviously set off some sort of problem. he ended up being put down

I do gently wipe around the area though to get my boys used to it as I don't want them to be too affronted should they actually need attention in that area from a vet!
 
I have to do my little gelding quite a lot. The amount of smegma he gathers is ridiculous. Like it would amount to the size of an egg every few months, and he is only 30" this winter i haevve clipped the area before his mr winkle because last year he would kick out and buck because the hair had went up the sheath and got stuck in smegma and must have been killing him (i had just got him, and figured this out in a few weeks - thus an end to the flailing legs!)

I spray my gloved hand with baby oil and get up in there. He loves it the dirty ******.
 
I use natural live yoghurt, brought up to room temperature to make it live again. It doesn't upset the balance of flora. My older gelding was prone to a bean so I kept an eye out, my younger gelding I thought was OK but was horrified to find a huge bean. I managed to remove it but he was a bit sore poor lad. Now he knows what I am up to he is quite helpful :eek3::redface3:
 
Over cleaning can cause more smegma to build up and therefore more cleaning. I also must point out that baby oil is not intended for internal use. Would you put it inside yourself? Oil will only make a problem worse and even start one that wasn't there in the first place. In all my years with geldings, I have never routinely cleaned their sheaths. None of my geldings have had a problem. The worst livery horse I have had for smegma was one that came from a yard where it was done routinely once a fortnight. After two years here (and no cleaning) the problem sorted itself out and now he never has the black gunge down his legs. The only time I would ever clean a sheath is if it started to look swollen or sore. In the wild horses do not have their sheaths cleaned and they manage fine. The stallion argument does not hold true because in the wild MOST stallions never get to 'use it'.
 
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Unfortunately I can claim to be a bit of an expert in this area.

My horse has melanomas in his sheath which causes an over production of smegma so I have to clean it regualrly on vet's orders. Advice from the vet was it's normally not necessary, but if you really have to only use warm water and liquid paraffin. No soap, none of these "sheath cleaners" not baby oil (although it's mostly liquid paraffin, it's scented which can cause problems).

The only problem I have is my boy tries to take my head off if I touch it. Despite the vet telling me he would get used to it and would probably start enjoying the warm squelchy feeling (ych-y-fi :eek:) he hasn't, it's taken 2 years to get as far as a wipe around the outside and a very gentle clean about 2" into his sheath, he also tolerates a hose pipe being aimed in the general direction which gets a surprisingly large amount of gunk out. We knock him out twice a year to give it a good clean. He'll be done in a few weeks when he's also clipped.

As much as this is a nightmare, I think I prefer his reaction to my old boy who clearly enjoyed it and started rocking back and fore. I felt so wrong!
 
It depends whether it causes discomfort to the gelding and the circumstances, I only wash mine if absolutely necessary...He does have PPID and EMS and he gets a build up sometimes of dark smegma which rubs off on his legs...My vet recommended ladies products :) ie feminax wash, which i do use with warm water and an old flannel, rinse well! It works a treat. Again my horse doesnt bother when i wash him, does seem to enjoy it! :)
 
annagain said:
Unfortunately I can claim to be a bit of an expert in this area.

My horse has melanomas in his sheath which causes an over production of smegma so I have to clean it regualrly on vet's orders. Advice from the vet was it's normally not necessary, but if you really have to only use warm water and liquid paraffin. No soap, none of these "sheath cleaners" not baby oil (although it's mostly liquid paraffin, it's scented which can cause problems).

The only problem I have is my boy tries to take my head off if I touch it. Despite the vet telling me he would get used to it and would probably start enjoying the warm squelchy feeling (ych-y-fi :eek:) he hasn't, it's taken 2 years to get as far as a wipe around the outside and a very gentle clean about 2" into his sheath, he also tolerates a hose pipe being aimed in the general direction which gets a surprisingly large amount of gunk out. We knock him out twice a year to give it a good clean. He'll be done in a few weeks when he's also clipped.

As much as this is a nightmare, I think I prefer his reaction to my old boy who clearly enjoyed it and started rocking back and fore. I felt so wrong!
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My old boy really appreciates having it done- I don't think it's 'wrong'.
It must be awful being itchy or uncomfortable- whatever it is that makes them kick and get the black smear on their thighs- and not be able to sort the problem for themselves
 
CatherineBaynham said:
My boy has started making that 'noise' when trotting - apparently a sign that he needs cleaning? Something I have never done before.... and I can't imagine him taking to it too well! Without being too rude I take it you have to get right up there?
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I recently read that the noise is from tightness in the back - when the back is tense, the sheath area tenses and the sound is the air moving out of the tensed sheath. Don't know how researched that has been, but as many of the horse I know who do it are lacking suppleness in the back it made sense to me. (ETA here: http://horselistening.com/2014/07/10/on-slobber-snorts-and-sheath-sounds-3-ways-to-your-horses-back/ )

I only clean my lad's if his willy is hanging out and looks gross. Don't touch it otherwise. Hair gets greasief the more you wash it, and I don't want his willy producing more smegma due to washing. Equally I've never had a horse get black gunk on his legs before!

Geoff also hates his being touched :)
 
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I don't clean any of my three boys and I'll be honest, they are cleaner than any others I have seen! Best left well alone I say.

They are my first boys, so at first I thought they needed cleaning and saw posts on here of people recommending a squirt of baby oil... I DO NOT advise this, a few days after one of my boys had an awful infection which made him struggle to wee and had to have antib's/bute. Vet said it was most likely that the baby oil had gotten too gloopy and done more harm than good. The other boy was fine, but I would still never do it again.
 
Bede said:
My old boy really appreciates having it done- I don't think it's 'wrong'.
It must be awful being itchy or uncomfortable- whatever it is that makes them kick and get the black smear on their thighs- and not be able to sort the problem for themselves
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I don't mean cleaning it is wrong, I meant my old boy's blisfull reaction made me feel wrong. I don't think he was just pleased to be nice and clean down there, if you know what I mean.
 
Wagtail said:
The stallion argument does not hold true because in the wild MOST stallions never get to 'use it'.
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See my comment above. While it is true that the majority of feral stallions don't cover mares (and even if they did, it would be for only part of their lives), the frequency of masturbation is significantly higher in stallions compared to geldings. Indeed, some geldings appear not to at all and these may tend to be the ones that accumulate more muck.
 
I have never had a gelding whose sheath needed cleaning - to my knowledge, till now. My son's horse needs attention every few months. He will start trying to pee and being unable to, hunching his back and being girthy. It is a sure sign he has a bean. I do use a commercial sheath cleaner, though may start using something a bit kinder. It clears his discomfort up immediately and he will usually have a huge pee once he is clean.
My gelding has never appeared to have a problem, nor would I venture near that part of his anatomy on fear of death.
 
fburton said:
See my comment above. While it is true that the majority of feral stallions don't cover mares (and even if they did, it would be for only part of their lives), the frequency of masturbation is significantly higher in stallions compared to geldings. Indeed, some geldings appear not to at all and these may tend to be the ones that accumulate more muck.
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Interestingly my gelding who never needs cleaning is constantly waving his willy around, he has a small sheath.
My sons gelding has a large - loose sheath, never gets his wilyl out and it gets disgusting up there.
 
annagain said:
My horse has melanomas in his sheath which causes an over production of smegma so I have to clean it regualrly on vet's orders. Advice from the vet was it's normally not necessary, but if you really have to only use warm water and liquid paraffin. No soap, none of these "sheath cleaners" not baby oil (although it's mostly liquid paraffin, it's scented which can cause problems).
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Agree about proprietary sheath cleaners. I do still think that plain soap would be suitable. The problem is it might be hard to get hold of these days because most soaps have antibacterial additives like triclosan, which one definitely doesn't want. So I think your vet's advice was good.
 
Frank gets his out a lot when he is chilling (no waggling though really) I told him that is how he ended up with cancer, too many UV rays :p
 
khalswitz said:
I recently read that the noise is from tightness in the back - when the back is tense, the sheath area tenses and the sound is the air moving out of the tensed sheath. Don't know how researched that has been, but as many of the horse I know who do it are lacking suppleness in the back it made sense to me. (ETA here: http://horselistening.com/2014/07/10/on-slobber-snorts-and-sheath-sounds-3-ways-to-your-horses-back/ )

I only clean my lad's if his willy is hanging out and looks gross. Don't touch it otherwise. Hair gets greasief the more you wash it, and I don't want his willy producing more smegma due to washing. Equally I've never had a horse get black gunk on his legs before!

Geoff also hates his being touched :)
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That may be true as my youngster has only just been broken in and he only makes the noise for the first few minutes and then he relaxes and will trot around quite relaxed and without the noise!
 
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