Find that bean!!

M

mja

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 June 2010
Messages
192
Visit site
I was surprised having never owned a gelding before when I read up on sheath cleaning that no one had mentioned to me about the "bean" apart from on a forum as it seems vital it is removed -

http://www.equi-sense.com/articles/sheathcleaning.html

Despite the warning it is dangerous judging by how my boy seems to enjoy the peeling away of debris process, I found and removed a bean on my ownand he didnt even flinch. He isnt so keen on the washing and using foam cleaner but still doesnt kick.

I thought this was a super link with diagram of bean location!!

http://www.equiderma.com/sheath.html

And this was funny -
http://www.angelfire.com/az/clickryder/hand.html

Good luck bean hunters and be careful xx
 
I've owned geldings for more than thirty years and I've never cleaned a sheath out in my life and I've never had a problem with a gelding with a sheath problem. They don't get washed out in the wild and no, they don't use them. It's only the lucky, toughest, strongest males that actually get to mate.

Can anyone explain why it has become so fashionable to mess about with sheaths when they have a naturally balanced environment in there!?
 
cptrayes said:
I've owned geldings for more than thirty years and I've never cleaned a sheath out in my life and I've never had a problem with a gelding with a sheath problem. They don't get washed out in the wild and no, they don't use them. It's only the lucky, toughest, strongest males that actually get to mate.

Can anyone explain why it has become so fashionable to mess about with sheaths when they have a naturally balanced environment in there!?
Click to expand...

Ditto this, as a gelding owner of 20 years.
I was advised by a vet NOT to clean/faff with it. I was more than happy to take his advice none of the geldings I have owned have had sheath/penis problems.
 
I've had a few geldings and looked after many more. Only 1 had a problem, but he was 30+ years and it only needed a gentle clean up around the sheath- we didn't dive inside!
All the other boys would have been mortified if I faffed about with their bits, Iam sure I would have been killed by 1 gelding if I even looked there!!

I have mares now, but I unless a vet told me there was a problem, its a department I'd leave well alone.
 
quirky said:
Ditto this, as a gelding owner of 20 years.
I was advised by a vet NOT to clean/faff with it. I was more than happy to take his advice none of the geldings I have owned have had sheath/penis problems.
Click to expand...

Yeah, never faffed, and my gelding seems happy enough. If I ever noticed he looked in pain or discomfort down there I would ring a vet, not just go searching... :p
 
Oh god i'v had to do it, my youngster managed to cut his bits last yr and vet advised me to get it as clean as possible so i went in their with rubber gloves and ky jelly (this is what i was recomended) it was nasty i was couking quite a fair bit, but he didnt seem to mind in the slightest and he is only a baby. I'v heard you should do it once a yr?
 
This subject appears time and again. I have geldings and mares and both get accumulations of smegma (which is a carcinogenic build-up of smelly grease) in folds of the anatomy which in the wild would be cleansed naturally. Mares, during foaling and nursing, have much expanded udders and the foals and thier noses would brush off any offending rubbish stuck to the middle part which is where it collects in non-broods.

There is no such thing as a wild gelding. All entires' bits and pieces would also be cleaned in the natural way.

Many domesticated horses of both sexes do, I firmly believe, benefit from (if not definitely need) at least inspection and remedial attention. A friend has a gelding who unquestionably 'suffers' after bean formation.
 
I did my geldings for the first time last year becuase his sheath swelled up. It wasn't hugely dirty in there, but I removed a couple of small but quite hard 'beans'. It didn't seem enough to make any difference when I did it, but his sheath went back to normal immediately after. The same happened this spring - swelled, cleaned, fine again. Horses for courses I suppose.
 
brighteyes said:
There is no such thing as a wild gelding. All entires' bits and pieces would also be cleaned in the natural way.
Click to expand...


If you mean by being used for mating, this isn't the case, is it? One stallion in the wild runs a group of mares. Unless there are much, much greater numbers of mares born than stallions, which isn't, I don't think, the case, then the bachelor stallions live in small herds where they only use their penises in exactly the same way as our geldings do. Until the last few years, you would never have heard of cleaning a gelding's penis and the only males that were cleaned were breeding stallions, to protect the mare, not the stallion. The sheath is a self balancing environment which you should no more think of putting "cleaners" inside than you would inside yours own body cavities, unless there is a clear problem.
 
My 2yo likes to flop it out when im grooming him.. and one day it was looking a little manky so i decided to (at a slight distance i might add) give it a little squirt with some baby oil. Needless to say he felt thoroughly violated and metaphorically dropped a bo**ock. Ive since not bothered!!
x
 
Last edited:
Aaaagh, no - baby oil is the wrong PH (acidity/alkalinity) for body cavities! Ladies of a certain age, be warned :)
 
Toast said:
My 2yo likes to flop it out when im grooming him.. and one day it was looking a little manky so i decided to (at a slight distance i might add) give it a little squirt with some baby oil. Needless to say he felt thoroughly violated and metaphorically dropped a bo**ock. Ive since not bothered!!
x
Click to expand...

hahahah, brilliant!! poor thing probably got the shock of his life!!
 
Haha had to laugh at it being compared to human bit cleaning cos if we didnt do that it doesnt bear thinking about............

I dont agree with cleaning too much as it is a healthy bacteria balance in there so I dont go "up in there" and can leave penis overdry and therefore crack but when the horse is dropping it down and has hard crusty debris hanging off his penis then I clean it cos it is obviously more comfortable plus if the bean is easily visible and just pops out then clearly it is ready to come out - I did not go searching and he certainly was happy to let it go!

Stallions are different regardless of how often mate and so on cos they are entire. When we mess with them by gelding them of course things will change and needa hand sometimes. Not all horses will be the same but as said "horses for courses" and I for one will check my gelding's bits in another 6 months time or clean them if they swell etc. His had swollen recently possibly from a flybite we thought but returned to normal after bean popped out. Each to their own.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top