The Dreaded Sheath Clean - what do you do?

Grumpy Herbert said:
I cleaned my geldings sheath yesterday, and it was rank!!! I last did it in the summer, but it was really gross this time. He objects fairly strongly to it being done - he doesn't seem to like water in there. What I could do with is something that I just shove up there, have a wipe round and it's done ie. no rinsing. Any suggestions?
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If it's absolutely essential that it's done and you can't do it, for whatever reason, the vet will do it. However, when I first had one of my horses he was impossible. The few times we tried, with varying degrees of success or lack of it, it took 3 of us - two to hold on to him and one to do the job. When the vet came for vaccinations I asked if she would do it and if she thought that sedation might be necessay. Her reply was that she never did her horse's sheath for similar reasons. Her advice was to leave well alone unless there was smell, discharge or he had difficulty urinating, in which case to call the vet as these would indicate infection. She also said that in her opinion and that of many vets, frequent sheath cleaning could do more harm than good. I've since mentioned it to her successors when they came for routine visits and they have agreed with her. My horse has never had any problems in the 8 years since although his penis looks a bit disgusting when he's urinating!

As I say, have a word with your vet the next time s/he comes for a routine visit or over the telephone
 
mjcssjw2 said:
I have had current horse for 10 years or so, tried baby oil he is allergic to it! just used to do a bit of sponging nothing to drastic, but recently noticed he kept weeing a little bit then stopping and was trying to rub his bum, then noticed a very large rock hard bean! took me ages to get out, he didn't like it but thankfully didn't try and kill me. Moral of story keep more of an eye on him in future!!
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Baby oil is scented and not as gentle as you might think. Many years ago there was a fad for using it as eye make-up remover and a number of us ended up with swollen, itchy and sore eyes!

If you want to try oil then olive oil (the bog-standard sort - no need for EVOO here) or sunflower oil might do the trick more safely than baby oil.
 
Mine gets uncomfortable (especially in warm weather), and the smell is hideous. I just trained him using rewards and approach and retreat. He now cocks his back leg to the side to let me in, and does his "camel face", so it's obviously itchy. I've removed a couple of beans over the last few years as well.

I don't do it regularly, only when he looks uncomfortable, so probably about once every 4 months or so.

Shawna Karrash has an excellent DVD with instructions on how to train a horse to accept sheath cleaning that would be useful for people whose horses are less cooperative - training beats vet and sedation for me any day, I'd rather have my horse actively cooperating rather than doped ;)

http://www.on-target-training.com/sheath-cleaning-video.php
 
Bravo WelshMisfit - that post is simply awesome! I realised I was reading it in the voice of James May (off Topgear) which made it even funnier! :D

Having said that, it's a job which thankfully we don't have to do often and it's never manky. By 'we' I mean my other half does it while I make excuses about it being wrong for a man to touch man-parts that don't belong to him!
 
I'm another one who does not believe in cleaning sheaths unless there is an obvious problem. In fact the only horse that has a problem here is one who was regularly cleaned at his previous livery yard. He would get black gunk down the insides of his legs. I left it alone as checked there was no swelling anywhere and his penis was fine. It took a while to stop but the discharge became less and less and now he does not get it at all. Just shows how too much cleaning adversely affects the natural flora of the sheath. As for using oils, it is the worst thing you could do and will simply result in more gunk being produced! If you have to do it, use a water soluble product such as KY jelly.
 
jeeve said:
I had the vet do it when he needed to be sedated for another small procedure (tube drenching I think). One kick from my fellow and that would be the end of me.
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Good plan! dont fancy a kicking from my boy either!! Must make a list. Vet comes.....teeth, clip and sheath clean......tis getting longer!
 
So easy, stand with your bum to his face, so you are looking at our will, rub about outside of sheath and inside hind legs so he knows it is not going to hurt him. Take some sheath cleaner it has lanolin in etc and wips inside with a cloth, put quite a bit there, feed some carrots, wait 4mins, then take a clearn warm wet cloth and wipe around inside of sheath, lots of yucky stuff will drop out and also come away on the cloth. I do lots of 3 monthly cleans rather than one big on every 6 months.
 
I've had my boy a year and never cleaned his bits, should I have done....? The only time he's ever got it out while I've been around was when I was riding so didn't see what it looked like!! I hope this isn't going to end up being a job for the weekend!!!
 
Thanks for all the replies, and to WelshMisFit for giving me a laugh on a cold, snowy, windy night!!

I agree that if there is no discharge, mess, smell and the boy can get his willy up and down ok, then it's probably ok to leave it alone, and everyone must make their own choice on that one. However, I would imagine that if we're never supposed to clean these bits then a vet wouldn't do so either, so I'll keep going. My previous gelding didn't mind having his "bits" dealt with, and needless to say, very rarely needed much done! This lad, however, is producing lots of gunk and it's quite hard, so must be giving some discomfort. He also had a slightly swollen sheath, so it had to be done despite the tail swishing and leg waving. He accepted it in the end, but I'd like to make it less of an ordeal for him.

Thanks again, folks - will put the advice to the test on the next dreaded clean........
 
Late reply I know, but mine has melanomas in his sheath so needs it cleaning regularly (about once a month). Vet has said I should only evey use warm water mixed with liquid parafin, never anything else, especially not baby oil.

At the moment we still have to go to the vet's yard (just down the lane luckily) so I can use his stocks to attempt the clean without getting my head taken off. Vet said once he gets used to it he should enjoy the "warm and soothing sensation" Ych-y-fi as we say in Wales. I'm quite glad that he still hates it!
 
Do you not just squirt some baby oil on it periodically?

I did every few weeks or so.

Nice clean pink willy :D
 
I massively think it depends on the gelding. One at work, I could smell it when stood at his shoulder, so tried to make it a little cleaner, he didnt really care so did what I could. My favourite gelding, never needs his doing, although he gets his out ALL THE TIME!! We were trying to take a photo for his posh ad on the website, and wouldn't put it away! Naughty slutty boy!! :p So I think if your gelding has it out a lot, it wont need much cleaning. Just IME! Don't eat me oh "no sheath cleaning" people! :p
 
Priceless! And whole new vocabulary - I now have actual words for bean, cornflake and the black lumpy grease. Plus some ideas for filling boring winter days when I can't ride my two geldings... Thankyou everyone!
 
Mine had his done on Monday.
It was never an issue when he was entire, as he was *ahem* cleaning it elsewhere. However, as of two years ago, when I had the vet out due to a problem with excessive weeing and a swollen sheath, he is done annually when he has his booster. This is because he is very precious about his bits and requires sedating.

The first time it was cleaned it was absolutely hanging. So much gunk came out, I'm not surprised he was uncomfortable. I'm aware that "overcleaning" is a bad thing, but I feel that once a year is ok, and the vet has commented how much better it has been the last two times she's come to do it. Still dirty enough to justify it, but not bad enough to be uncomfortable.

With regard to what you use to clean it. She used cotton wool, soaked in warm water with hibiscrub, and liquid paraffin to squirt into the folds of his sheath as there were a few bits that were firmly lodged and she didn't want to rip them out incase it caused irritation/ soreness. He's a big lad, and the folds are many, so this is mainly where he has an issue.
She said Baby oil was ok, but I suppose that's differences of opinion. I can see how things that are perfumed wouldn't be such a good option.
 
Use warm water! soft cloth, only sheath cleaner or liquid parafin. I used some VERY dilute hebiscrub in warm water when my geldings got really nasty. A syringe is also pretty useful. But a hosepipe, really? :P Come on, he's gonna complain!
 
In general, though, using hibiscrub (or other antimicrobials) to clean sheaths is not a good idea as it can kill the natural flora allowing pathological bacteria to take over.
 
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