Washing your stallion's penis...

AndyPandy

AndyPandy

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Just a quick post to ask if anyone uses any particular products when washing their stallion's penis before semen collection or covering?

If you do, this information might save you a few pounds. The surface of the penis has a natural population of what people might call "friendly bacteria". This friendly bacteria prevents infection from "bad bacteria". Washing the penis with antibacterial soaps, or anything other than warm water can have a detrimental effect on the "friendly bacteria", leaving the way open to opportunistic pathogens that can create NASTY infections on the surface of the penis, and can also make their way up into secondary sex structures and cause lasting, problem infections, and possible irreversible damage.

There are specialist soaps which tell you how great they are at dissolving smegma. The smegma around the sheath, at the base of the erect penis is essential to maintain the moistness of the penis. Removing this smegma is not necessary, and can cause irritation for the poor stallion. The rest of the grime and nastiness along the shaft of the penis can easily be dissolved with warm water.

Wash the penis with warm water, and bare hands, using a styrofoam cup to pour small amounts of water down the penis to wash off any remaining bits and pieces. Do not use cotton wool or paper towels - because if you happen to catch a bit of grit with cotton or towels, you won't feel it, but your poor stallion will when you drag it down the penis, creating a very unpleasant scratch (another entry point for pathogens, as well as being pretty sore!). When you finish, pat it dry with paper towel.

If you don't wash before covering or collecting, I recommend you start - it can make a real difference to pregnancy rates over the course of the season.

I hope that's helpful for some people
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... but I am designated yard willy washer

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Love that term. It's not a glamorous job, but someone has to do it, so good on you. I salute you all, fellow willy washers
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**Returns with her sense of humour under control**

I only use warm water on my stallions willies
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I am not looking forward to the first willy wash of the season tho (I don't tend to wash them through the winter unless they are minging) but perhaps mat_b will use the warm water hose on Helios' for me whilst he is staying there like he does on Teddy's **hint hint**
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ETS... That's if he's not too put off by how well hung Helios is **sniggers** d'oh I could hold the quips in...
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i think someone should start up a mobile willy washing service. i think business would rocket im sure someone on here could find a name for the business
 
Very useful.

However, although I try to remember to wash my gelding's sheath when I bath him he always seems to have lots of white flaky stuff on it - should I wash it more often?

My tip is don't let the YO's dog lick your face just after you have been cleaning a horse's sheath...some dogs will eat anything
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Very useful information AP, but surely this should have been geared towards gelding owners as how to wash their geldings "bits" , as I would hope that every stallion owner would already know how to wash their stallions penis before and after covering anyway.
 
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I think you've just destroyed the Activia/Yakult market!!!

I can't imagine anyone ever looking at their yoghurt or "health" drink in the same way again!!!

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I hope that Activia/Yakult have another source for their friendly bacteria
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You'd be surprised at the number of stallion owners who don't wash their stallion's penis, or use "sheath cleaners", tea tree oil-based soaps and nasty chlorohexidine based scrubs on them! Also, so many people use paper towels or cotton, but aren't aware of the possible risks associated with it
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Also, as it's the breeding forum, I don't talk about geldings too much
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I think you've just destroyed the Activia/Yakult market!!!

I can't imagine anyone ever looking at their yoghurt or "health" drink in the same way again!!!

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I hope that Activia/Yakult have another source for their friendly bacteria
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Double Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
 
Baby oil would probably be ok, but not immediately pre-covering or collection, as the fragrance is spermicidal. Mineral oil (unfragranced baby oil) would be fine. Otherwise, if you can't do without a cleaning product, use one of the ones you can buy, but not around covering/collecting time. Use it a few days before, chisel off the nasties, and then use warm water on covering day
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The more I read this forum the more I am amazed we have managed to breed any foals at all...
No, we have never washed a stallion's penis believing the friendly bacteria is an essential part of the process..
I recall taking a mare to a big Northern stud where they attempted to spray his willy with hibsicrub before and after covering..They were lucky in the before he didn't kill them...and the damned mare didn't take despite numerous coverings .
I'll accept a smack on the hand Penniless
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, but seeing as you're from Newmarket I assume perhaps it could be one of those places where they have four attendants to cope with the covering, in our case sometimes it's just been me, a mare tied to the covering bar and the stallion..
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A bit difficult to swab penis's under those circumstances.
 
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I think you've just destroyed the Activia/Yakult market!!!

I can't imagine anyone ever looking at their yoghurt or "health" drink in the same way again!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope that Activia/Yakult have another source for their friendly bacteria
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do hope you are right AP
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Regarding baby oil - it is possible for horses to be allergic to it (even the non-perfumed stuff). One of my mares is allergic to it, as am I....and that would be a bit nasty for a stallion.
S
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Very useful information AP, but surely this should have been geared towards gelding owners as how to wash their geldings "bits" , as I would hope that every stallion owner would already know how to wash their stallions penis before and after covering anyway.

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Mmm - you'd be surprised!! There are more 'novice' stallion owners around than there used to be - and some things we take for granted they don't know!! I remember on a breeding list I participate on, someone posted about a horrendous injury her stallion had received covering a mare who was NOT tail bandaged!
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He was sliced from end to end, couldn't be stitched, wouldn't heal - I THINK he was finally put down because of it. She'd used the stallion for several seasons and was totally unaware that mares' tails should be bandaged to prevent just that sort of disaster!
 
QR -

Makes you wonder how in the world any feral horses ever manage to breed without humans and their willy-washes, tail bandages and all the other amazing contraptions.

My mares were pasture bred and ran with my stallion for the duration of their pregnancy. They also foaled down outside in their field - shock horror!
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With the father watching them foal over the fence right next to them, and then he went back in with his mares and foals the day afterwards
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. Shocking huh?
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QR -
Makes you wonder how in the world any feral horses ever manage to breed without humans and their willy-washes, tail bandages and all the other amazing contraptions.


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Horses in the wild do NOT compare to domestically kept horses for all SORTS of reasons. The herd is always 'moving on' - so there is no build up of worms and bacteria on the ground. They are used to living as a herd, so the pecking order is well established. Most importantly, when there IS an 'accident' - no-one has to pay vet's bills or suffer the distress of losing foal or mare - it just happens.

It's like natural cover (even in-hand) as opposed to AI. As long as nothing goes wrong, everyone is happy with natural cover. Twemlows got into AI after one of their stallions 'got it wrong' and a mare died. It's one of the things that always worries me when covering - as my stallion is a big chap in ALL areas and we once had a mare who - unknown to us - who was very short in the corresponding part of her anatomy!! She ended up with a badly bruised cervix - but it could have been much worse.
 
I've seen a couple of sheath cleaners that are designed to be SUPER GENTLE! Read the info on the side, and if it says it's designed not to interfere with the "natural flora" or "bacteria" of the stallion's penis, then you can use it without too much bother. Again, use it away from covering, and not too often.
 
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