Clean the SHEATH?

[KarinUS]

Hm. I am dreaming about buying my first horse again and have been reading horse care books. I guess the basic opinion is that geldings are most suitable for beginners. OK...
Now I read about this sheath cleaning deal...
Is it what I think it is and how the heck do you do that? Do they usually hold still for this? If you can't/ rather not do it yourself how much would the vet charge for this and how often do people take care of this?

:confused:

[TBgrl]

Well I'm looking for my first horse this summer. I too have been told that geldings are best for a beginner. I asked my horsey Mentor Robin about this because as I was checking over one of her horses for suitabitlit I found myself looking down there thinkin about how I was going to this sheath cleaning thing, and she said that our vet Dr. dale doesn't recommed doing it and just leaving it natural. I have read about that "bean" deposit and think that should come out, but I'm not sure about how it affects the horse to leave it alone??

from susan

[floppy]

blaaaah. :p
sheath cleaning is one of the the reasons why geldings are a last resort for me!
i cleaned my last chare horses sheath once, it hadnt been cleaned for so long...that i have now decided i will only get a gelding if i find someone else to do the sheath cleaning.

but they say geldings are easier but i dont see nothing wrong with mares..not all mares are evil.

the horse i share can be stroppy and she has belong to the owner for 2 years now and the owner has been riding for 3. and the horse is 7yrs old. The worst thing she will do is the odd buck whilst out riding.
but they make a great team.
You can always get yoru vet to do it..or look around the yard and ask befor eyou buy if anyone will clean your horses sheath for you. - i mean that is..if you cant go through with it yourself!:D

- TBgrl

if you dont clean the sheath and leave the bean in it will cause the horse discomfort. In the wild you dont get geldings. and stallions method of clenaing themselves happens when they cover a mare.
if you have a domesticated animal you have to do all you can to make sure the animal is happy. And if this means haveing it gelded then you have to put up with the consequence and clean its sheath. By the way..if you dont clean it...not only does it look revolting and cause discomfort to the hrose..but it also smells prett foul.

[Piaffe]

It's not THAT bad!!! Get yourself a pair of rubber gloves, a bucked of warm water, sheath cleaner and a sponge!!

I have to confess, I don't do this very often - once every few months!! My horse doesn't really enjoy it - but it does need doing every now and then!!!!

[cvb]

Hi guys

You just missed (time wise) a long discussion on just this subject. The Thread was called "Sheath Cleaning - help !" - and there are some good (and detailed !) explanations there.

If you can't find it, just hit 'Search' and type in 'sheath' - thats how I found it again.

Because this IS something you should be doing. We're the people who decide to chop their bits off, so we have to take care of them...

[larri]

I started off the other thread when I got my gelding Merlin.
unfortunately Merlin has to have his done EVERY week, without fail - if I didn't he'd be at risk of cancerous tumours. He's incredibly mucky down there ( or up there:rolleyes: )
I'm lucky in that he has it done so often he is totally unfazed by the whole thing and will even lift his hind leg up and hold it out of the way without being asked ( bless him- he's such a good boy :D )
It's not a bad job when you get used to it, a bit on the smelly side, but like cvb says we have to do it!

[CarolineR]

My Charlie also has to have this done very regulary, although with more turn out available now, he does appear to be cleaner, with me only having to this every 2 weeks, instead of every week.

Its' not a horrible job, and if your horse allows you to do this with no qualms, you can rest assured that he will have a good nature and allow you to do almost anything with him as he will trust you.

Don't that afraid, just think of it as part of your grooming routinue to check the sheath area and then it will become second nature and you wont even think about it.

[myEllie]

Keep in mind that if you get a mare you will still have to clean her "hoo-ha." :D My mare is quite a pig and it can get very disgusting. I have to clean her every week during the summer. It is gross to clean, but not as bad as sheath cleaning.

[kelsey]

Hi Karin - I pay one of my fellow boarders (who is less squeamish than me) to clean my gelding's sheath every three months or so. I feel guilty not doing it myself, but I would feel guiltier not having it done at all.

Somebody told me that you are supposed to clean them when you start hearing noises coming from the area, not sure if this is true????

[ponyvet]

you should clean it as part of your normal routine. There are a few conditions which can develop if you don't like sores, and infections, and actually the smagma (yukkky gunky stuff) is carcinogenic and if a horse gets a sore which becomes coated in smegma because it's never cleaned, they are likely to develop a nasty tumour which can only be removed by AMPUTATION!!!

People often quote that stallions in the wild don't have their cleaned but they use theirs!!! Domestic Geldings don't.

As a vet I'd rather not have to go out on calls doing this a I think it's your job as owners to do it!! obviously there are sometimes horses that need a vet to sedate them first but I'd just inject it and leave the job up to the owner. I might sound full of myself but I do have better and more important things to do!! (like clean my own geldings sheath!!)

[Hunt~Jump21]

Sheath cleaning is very important for the reasons mentioned above, however, it should not be done too often as this will upset the natural "good" bacteria in the sheath. Once a year is generally good guideline - if done any more than this you will cause more harm than good. I clean my gelding's sheaths every spring using "Excalibur" which is a soap designed especially for sheath cleaning (you can get it or something similar for around $8 in most tack catalogs). Everyone has their preferences, but here's how I do it: I have someone hold them, I put rubber gloves on, mix the Excalibur into a bucket of warm water, soak some sterile cotton in the water and start cleaning using the soapy wet cotton to clean the inner walls. Once I have cleaned the inside of the sheath and checked-for/removed the "bean", I then rinse THOROUGHLY with cool, clean water making sure every trace of soap and smegma is removed. There are tons of articles on exactly how to do this, but if still in doubt, have your vet show you how to do it the first time. It's pretty horrible the first time you have to do it but you get used to it - I suppose sheath cleaning just becomes part of owning a gelding!