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Sheath cleaning...

4K views 28 replies 17 participants last post by  justridinguk 
#1 ·
So...

When I was brushing apollo today I noticed his penis had flakey stuff on it. He is not my first gelding, but my old gelding did not get crusty like that. I picked off some of it and he didn't seem to care that much. Should I clean it off or should I let the vet do it when she comes out this week to check him over, or just let it naturally come off.

Thanks. :)
 
#2 ·
You should clean it good one or two times per year, so it doesn't get all gunky and cause infection. If it's dirty, get some warm water and wash it off. Baby oil works well - rub it on, leave it a bit and it wipes the dirt right off. Be sure to dig the bean out if there is one. Excalibur works wonders too.

Some geldings need it more frequently than others, so just pay attention to how icky it gets.
 
#4 ·
Thanks!!!

Yeah he was enjoying the brushing and I noticed him just.. Hanging out.. Lol.

I noticed the flakes so I pulled a few off I will get the rest tomorrow. I didn't want to overload him today since its his first day home, so just some nice brushing and bonding, and a short walk. :)
 
#5 ·
It's good to clean all the stuff every once in a while. I cleaned my 10 month old colt the first time a few weeks ago. He enjoyed it so much he was biting the wall. :lol: I've yet to go searching for the bean, but he lets me clean his sheath and penis no problem.
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#9 ·
My new gelding looks to be a bit dirty. Honestly I've always let the vet do it, but he usually gives them sedatives? Is this necessary? I'd like to just man up and do it myself, but I'm not entirely sure how to start! Haha! My boy doesn't really hang very often. Should I just ask the vet to show me?
 
#12 ·
I need to stop being such a chicken and just do it! I'm sure I could get it done without a fuss, but I've never done it before so I'm apprehensive. I don't want to upset my horse and get kicked. That is really my only fear, getting kicked. I'm such a wuss. He "hangs out" all the time when I'm grooming him, I just don't want to shock him when he is relaxed like that! Lol
 
#13 ·
Okay guys, I could probably look this up, but I have to ask (especially since my assumption is some of you might really enjoy telling the idiot yahoo over here asking the stupid question, the answer!)...What the heck is "the bean"???

This is even WORSE because I WANT a gelding, NOT a mare, and it is going to be something I'll have to know about...It is the ONLY issue that has me apprehensive to some degree about owning a gelding, (whereas, owning a mare I would have to deal with monthly cycles, and the horse-equivalent of PMS, and possible cystic ovaries and hormone imbalances), not to mention both myself and my mare at times being BITCHY in tandem etc...as I AM THE QUEEN of PMS--just ask my poor husband! :)

Interestingly, my only horse "job" where I "might" have had the chance to learn what the heck a bean is, was around age 17 when I apprenticed with Al-Marah Arabians here in Tucson and then in Williams, Az up at their Hat Ranch...I cared for their show and sale horses in the summer up north, and then back in Tucson into the fall, and then worked their breeding program for a while in the early part of the year.

And while (especially at such a young age) I remember assisting with live cover of some mares, we also used a dummy mare and a teaser...the whole THING was always (IMO) sooo scary, and well as basically just aggressive seeming (to my 17 year old brain) that it COMPLETELY turned me off of horse breeding as something very interesting to learn about, until much later (and by later, I mean I am JUST starting to think it is interesting to learn about from a genetic and purely informational standpoint!).

...Plus, the trainers and vet and breeding preceptors were very calloused about it and made it seem as though every 17 year old girl should find it perfectly normal to see this gigantic swinging horse penis flinging around everywhere, while the mare teasing him was all snorty and "scared" looking (I was too young to know that she was actually enjoying that part of the process--Duh), and at times trying to kick; and then the fake "collection" mare was there, and ugh...it was all such a MESS, that I probably would have learned so much more about the actual act of "male" horse care (stallions and geldings), but I was totally intraverted and freaked out by everything at the time, and honestly think I probably blocked it all out!

Wow, did I get TOTALLY off topic or WHAT?? :) Just wait...I'm about to get even MORE off topic! What is really interesting in retrospect is that I LOVE reproduction from a "forensic" standpoint...

In nursing school, I immediately KNEW--on day one of pre-reading my third quarter texts to prepare for our OB-GYN rotation--that this was THE MOST fascinating thing in the WORLD--and I knew immediately that if not a nurse midwife, I wanted to be (and did become, immediately out of school as a matter of fact!) a high risk labor and delivery nurse! I also worked NICU and loved that as well...funny...it was like, once any mom was pregnant I was FASCINATED with the entire process from immediately post-conception to about the first three months post-delivery...however, I never had any interest in working in the IVF clinics, or doing any LEAP surgeries as an OR RN. I was like, "Just let me take care of mom and baby once baby is safely implanted and I'm good to go..."

I realize this post became (AS usual) a total dissertation, (c'mon, most of y'all skip my posts anyway my now, it's ok!) but it's interesting that I went from despising horse breeding, to not being overly impressed with human "reproduction" (I don't mean on a "personal level" of course, but rather, on a clinical, "how will this impact my nursing career level") UNTIL the life is growing, only to get all obsessed with each and every delievery process, to the point that it became a PERSONAL CHALLENGE to ENSURE that every mom and dad had THE PERFECT experience in every way I could possibly control!

It did work out to my advantage in a way, because I was (not to toot my own horn, but someone's gotta!) told by my L&D moms and dads that "You are THE best labor nurse we've ever had! Promise you'll still work here when we have our next baby!"....to.... "I feel sooo lucky you were our nurse! We were scared when we first saw you because you look 16 :-(, (I was barely 24 and working with nurses who were all in their 40's and up, but at least it was a teaching hospital, so lots of the docs were my age!) and we thought 'THIS girl is going to help us deliver our baby?!' but as soon as you began taking care of us, you did such an amazing job, that we hated it when your shift was over!

I used to stay over a lot so I could finish a delievery with a mom and baby! I loved it that much...I need to put a pic up in my albums with some of the little chunksters I delivered...I'll scan some L&D pics of me and my newly delievered babies (you can't see their faces, it's ok--no HIPPA violations) because most of the time, our docs would miss or nearly miss the deliveries, so I have literally in my log almost 100 self-delievered babies in a period of merely three years! :lol:

My hospital in CA did 450 delieveries a month, and I worked there for three years before moving back to AZ...Wow, I actually REALLY DO feel bad for this tangent, but these memories somehow totally just came back to me and came spilling out...soo sorry OP! Maybe SOMEONE didn't mind the digression? :sad: I guess I simply haven't thought about that point in my life forever, hence leading me far, far, FAR... :eek:fftopic:

But seriously, let's get back to THE DARNED horse penises and sheath cleaning...Oy veh! Someone HELP me get back to the topic at hand, and please, oh please, for Gosh sake, tell me what the BEAN is?? :)
 
#14 ·
The article I linked talks about it a bit.

The bean is a ball of ick (smegma) that gets trapped inside the penis and gets rolled around into a ball or bean shape. The article I posted I think has a picture of where it is.
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#17 ·
As someone who has only ever owned mares, this is all very unfamiliar to me. I have a gelding now though so I should probably try to figure it out.

So what happens when your gelding just doesn't drop? Even while being groomed and relaxing and such? My guy seems to be pretty reserved about letting it all hang out. He doesn't even seem to drop all the way when he pees. I don't exactly want to go "searching"... so what do I do?
 
#19 ·
I will pick off the flakey stuff but I leave the cleaning to the vet. Our gelding takes a very dim view of this process and needs drugs for the job to be done.
 
#20 ·
I have had my gelding for six years and have never gotten a bean out, but I have never had the vet do it. I was taught within the first year I got him. I always wondered if I was doing it wrong? lol Or if he was just one of the few that didn't get them? My gelding also really liked it when I would clean it, he usually dropped, and would try to lick everything... lol. Is that normal? haha
 
#21 ·
I brush the right spots to get him drop, pick a few flakes off, keep brushing, pick some more flakes off, keep brushing, etc and every few weeks I'll grab the thing and check for a bean. We keep it casual and stress free 'round these parts.
 
#23 ·
I've had my gelding for 10 years and as a child my dad taught us kids how to keep the boys clean. Maybe it's because I have no shame but I've been known to stick a (usually gloved) hand up when looking to buy a boy to make sure they're taken care of and to gauge how difficult it's going to be fore me to clean him. I'm also the go to girl when it comes to anything sheath related because I've got no reserves about cleaning them. I know it has to be done to keep the horse healthy so I really don't care about the awkward looks and funky smells. The only thing that makes it awkward is when the horse starts trying to groom me while I'm elbow deep. Nothing's worse than getting hit on by the horse when you're messing around with his junk. I think I'm going to print the link and tack it in the barn. I'm sure a lot more people will be willing to clean their boys if they knew not everyone takes it seriously or thinks they're violating their horse. Maybe it will encourage the guys around the barn to do their own cleaning lord knows they make as much if not more of a fuss about it than the girls.
 
#24 ·
My horse also believes that sheath cleaning day is "date night". I've thought about dressing as a nurse to make it seem more clinical but the costume shop only has "sexy nurse" available and I think that would send him the wrong message.
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#27 ·
When the vet comes out have Her/him check him out and give advice on how offten her will need cleaning. You could pay a vet to come out each time( I know folks who do this) or you can clean him up yourself. Vet will show you the proper way. I only have mare's so sorry I can't say. Just gotta be careful an make sure the horse don't mind you messing with his "junk".

As for the other folks here, Don't feel bad! Heck I'm a guy and I check/clean my mares "girly parts" jsut about everyday. Lucky for me my girls don't mind me cleaning them, I think they like it cause I'm sure it feels good to get that dirt off them. As for the funny "date night" comment. Don't feel bad, Gypsy does the same thing. Somedays soon as I "touch" her there to cleasn her, She will squat, hike her tail up, wink like crazy an dribble pee some times, nicker and Look back at me with love in her eyes. I just laugh, shake my head. Horses you gotta love them.
 
#28 ·
Well, I just did the deed today. As a first time sheath cleaner, it really was not that big of a deal. My BO thinks he has never had it done before because he was rather surprised at first. He didn't try to kick me, just lifted his back hooves a few times. He didn't drop, but I was able to get the bean anyway. He should be good to go for a while, at least until its warmer outside! As a first timer, I would highly suggest having an experienced person there to explain it all. It's a simple process, but it definitely helps to be told what to expect and what you are looking for.
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#29 ·
Just to lighten the subject I remember about 4 years ago my husband came down to the yard to help out and I had started a new girl that day, she was a no nonsense full on horsey lass! Buxem and bold, anyway my husband is wondering around the indoor barn looking important or at least trying to and this young lady strolls over to him and thrusts a whole crust from the sheath she had just cleaned with her bare hands I might add directly under his nose, and exclaimed what do you make of that.. well I just saw him running out of the barn where upon she seized the opportunity to chase him around the yard with said sheath crust, absolutely hilarious and the best self introduction from a staff member I have seen.
 
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