How often do you clean your mare's udders?

I had heard that you're supposed to clean them every six months, but I have to clean my mare's every week, and every week they look like they haven't been cleaned in a year. That isn't normal, is it?

Hmm, I am not sure if that is normal. I just clean my mares when ever I give her a bath. Usually a few times a year.

I start cleaning about every couple weeks May - Sept. Some times they are rather clean, some times like I didn't clean for months. I think it depends a lot on a weather too.

I've done it once since I started riding her, and when I did she gave me a "What in the world are you doing?" look.

Have to agree!

It just depends on how much oils they produce in their skin and what kind of living conditions they're in. If you're in a dusty area and she sweats a lot or produces a lot of oils on her skin, then she's going to get "gunky" more quickly.

I check my mare every time and groom her and clean as needed. I'll just pull/rub gunk off with my hands. When I give her a bath, I'll use soap. Using too much soap or sheath cleaner can actually make her skin produce more oils, so you might try just cleaning her with water for a while if you normally use soap.

The mares here like their udders cleaned whenever a person will do it. Scratching/rubbing between them gets a thank you any day.

I do it about once every 2 weeks. But I live in AZ where my girls are sweating a lot and are exposed to a lot of dust, therefore making them dirtier more often. All horses are different, sounds like your mare just likes to get herself dirty.

I'm with luvs2ride. I rub or pick the gunk out of my girls' udders every time I groom them. They both love it. My filly's udders get a lot grosser than my mare's does, but I'm sure that has a lot to do with the fact that Ricci has had two babies and her teats are pointed out, where as Gracie's are all close and snug in between her legs.

Thanks for all the replies. I just use water, not soap.

And to the people who asked if I live in a dusty place... it rains every afternoon here and is extremely humid all the time : /