Sheath Cleaning

Ah, the topic of sheath cleaning. Everyone's favorite thread. Full of uncomfortable phrases and silly jokes. But here goes anyway...

Okay, I posted on here a while ago about how my gelding didn't drop to pee, and as I expected, everyone said he probably needed his sheath cleaned. So a couple of weeks ago, I threw on some latex gloves, filled a bucket with soapy water and got to work. I must have been unsuccessful in my attempt though, as he still isn't dropping to pee, and is spraying pee all over his belly.

When I cleaned him, I got a lot of smegma out of his sheath, but I was unable, despite all attempts, to get him to drop for it, and was therefore also unable to clean his actual...ahem, part. When I reached up as far as possible, I think I found the head of it, and reached my finger up to try to find the bean, but there was nothing there.

Now, I will try have to try again, because he is smelly around there, and seems to even have a bit of on his belly in front of his sheath - I assume that neither of those things are good.

Anyway, I guess I am just asking for any tips for my next attempt?

My horse is fairly easy to do, so no really good tips. My advice? This time have a vet out to get it done. They'll tranq him and take care of the problem. If he's urinating all over himself and has a strange smell there's probably something really off in there.

After the vet takes care of it this time, I suggest slowly desensitizing him to you handling him. For Soda I starting scratching his belly, upper thighs, etc until he didn't mind. Then I moved to cleaning the outer edges, etc. Now he doesn't stay dropped all that long, but it is is long enough for me to get it well cleaned. Of course, you'll look like a perv to any non-horse person while your desensitizing, but that's just one of the "special" things about owning a horse. My boyfriend turns green/red when I talk about it.

I was afraid you'd suggest the vet. That makes two of us. Time to fork over some $$$.

Honestly, it won't cost much money.....Well the ace won't cost much, haha. If you have your name in their system, depending on the vet, as long as your horses records are current (for dosing purposes) you could potentially call it in and they might just give you the ace to give yourself.

My recent attempt to clean Ice's sheath was successfully unsuccessful. Although he didn't drop, I was able to stick my hand pretty far up there and and mess around, which I was surprised at. But no actual sheath, so I still need to ace him too.

It took me about an hour to completely clean Soda. He alternated dropping and sucking it back up when he was feeling a little nervous. I was almost elbow deep a couple of times. My friend (who really wanted to see it done for some reason) was a little grossed out by that, but it worked. I found that it really helped to have a large syringe for rinsing. I could fill it up with warm water and get it up there with my hand and get it really well rinsed.

I really got up in there when I was cleaning him. And yet, he still seems all funky. I'm thinking it will probably be best just to have the vet take care of it, to make sure we don't get any further problems. My vet is not exactly close (about an hour away), so trip fees is what does it for me. I bet I'm looking at $100 total...yay.

Spike is the same, will not drop. My vet charges $20 to clean his sheath, but $80 to come out to the barn! So I usually have him do it when he is out for Spike's yearly exam/shots.
When the vet is here, he gives Spike a fast acting tranq, intra -V only takes a few min. When I need to clean the horse in between vet appts, vet has sold me an intra muscular tranq (I can do those shots, never tried IV) which takes about 40 min before the horse will drop. He also gave me an oral powder to try next time, takes a few hrs. Anyway, that is the only way Spike will drop so I can clean him properly.

I think, like you are saying, calling the vet is the best idea. They can check him all over to make sure there is not some underlying cause he is not dropping when he urinates.

If for some reason you do not use the vet, make sure you get the bean. That might be why he is spraying all over.

I know what you're saying about the call charge. That's what gets me just about everytime.... and mine isn't even that high!

Well, I have been very unsuccessful over the years for sure. My old gelding.....is the most gentle boy....but do not even TRY to clean his sheath! Even tranq'd~! Had the vet try once.....horse was so sedated he was almost falling over, and he still tried to kick. So-the vets answer-"call me if he can't pee!" lol I have not tried since. The new guy-haven't gone there yet........but will soon! Oh goodie! Lol