Ridecamp: Re: [RC] sheath cleaning

IMHO, there is no reason your horse should not allow you to handle him
in this area...or any other area...in fact you should insist on it. 
Basic reason being if he's injured ANYWHERE you need to be able to treat
it. He may like it or not like it, but he needs to just "get over it".

The horse's response to sheath cleaning varies all over the place.  Most
will drop if you rub their tummy just in front of the sheath. Lets you
take a look at just how cruddy they are. Both my geldings will let me
peel off stuff while they are down, but will retract if I try to wash. 

Here's what has always worked well for me.  I made a special hose about
a foot long by cutting off an old rubber hose and attached it to the end
of my regular wash hose. Use the SOFT rubber ones, not the hard plastic.
You can also make one out of surgical tubing. I use Excalibur gel.
Forget about the rubber gloves, you can't feel with them on. There are
worse things you can get on your hands. Make sure your nails are
trimmed. Put gel on your palm, slide your hand gently into his sheath
and spread the Excalibur around. Repeat until the entire inside of the
sheath is coated generously.  Give it a couple of minutes to dissove the
crud. Reach back up in the sheath and scrape loose any clumps. Turn the
water on till it flows but with no pressure.  Lay the cutoff end of the
hose in the palm of your hand and insert your hand and the hose in the
sheath.  Rinse and feel until the sheath is clean. You may need a second
application of Excalibur if you haven't done this in a while. My guys
love having their sheath cleaned...just spread their back legs and
relax.

It is not uncommon for some horses to just stay dropped for sheath
cleaning. Flinn Anderson's horse Beau just loves it. He will stand there
dropped with his nose down and I think you could scrub his tool with a
brush! Easy to get him squeaky clean. Beau was her first horse. You
should have seen the look on her face when we told her she needed to
clean that!

Lady I knew had a gelding that was cruddy all the time and had the
quickest retraction reflex you ever saw.  He would go to sleep in the
stall with his tool down. She would sneak up on him, grab it, quickly
give it a spray of 409 and wipe it off with a paper towel!


Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and Mahada Magic

> Irene M Burnett wrote:
> 

>  So, now that I've gotten him to let me touch "it", although he tries
> to hide it by sucking it so far up it's invisible, what do you use to
> clean your horse and how do they handle it?


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