Sheath cleaning is definitely not the most pleasant thing to do. You should know though it is essential for your stallion’s/gelding’s health and well – being and it must be done regularly. Breeding stallions are usually pretty well looked after and have their genitals cleaned regularly. In my opinion geldings are the ones often having problems.

Dirty sheath may cause your horse a lot of problems and pain, not to mention that it really smells! It depends on an individual horse how often you will have to do it. Some horses are fine if you do it every 6 – 8 months, some of them may need cleaning every 3 – 4 months. Don’t get too keen though and clean your horse’s sheath too often as that may affect the population of small microorganism living there and you may upset a good balance.

All dirt and excretions are called smegma. If the big lump of smegma hardens and collects inside of a horse’s penis, it is called “a bean”. It is extremely painful and can cause serious health issues including problems with urinating or even blockages. To be honest I think beans are actually life – threatening. If a bean is very big, you may need to sedate a horse to remove it as it is very irritating and painful. If you see your stallion or a gelding to kick at its belly, hold a leg up while urinating, display soreness in the hindquarters – it may be a sign its sheath needs cleaning or – unfortunately – there is already a bean formed.

For your own convenience and safety you should make sure your horse is used to having his penis cleaned. If you don’t know what his reaction can be, try to hose him gently with a water. Start with front legs, move on to hind legs, gently hose his belly, move to groins and then slowly towards penis. If a horse doesn’t seem to object the procedure, you can expect he will not cause you major problems when you actually try to clean his sheath. Most likely though he may be worried and a bit anxious. Don’t get frustrated! For a horse it is a natural self – defence, he is worried about his body. If your horse is afraid of water (or a hose), try to gently rub the sheath to encourage a horse to drop its penis. If a horse allows you, you may try to reach gently into a sheath, grab a penis and slowly ease it out.

Every horse if correctly handled and re – assured, in my opinion will be fine with cleaning its sheath. Once they find out it is actually quite relaxing and pleasant, they usually don’t mind. Remember once they are relaxed, they may help you and just drop their penis down. My horse was really anxious to start with and tried to kick several times. Although he used to race, I think his sheath was never taken care of – it was so disgusting and dirty! I started with sponging him gently around sheath, then sponging outside of his sheath and then one day just decided to risk it and clean it all out.

Cleaning

You will need a cleaning product of your choice, latex gloves (recommended!) and some lubricant – and please have your nails short, bucket of water if necessary. Work your hand up into a sheath and rub a gel/foam gently. Remember to be thorough and remove all debris. The more you remove, the more likely your horse will avoid problems. Afterwards always make sure you remove all the cleaning products with water!

Products

You can use lots of different products to clean a sheath as there is a lot of good quality products available everywhere. My two choices are:



Main points to remember:
Make sure you clean your horse’s sheath regularly to avoid problems.
Use only gentle products and make sure you wash them all away with water.
Try to make your horse used to having its genitals touched and handled and you will save yourself a lot of troubles.
Always be very patient and very gentle when cleaning horse genitals.
If you have any doubts or concerns, call your vet!