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Comment by Cindy Jeffery on April 30, 2009 at 1:44pm

About udder cleaning.....I learned a long time ago that you could make friends with a horse by rubbing their itchy spots. This led to rubbing tummies where the mosquitoes bite, then to the udder or sheath. For the mares they loved it and for the maiden mares it helped prepare them for nursing. I found that my mares were more cooperative with the udder cleaning then the gelding sheath cleaning. Except for the water part which took some teaching as well since some of the mares never experienced bathing.

Comment by Cindy Jeffery on April 30, 2009 at 1:14pm

Well everyone I guess we beat that to one to death and we're all ready to do the deed, at least I am. It makes the job so much better knowing you all are behind me doing the same thing. Armed and dangerous....right? So....what's the next topic?

Comment by Sabine Schleese on April 30, 2009 at 12:59pm

HiEveryone - i thought this would be a very a propos group to join although honestly I haven't sat on a horse since I was actually 40!

Comment by Jenny Hiscox on April 30, 2009 at 12:13pm

Shall we talk about udders now, just so those of us with mares won't feel left out? LOL. I know people who never clean their mare's udder because the mare "won't let them." When I first got Amber she had a big problem with being touched there. Well, she had a problem with being touched anywhere, but the more private the worse. Mainly I just took it gradually and only stretched her comfort zone as much as I felt she could stretch that day, but I also lavished on the praise - and a special treat. To this day (eight years later) I still give her one of only three peppermints a day for the daily udder cleaning. (One is for when she gets her bridle on and one is for goodbye.) If you wait for it to get crusty it hurts to clean it, but if you just give it a good rub with your fingers every day it stays clean and comfortable. During mosquito season she really likes that rub!

Comment by Riley on April 30, 2009 at 11:57am

My horse rarely or never drops to pee. I have owned him since birth and he is now 14 and has never (knock on wood) had any kind of bladder/kidney infection. At a very young age, I taught him to pee on command (whistle). When I worked at the racetrack all the horses were taught to pee like this as every horse who finished in the money was taken to the test barn. Its just easier on everyone, especially the horse, if they provide the sample promptly and can then be cooled out and their needs attended to immediately after. I get my horse to pee before I ride him (imagine trying to do anything athletic yourself with a full bladder?), then immediately after as that aids in the cooling out process. This is a source of huge amusement at every barn I go to.

I usually only do a full clean job on the sheath once a year - this would vary by the individual - some just stay cleaner than others. My technique is a bit messy. First - stand facing the hindquarters. Put the hand closest to the horse on his back - you can feel the muscles tensing, this will tell you he's not okay with whatever you're doing at the moment and tension precedes kicking, so you have time to react somehow. Take a glob of vaseline in your other hand. Put your hand up there and spread it around. Go for a good long ride, the hotter & sweatier your horse gets the better. When you come home, you will proceed with step 2. You need to be using WARM water (would you want a cold shower on your hoo-hoo? You'd be kicking and screaming too!). Assume the step 1 position. Get the water temperature in the hose just right and start hosing as you normally would for a bath, feet first, then up the hindquarters, then just put the hose up the sheath and start rinsing out with plain warm water. Lube up your hand with a lot of non-drying soap - Dove, Johnson's creamy baby soap, anything gentle and labelled as soothing, moisturizing, non-irritating. Or use a sheath cleaner product. Reach up there, and really work it around. The vaseline + workout he's had will have loosened all the dried on, scabby-type bits and they should just slide out easily. I always find it amazing how far they can retract - honestly, feels like there's a little pouch up there right by the backbone! At this point, most of the boys have become used to the procedure, the tension is gone and many will even hang it out for you to finish the cleaning externally. Make sure you rinse really well to make sure all the soap is gone.

And I do the foot thing too - as well as using my elbow on light switches and paper towels on door handles! Sure wish all public toilets would be equipped with auto flushers, auto water, soap & towel dispensers and blind corner entrances to the washrooms instead of doors which eliminate touching ANYTHING!!!!

Comment by Debbie Burrows on April 30, 2009 at 9:21am

I have never cleaned a sheath myself. I am going to watch the vet the first time then I will gladly do it. I have no problems with that. Thanks for the ideas. I helped give shots and take blood yesterday for all thirty horses. Only had on act up on me. Went well.

Comment by Catherin McMillan on April 30, 2009 at 3:00am

the poor old thing. wonder how common this is. must say Ive never had one of my geldings or even the stallion I had do this

Comment by Jenny Hiscox on April 29, 2009 at 12:21pm

I used to look after my neighbor's old guy who never dropped, even to pee. Is that what you meant? It was already chronic when she more or less took him for retirement when a local riding school closed so he wouldn't be put down, so we never knew how it started.

Since he peed from inside, the - sheath I guess it is, the outside part that the penis is supposed to come outside of to pee - would be chapped, swollen, cracked, and get infected if you didn't wash it daily. When she first got him we would clean it up and get it all healed, then think we could leave it alone, but soon discovered that was not the case. He needed to be washed and have diaper-rash cream, or at the very least vaseline, applied daily. You could miss a day every once in a while, but never more than one day in a row or it would get sore again.

The vet was consulted and kept aware of the ongoing problem, but never said anything about bladder or kidney involvement. The horse was put on sulfa whenever the sheath got obviously infected.

Comment by Leslie Ann Dusty on April 29, 2009 at 12:00pm

Has anyone ever had bladder or kidney issues with horses that DON'T drop?? The barn I'm at has a schoolie gelding who has had a couple of infections and they think that's why. They have cleaned it, put him on penicillen, Vitamin c and they were going to try either pomegranite or grapefruit supplement. Try getting a urine sample!! He's also very shy!

Comment by Jenny Hiscox on April 29, 2009 at 11:21am

Sounds perfectly normal to me!

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