A filthy confession
I have never cleaned a sheath. And I have owned four geldings for a cumulative 27 years. I wanted to tackle this project with Q 2 years ago mostly as a training objective but also to keep my watch on any potential cancerous growths (the second plague of the grey horse). My barn owner is an old pro at this, and she tackles the dirty deed for most of the geldings in the barn. So I asked her advice.
“Make sure you can touch him between his back legs as non chalantly as his shoulder”
So that project took a year. Every grooming session I would carefully brush between his back legs. He is still ticklish but I spent every bath session last summer with a hose on his sheath.
But today, the fearless leader introduced me to the sponge, soap, and (get your jewelry off your hands) manual extraction of all the gross smelly gumminess that is lodged in there.
My objective was not cleanliness, but acceptance. Both figuring out what I was supposed to be doing, and how much to pull out the crud, and letting Q know that this was not going to hurt.
He kicked out a few times. But we also had some good moments where he relaxed. And I gagged more than once.
I never got to the penis, and even the sheath is still filthy. And I worked at it for 45 minutes. My plan is to work with the hose and warm water for a few more times this week to loosen things up, and then tackle the soap and sponge again next week. Maybe then we might find the almighty bean.
Not fun. But Im one step further in my education.
“Make sure you can touch him between his back legs as non chalantly as his shoulder”
So that project took a year. Every grooming session I would carefully brush between his back legs. He is still ticklish but I spent every bath session last summer with a hose on his sheath.
But today, the fearless leader introduced me to the sponge, soap, and (get your jewelry off your hands) manual extraction of all the gross smelly gumminess that is lodged in there.
My objective was not cleanliness, but acceptance. Both figuring out what I was supposed to be doing, and how much to pull out the crud, and letting Q know that this was not going to hurt.
He kicked out a few times. But we also had some good moments where he relaxed. And I gagged more than once.
I never got to the penis, and even the sheath is still filthy. And I worked at it for 45 minutes. My plan is to work with the hose and warm water for a few more times this week to loosen things up, and then tackle the soap and sponge again next week. Maybe then we might find the almighty bean.
Not fun. But Im one step further in my education.
It is a sticky subject to be sure. Here's a tip to make it easier (I got it from an old horseman). Put some mineral oil up in there. It will loosen the stuff and make it easy to rinse away. And you don't need to worry about it being there like you do with Excalibur and other products. I also use it between Carmen's teats which get a bit gunky.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, hopefully Carmen is a typical mare and enjoys that procedure: ) I use a 50/50 warm mineral oil and water mix in a squirt bottle. Mag lets it all hang out more than any other horse, so I don't have to do much but squirt from time to time. But since Mag is super sensitive to any sort of oil (he had a horrible reaction to coconut oil) I don't do it very often. Some friends of mine use KY jelly and reach all the way up in there with disposable gloves on, I think that's what the vets do for "shy" boys. I admit, when I'm out there with Mag letting him graze on the street, and he's showing the world the 5th leg, I am not adverse to squeezing my ice water on it. I'm lucky he doesn't seem to mind.
DeleteThank you ladies for your suggestions! I have been working with some warm water the last few days, and am anxious to see if anything has loosened up in there.
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