I’ve tried just plain water, and the smegma is so gummy and greasy that water doesn’t get it off. It won’t even come off my hands (I was smart and used gloves this last time LOL).
I’ll have to try the KY. My horse hasn’t reacted to Excalibur, but I don’t like the consistency of it. Too hard to make “suds.”
[QUOTE=Tiffani B;7882947]
BruBoy, is that a goopy jelly like Excalibur, or more soap-like? I don’t like Excalibur. It doesn’t suds up and falls out of the sheath in big glops. I’m trying to find something soapier.[/QUOTE]
It’s soapy (not overly soapy) and it’s a non-rinse formula but I always rinse anyways. It’s smells wonderful.
Cetaphil
Mineral oil. Put it in/on; ride,leave for a day or so. Very clean!
[QUOTE=mountainbells;7883608]
Somewhere I recently read an article reporting some studies on sheath cleaning. Turns out, there was a higher bacterial count after sheath cleaning compared to before and at the end of the studies for those horses compared to the controls. As I recall, the “N” (number of horses in the study) was not very high, though. The conclusion was don’t clean.[/QUOTE]
THIS.
If you are cleaning a sheath, there has to be a good reason WHY. Disturbing the naturally occurring skin flora tends to make for problems, infections, lesions, and greater production of smegma. Best to leave it alone if possible. Dry pick “rust” off, if necessary, or if you WANT to. Check for bean. If a bean is found, remove it. Check for injury or cancer problems, or ?. Leave the rest of it undisturbed if possible. Horses who have never been started on a “cleaning regime” tend to often not need it as build up is minor. If you MUST clean, use water only. NO PRODUCTS that claim to be for this job. Anything oily only attracts dirt.
[QUOTE=awa;7884158]
Cetaphil[/QUOTE]
x2, plus this is much less embarassing to buy than KY jelly.
Baby oil, then dawn dish detergent or orvis.
Cheap repro lube. I will use Dawn if the horse is particularly gross and it is warm enough to get the hose going. Otherwise I don’t want to have to worry about thorough rinsing.
I really like Ecolicious stuff and I like the look of their cleaner.
There was a gelding in the barn I took lessons at when I was young (over 30 years ago). This gelding never dropped to urinate. He would get sores in his sheath from the urine if he wasn’t cleaned weekly. The barn owner used cetaphil to do the cleaning.
I think a good rule is; don’t use anything you wouldn’t put in your own eye. 
[QUOTE=NancyM;7884201]
THIS.
If you are cleaning a sheath, there has to be a good reason WHY. Disturbing the naturally occurring skin flora tends to make for problems, infections, lesions, and greater production of smegma. Best to leave it alone if possible. Dry pick “rust” off, if necessary, or if you WANT to. Check for bean. If a bean is found, remove it. Check for injury or cancer problems, or ?. Leave the rest of it undisturbed if possible. Horses who have never been started on a “cleaning regime” tend to often not need it as build up is minor. If you MUST clean, use water only. NO PRODUCTS that claim to be for this job. Anything oily only attracts dirt.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. Disturbing the Ph can set up problems.
What is my recipe for sheath cleaning? Rubber gloves (standard nitrile type) and horse cookies. When my horse drops, he gets a cookie. For every minute or two that I’m back there, he gets another cookie. Sheath cleaning is no longer an issue. I just use a bit of warm water and that’s it.
My only problem is now he drops more frequently because he thinks that is going to get him more cookies.
Mineral oil is the best, in my opinion. You can get a gallon of it cheap, cheap, and it cuts through the smegma and you can (gawd, use a glove) pull it off the surface. It is soothing to any kind of irritation, smoothing, and does not change the Ph or create an environment for fungal or yeast or bacterial changes. You can just leave it on, and let it wear off. Bean slides out. I see no reason to try to buy anything else, and the other products I have tried had changed the PH and been irritating.
Just warm water here.
Could you explain what “beans” are?
I’m an adult re-rider taking lessons at a schooling barn. While grooming, I noticed that the horse dropped a bit and that he had a lot of crusty gross-ness on his sheath. So I get the “crusties” you referred to, but what are “beans”?
[QUOTE=NancyM;7884201]
THIS.
If you are cleaning a sheath, there has to be a good reason WHY. Disturbing the naturally occurring skin flora tends to make for problems, infections, lesions, and greater production of smegma. Best to leave it alone if possible. Dry pick “rust” off, if necessary, or if you WANT to. Check for bean. If a bean is found, remove it. Check for injury or cancer problems, or ?. Leave the rest of it undisturbed if possible. Horses who have never been started on a “cleaning regime” tend to often not need it as build up is minor. If you MUST clean, use water only. NO PRODUCTS that claim to be for this job. Anything oily only attracts dirt.[/QUOTE]
Agree… when my vet does teeth they check for beans and any health issues. One of my horses did have cancer and reason for having to put him down at age 40. He was an appy and white skin.
[QUOTE=DcKate;8194622]
Could you explain what “beans” are?
I’m an adult re-rider taking lessons at a schooling barn. While grooming, I noticed that the horse dropped a bit and that he had a lot of crusty gross-ness on his sheath. So I get the “crusties” you referred to, but what are “beans”?[/QUOTE]
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