Feature: The questions you never asked

FEATURE

The questions you never asked

Sheath cleaning is essential for your horse’s well-being, so REBECCA NADGE spoke with Kara Vasylenko to learn more.

While it can be an uncomfortable subject for some owners, cleaning your horse’s sheath is a vital part of their management, and there can be wideranging implications if it isn’t carried out.

Kara Vasylenko from Pony Privates Sheath Cleaning explains that horses in the wild were able to naturally clean themselves, although they were also prone to infection. Domesticated horses are now kept in far more sterile environments, but geldings are obviously not using their ‘bits’ for breeding, and this can lead to problems. “They can get quite a lot of build-up and they can get infections,” Kara explains. “They have glands and secrete through them. Those secretions mix with the dirt in the environment - and whether that’s in a stable or paddock there’s always going to be dirt. Then you have the natural sloughing of the skin, which builds up, joins together, and creates a nice little package of dirt.”

Smegma, a combination of natural secretions including skin oils, shed skin and moisture, can create a solid clump, forming a ‘bean’ inside the tip of the penis and causing the horse a lot of discomfort. The bean needs to be removed manually. If left, it can disrupt the horse’s urine stream.

In terms of the cleaning process, Kara has found most horses do not need to be sedated. She works to make the horse as comfortable as possible with her presence, and usually starts by patting them between their legs and picking up their legs. “I’m just making them aware that I’m there doing something, but I’m not there to hurt them,” she says. “You’re obviously in a bit of a precarious spot to get kicked,

which has happened. Most horses are tense and don’t like it. Then by the end some horses like it a bit too much and other horses just become quite tolerant of it.”

She is also careful to use warm water instead of cold and notes that removing the bean is usually the part that most horses find uncomfortable. “I use a lot of lubrication and I start to get the bean a bit more mobile. Depending on the size of it, I can sometimes just pop it out quite quickly - almost like a pimple - but other times it’s more solid like a pebble and I have to break it up internally so it becomes a bit smaller and not painful to get out. Using enough lubrication and dedication, that works quite well.”

Kara warns that having the sheath cleaned too regularly can also pose problems, as it can disrupt naturally occurring bacteria. She notes that some dirt or grime is normal and the real cause for concern is excessive build up, with most horses needing to be cleaned once or twice a year.

While she hasn’t come across any particular breeds or types that need more maintenance than others, she has noticed that paddocked horses kept in more natural environments may have more capacity to clean themselves naturally. “Stabled horses are often quite dirty, but also their owners are a lot more aware of it and they call me out a bit more,” she explains. “It mostly depends on how dirty they are, how much build up there is, and how much their glands secrete, because every horse is so different.”

If the sheath and bean are not cleaned out it can have serious implications for the horse, both in terms of hygiene and also behaviourally. “I had one horse that bucked and was kicking at himself and he had an enormous bean,” Kara recalls. “When that was taken out he actually stopped his bucking and kicking behaviours, and was quite comfortable.” She came across another case where she began a sheath clean but found a thistle stuck in the tip of the urethra. “That horse had a really bad rearing problem. He had to be sedated and have the thistle removed by a vet.”

Owners will often tell her that there has been a marked change to the horse’s urine stream after a thorough sheath clean. As geldings typically retract the penis into the sheath, their owners may not be aware of any potential problems. Kara recalls finding a cancer during one sheath clean which had gone undetected. “Because it had a growth on it, he never really stuck his penis out and the owner hadn’t picked up on it,” she says. “The vet had to follow through with that.”

FACING PAGE: Sheath cleaning may be an uncomfortable subject, but it’s a vital part of your horse’s management. ABOVE: If the sheath is not cleaned and the bean removed, it can have implications for your horse’s health and behaviour (Image courtesy Pony Privates).

In another case, a horse was secreting large amounts that had a strange smell and his owners called her out again just a month after the first clean. “I told them that that wasn’t normal, and that I thought the horse might have an infection,” she says. “And he did, he ended up needing a course of antibiotics.”

Kara and three of her horses (Image courtesy Pony Privates). The bean forms inside the tip of the penis and causes the horse discomfort (Image courtesy Pony Privates).

opening to the sheath as part of regular maintenance. All horses in work will kick up dirt around that area regardless of the surface they are working on. “Plain water is what I go to,” she says. “Some people think an antibacterial might help to keep the area clean - but no, no, no!” she laughs. “You don’t want to upset the bacterial balance. Just the cleaning of the sheath itself - not even the bean but just a general clean – can help minimise any bacterial overgrowth. In human skin we also have our natural bacteria, but in certain environments some bacteria

will take over, and it helps to get back to that nice, healthy equilibrium. And it’s the same with horses. Overall, a general clean is a hygienic and healthy practice to keep up with.” Kara has owned geldings for most of her life and sheath cleaning was just another job that had to be done. But it wasn’t until people started to ask her if she would clean their horses for them that she realised that none of her friends, or owners on the properties she agisted on, were carrying out sheath cleaning. “The smell is quite intense, the actual flakes and the grime that comes off, and the bean itself - a lot of people are quite put off by it, and I don’t blame them. I’ve just learned to zone out,” she laughs. “It might sound strange, but I think a lot of people don’t want to clean their own horse, and I can totally understand them wanting someone else to do that job.”

She has noticed that in recent years awareness around the importance of sheath cleaning has increased, which is a positive. “There seems to be a rise in the number of owners becoming interested in that aspect of their horse’s health,” she says. “I think lately, especially during COVID, a lot of people are spending more time with their horses and are taking note of their behaviour.”

So, no matter whether you or someone else does the job, there can be no doubt about it - sheath cleaning is an essential part of caring for your horse’s health and overall well-being.