Heidi, I find this line of thought interesting, because it's been my experience to be just the opposite. I've found that geldings who don't drop and pee inside that dark, dank flexible cave, seem to be the ones who are really clean and don't need much attention. In fact my worst horse, as far as smegma is concerned, was a guy who would not pee inside his stall, no matter how long I left him in there. He did the same thing while trailering. First thing he did, when I let him out of either is drop immediately (not on command, but he did do a "Drop, Dukie, Drop," performance) and let himself go. Sometimes, it seemed to take forever till he was finished. This horse could have been a house pet if he could hold his poop as well as he could hold his pee. Anyway, he was always a mess in there. I'm not trying to disagree with you or anything, but it's just been my experience that the reverse is true. The guy who doesn't drop and pees inside his cave seems to have the cleaner "cave." What exactly does cause the smegma, anyway? I've gotten quite curious about all this lately thanks to Chuck and Amber and the rest of the gang. cya, Howard (is it time for my shower yet?) ----- Original Message ----- From: Heidi Smith Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 3:51 PM To: Karla Watson; ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [RC] Sheath? What sheath? >Naive question.... how many times a year are you "supposed" to do this?? All depends on the individual horse--some need it every few months, and some never do. >and my next question is from my friend in California who wanted me to ask: What happens if you never do it? She had never heard of this sheath cleaning. If she is lucky enough to have one of those geldings that just doesn't produce much smegma, or who drops enough to keep himself clean, nothing will happen. If not, he will eventually have enough irritation to cause inflamation and swelling in the sheath, and meanwhile will suffer discomfort. Heidi
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