Horse owners who have a gelding know the drill – you need to clean the penis and the sheath, otherwise tons of dirt and smegma accumulate there.

Although my boy Talo is a shy guy, and doesn’t cooperate much, I try to clean this area as much as I can. When his teeth were cleaned by the vet, he was drugged, of course, and we then used the opportunity to clean the bean from the urethra area.

Anyway, yesterday I noticed that one of the school horses in our barn had a very swollen penis. I alerted the barn manager and the vet was called over. I didn’t stick around, but one of the grooms sent me this image, of the HUGE ball of filth that was pulled out of the horse’s sheath. Poor guy. I bet he feels a hell of a lot better now.

So, ladies (you know most of us dressage riders are ladies) – don’t forget to clean the bean!