The Smegma Transplant Experiment

My old gelding, Farly, used to have a rather gunky sheath. I cleaned it regularly using just water, but I could always smell Eau de Smegma when I walked past him. He would rub the sides of his hips on the walls of his stall so the hair always looked roughed up. And he would sometimes have gray gunk on the inside of his gaskins.

One day I asked my vet about it. He suggested that I try a smegma transplant - basically, take some smegma from another gelding's sheath, mix it up with a bit of Vaseline, and stuff it up into Farly's sheath. The idea is that Farly had something like a yeast infection, and the smegma from the other horse would change the ph balance in there and hopefully get some good flora happening.

Farly, of the stinky sheath.

It was simple. And it worked - well, for about 6-8 months at a time. When it started to stink and he'd start rubbing again I'd start asking my fellow boarders for some smegma and do the transplant again.

Fast forward to current days, twenty years later. I have another gelding who has a stinky sheath and seems to rub his tail and sides almost daily. Time to try the Smegma Transplant again.

I've been meaning to do it for a while, but I keep forgetting to bring out the KY Jelly (that I bought specifically for this task!). I've lined up geldings whose owners have volunteered them to be donors, but they're generally outside and I'd have to haul one of them in. So it just hasn't happened.

Last week, I got my ducks in a row. Cisco was tied up in the aisle, and I gloved up.

My first donor was a big senior gelding in a stall. I put a halter on him, said hi, and stuck my hand up his manbits. And found nothing. No smegma. Nada. The cleanest sheath I've ever felt up.

So onto donor #2, who is on stall rest. And I hit the motherlode. I don't know when his sheath was last cleaned, but it was to my benefit that it's been a while.

I added a bit of lube to the smegma to make a lovely, smelly, smegma paste. And shoved it up Cisco's hoo hoo.

Smegma paste. Ewwww.

Well, tried to shove it up. Because of the lube it kept falling out onto the floor. I shoved it as far back as I could and hoped that it stayed in.

The big question - has it worked?

It's been 4 days since the procedure. Cisco had only a little roughing up at the top of his tail - don't know if it is fresh rubbing, old rubbing, or someone chewing on his tail. Big improvement from the usual rat's nest that his tail is in.

He still has some rub marks behind his stifles. I don't know if they are fresh or not. Next time I'm out I might try to lay the hair down with a brush and water and see if that makes it look better.

Tentative conclusion - the transplant has been a success! He was rubbing his tail daily before the transplant, so to see only a possible rub is an improvement. Time will tell if it is a total cure (or at least a 6 month cure).

Pony Approved: Hands On Grooming Gloves

I bought a pair of the Hands On Grooming Gloves during a Boxing Week sale about six weeks ago. The regular price is between $35 and $40 Canadian; I paid $32.

I have child sized hands, and my glove size is about 6.5. The size smalls fit my small hands quite well. They felt a bit snug in the beginning, but seem to have relaxed or stretched a bit.

I really like them. I wear one on each hand and use both hands to curry the pony. It's a bit of an a workout for my shoulders when both hands get going at the same time on their barrel. The knobbies on the palms and fingers are knobby enough to feel like they are doing a good job of getting through thick winter coats, and in summer they should have no problem reaching the skin.

Most importantly, the horses seem to love them. Phantom actually leaned her butt into me the first time I groomed her with them - totally uncharacteristic for her. Cisco loves a good scrub, so he had no complaints about the gloves. His favourite thing is getting his withers scratched with the gloves. I'm trying to teach them both to scratch their faces against my gloved hand when I put it up against their forehead. I could totally see them liking that.

The lip shows the love for the gloves.

I don't know that I will use them during shedding season. I bet they'll probably do a great job of hair removal, or should I say hair transfer - pretty sure that the hair would all be all over my arms, then all over me.

They can also be used when bathing a horse. They would probably work quite nicely, but since the back of the hand is knit your hand would get quite wet, and the gloves would feel quite soggy. Not something I plan to try anytime soon.

I am a bit worried about longevity since they seem to have already stretched a bit. Only time will tell.

Super happy I bought them. I can see them being part of my regular grooming kit for a long time to come.

Clipped!

The plan is to start riding this weekend. I should be over the fairly mild case of the plague that I have by then.

One of the things that I needed to do before getting the ponies going again was to clip them. Phantom currently looks like a polar bear, and Cisco tends to break out in a sweat with just a little bit of stress. I don't have time to ride two horses and wait for them to dry in the evenings.

So today was clipping day!

Phantom is never a problem to clip - I've been known to ground tie her while clipping. This was Cisco's first time to be clipped. I've done some homework in getting him used to the clippers so I was hoping that it would pay off. Which it totally did. He was a rock star!

It's hard to see on him, but it's a modified Irish clip.

Extra gold stars for him for having to put up with me trying to figure out why my clippers weren't working. I had taken the medium blades for my Lister Star body clippers in for sharpening a couple of months ago, and this was the first time that I have used them since getting them back. They weren't cutting well at all. They kept getting caught in his hair. I kept trying to adjust the tension, and reset the blades a couple of times, and no change. They gave me a couple of good clips, just enough to get my hopes up, but they were pretty useless on Cisco. 

Pony went poof. 

I was wondering if they weren't working well because Cisco seems to have really fine hair. Maybe it was too fine for the clippers? Nope. I had the same problem on Phantom.

I pulled out the fine blades that had come with the clippers but I've never used. They worked perfectly fine on Phantom. So it appears that the medium blades either weren't sharpened properly or are damaged. Grrr. I don't know of another place in town that sharpens blades, so I might have to go back to the same place.

Phantom's modified Irish clip.

They are both done - I'm not saying how well they are done, but it will do the trick.

And should you ever clip your own horse, go to the dollar store and pick up a set of disposable coveralls. ($4 at Dollarama in Canada) You know, the paper haz-mat type suit? Totally worth it - no hair all over my clothing!

Review - Strip Hair

I am sure every horse person has seen the Facebook ads for the Strip Hair. You know, the one where they are grooming a horse in the spring who likely has Cushings and hasn't been groomed in months. In case you haven't seen it - here it is!



I had been wanting something different than the standard shedding blade for a while, and was torn between the Strip Hair and the style that has a hacksaw blade on a wooden handle. Although that style was generally cheaper, what I liked about the Strip Hair was the option to use it for bathing, and that you got two sizes (small and large). So that was the main decision maker.

I found a store in my province that was selling them at an introductory price with $10 off, but by the time shipping was factored in I paid close to the full price of $68. Not cheap. But was it worth it?

The kit comes with the two Strip Hair pieces, a cleaning cloth, and a bottle of some cleaning spray. All packaged up nicely in a burlap bag. I got it towards the end of the spring shedding season this year, so was able to judge it's effectiveness accurately. One flat side is a smoother rubber, the other side has a little bit of texture to it. The large one is great for bodies, the small one is great for legs and faces.

So, was it worth $68? I have a hard time justifying a couple chunks of rubber are worth $68. Do I love it? Hell, yes.

I love that it easily removes loose hair. I don't love that you have to use a fair amount of pressure and it's a bit awkward to hold and it irritates the tendonitis in my wrist. I love that it works great to remove dried mud from legs and faces with the textured flat side. I love that it can be used in the summer to get rid of that sunburnt coat that starts to come out. I love that I can use it wet or dry to scrub at Phantom's cannon keratosis. I have no feelings at all towards the cleaning cloth or spray as I have never used either of them and actually forgot they were in my tack box. I love that I can use it to scrape hair off of my saddle pads and it does a great job.

Once again- is it worth $68? It has many uses, and does each one well. In the spring, through shedding and mud season, I used it daily. Through the summer I use it once a week on their body, and as needed on other parts. The small one is my go-to when cleaning legs before putting boots on. My main complaint? That I only have one set and it's never in the grooming kit of the horse I have in front of me.

So yes, it was worth it to me.

Favourite Things #3

Phantom has an aversion to anything that makes her uncomfortable. Having her mane pulled is probably one of the top things on her uncomfortable list.

I used to be a purist - pulling a mane was the only way to shorten and tidy a mane. Phantom changed my opinion on this. I tried doing just 5 pulls a day. By the second day as soon as I touched her mane she was dancing all over. I tried clicker training. It would get me a few extra pulls, but not much. I tried the method where you don't actually pull, but just kind of hang your hand down with weight in it until the hairs release - this did work better, but it would take forever to get a mane done.

So then I tried the Solo Comb. Phantom didn't mind the use of it, as it doesn't pull the hair, it just cuts it. You are supposed to backcomb the mane, then press the handle and the razor would cut the remaining hair. What I didn't like about it was that it didn't work well on thinning a mane. Phantom's mane is very thick in the middle (with a whorl under it!) and thin at the top and bottom. So I could get it to an even length, but not an even thickness.

Not my favourite

A friend had a Smart Manes Mane Thinning Rake, so I tried that one day. And decided that I needed one. It doesn't really pull the mane out (but might in some places), but does a fantastic job of thinning thick areas. It won't leave the mane all the same length - the bottom of the mane is left very thin. I just take a pair of scissors and make little upward nips to level it all out. All with no fuss from Phantom.

Since I needed one of these, I took to the interweb to find one. And discovered that they were something like $80. Plus shipping. Um, no.

I was able to keep borrowing my friend's rake for the next year or two. I had found them on the website of a tack shop in my province, but still couldn't convince myself that I needed it that badly. But a couple of years ago, I went to Mane Event, and this tack shop was closing and clearing out their product. And I rushed to their booth on the first morning of the show, and they had one rake left. For 40% off. (Maybe 50% - it's been a couple of years.) Admittedly $50 is still not a small amount of money to spend on a mane comb. But because of the lack of hassle it causes me, I am happy to spend that much. I also picked up another blade for it on sale, so this rake should last me forever.

Here's a Youtube that shows it in action.

Favourite Things #2

Haas brushes.

I have 3 of them. Well, really 4, because I liked one so much I bought a second one for the second horse.

I have a grooming kit overflowing with brushes, some of them from when I first started riding. But I use these Haas brushes every day.

The Schimmel
This brush is a made of coconut fiber bristles and is described a working especially well on white or grey horses. Apparently Schimmel translates to white horse. This is the one that I bought a second one of. It just works so well. Whisks away the dirt on the surface after you have curried and gets into the hairs to remove more. I have tiny hands and don't have a problem hanging onto this brush.

The top one is about 3 years old. The bottom one I have only had for a few weeks. They have added stitching to the strap on the new one instead of just the single layered leather strap.

Which one is the one that is 3 years old? (It's the top one again.)

Red Star
A large body brush made of horse hair and natural fibres. Short, dense bristles. Moves nicely along a horses body. I tended to skip over using a body brush until I started using this one.

A big difference in size!

Kopf-Burste (face brush)
A small brush made of very soft white horsehair. Fits very nicely in my hand. Has an elastic handle so you can keep it snug. Boy horse approved.

The bristles are so thick!

I prefer natural bristle brushes and generally just use the synthetic ones to get rid of wet mud. In the past some of my natural ones have broken down fairly quickly, and after a year or two you only have half a brush left. The Schimmel has been in use for the last 3 years, and is still in great shape with little sign of wear. The other brushes are more recent acquisitions, so I cannot comment as to their longevity yet, but I am pretty confident that provided I don't put something heavy on top and squish them, they will last a long time.

I would love to switch out my whole grooming kit to Haas brushes, but they are fairly expensive at the local tack shop. So whenever I place an order from my favourite European tack shop, www.calevo.com, I add one into my cart.

Favourite Things #1

I have two grey horses. The boy horse is still dark enough that he doesn't have too much white on him yet. But the Princess is mainly white. I don't have any desire to show these days, so I don't get too worried about how clean she is. But what I do get a bit OCD about is trying to keep her tail white.

My barn doesn't have an indoor wash rack, so I keep her tail up in the winter. The reason - one of the first years I owned her, I went out to the barn right around Christmas after not being out for a week. Her tail had gotten caught up in her blanket leg straps, and was acting as a shelf for the poo to sit on. Frozen poo tail. So gross. And so hard to clean in minus 20 weather. So ever since then I put her tail up when I put her blanket on in the winter.

But in the summer I don't worry so much about her tail as I can wash it frequently. She still pees and poops all over it when she wears her fly sheet, but I can wash it twice a week if need be.

So my favourite shampoo? Mane & Tail Spray 'n White Shampoo by Straight Arrow.

http://manentailequine.com/products/spray-n-white-shampoo/

It's a dark purple shampoo, and if I forget to wear gloves my hands looks like they are bruised for a day afterwards. I love that it can be sprayed on - it's so disappointing when you watch a big glop of your expensive whitening shampoo hit the floor as it slips off your hand before you can get it on the tail. And it does the best job so far of whitening. I have Quick Silver shampoo, but I haven't used it for a couple of years as it is more expensive and I am saving it for a big occasion. So I can't compare it against that.

I just have to watch that I don't drop the bottle on the ground from the top of my tack box and smash the sprayer. Cause that will happen if you do that.

I currently have a three year supply in my garage - bought the last couple of containers from a local store that was liquidating them at half price. Should be just in time for the boy horse to get a white tail.

Equestrian Hack

You know those sponge-sticks used for painting? They make great fly spray applicators for faces and ears. Small enough that the horse doesn't object, and easy to control where it goes. Plus they are pretty cheap and can be found at the dollar store.