British Equine Sheath Cleaning (2025)

10/09/2025

🚩🚩 there should be no bleeding post bean removal 🚩🚩

We understand that not everyone has access to an equine hygienist but everyone should have access to a vet.

Beans can be very tricky to remove and it’s not often a horse will willingly drop for a bean removal. So if you don’t know what you are doing, please contact a professional, be that an equine hygienist or your vet if you can’t get one.

We have had a number of messages recently asking how to give aftercare when the horse bleeds post bean removal, not caused by us of course but caused by the person messaging after attempting to remove the bean themselves, and at that point get your vet, because that should NOT be happening.

It’s a delicate area and a bean has to be removed delicately.

There is so much mixed information out there in regards to what to do or what to use but please don’t just listen to anyone on the internet - some of the advice we’ve read is concerning but that is why we try our best to keep you informed on this page 🫶🏻

10/09/2025

⚠️Will a bean effect your horse urinating? ⚠️

We are seeing and hearing this constantly and I think it’s down to people thinking that the bean is in the urethra. I’ve even seen a veterinary study talking about beans and explaining that they can’t possibly get bigger than a kidney bean because the stream of urine pushes them out (I have posted about the inaccuracies of that paper before but I will find it again to share with you all).
And as most of you know this is nonsense - because you can see what’s in my hand below.

The reason beans sometimes effect the stream of urine is because they are pushing up against the urethra - your horse can actually have a bean the size of a pea and it will would effect his flow of urine. You could also have one bigger than what’s in my hand and there would be no change to the stream of urine whatsoever. It’s all to do with how the bean is sitting - size is irrelevant.

We went to one horse with a bean the size of the image below and he was urinating fine. We were called out to him the next year because he was struggling to urinate, owner was expecting a huge bean and it was the size of a pea. It was just lodged awkwardly and he was urinating normally after it was removed.

It’s why sometimes you see horses urinate little and often, or it sprays as it comes out and it can even cause the horse to drink less water - which is why we tell everyone your horse may chug a load of water post bean removal.

These symptoms can also be the cause of many other things but it’s another reason we recommend annual checks. If you are waiting for them to struggle to urinate before you get them checked, you could be missing all the other symptoms that beans can cause.

And most awkwardly, they can often show no obviously symptoms at all.

🐎

09/09/2025

The biggest ears you’ve ever seen?

Well they were for me!

He didn’t have the biggest bean, but he still had one - so big ears will be feeling so much better now, 🐎

09/09/2025

Did you know donkeys get beans too? 🫏

We hear a lot of discourse about donkeys checked because people often don’t believe or realise that they do in fact get beans - just like horses.

That being said, we have worked with many a donkey in our career and whilst they get beans, they don’t tend to get as mucky in the sheath or on the outside of the p***s like their pony counterparts do 🐎

This boy took this bean removal like an absolute champ - it may not look as big as some of the other beans we remove, but his retracted p***s was smaller than my thumb, so this is a whopper in comparison!

Yes he did think these were treats and no don’t worry he didn’t get hold of them 🫣

09/09/2025

Will cleaning the sheath remove a bean?

No.

Often people think cleaning the sheath and removing a bean are the same thing and they aren’t. Whilst your equine hygienist should provide both at appointment - unless explained otherwise - the act of cleaning the sheath it self will not remove the bean.

You can see in the image below the left is the build up from the sheath and the right is the bean, even though they are different colours they from the same horse.

So bean forms INSIDE the head of the p***s in a pocket next to the urethra. They very, very rarely fall out of their own accord (if they do it’s because they are lodged perfectly at the tip) I’ve seen it happen maybe once in my 10 year career. They need human intervention to remove them.

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08/09/2025

Guess how old the horse was that this bean came from…?

Whats really interesting is we will often hear people say ‘my horse won’t need doing he is only young’.
Or ‘once you start cleaning you will only make it worse’.

Neither of these statements are correct.

We could go to a 3 year old horse and a 28 year old horse that had never had a sheath clean. The 3 year old could have a bean the size of a golf ball and the the 28 year old could have a bean the size of a pea. People often expect it to be the other way round, of course we go to many 28 year old horses with huge beans but the point still stand.

And whilst there is no known reason as to why certain horses suffer with beans more than others, you do see a correlation with certain breeds and the type or residue/beans they get and also how they react to said build up - so in theory it could just be down to their genetics 🧬

Pony in the picture is 5 - he didn’t love his clean but once this been came out he settled into it 🐎

07/09/2025

🚩🚩TROLLS 🚩🚩

Wow, well that’s it everyone, I guess we are no longer aloud to write our posts and help educate on the importance and the inaccuracies of equine hygiene any more, if we do we will be labelled as ‘money hungry vultures’.

I wonder, does this just apply to equine hygienists, or does it also apply to anyone that has a job that they are passionate about?

Who cares that we have spent a decade perfecting our practices and making sure to remain educated throughout, that we have carried on through the kicks and the injuries sustained from horses that had horrific beans. That through our education we have spent unpayed time compliling and sharing as much information as possible with people who are unable to access services such as ours.
That we have had vets message us about their own lack of knowledge on beans and have thanked us for this page - I have screenshots for those who don’t believe.
The horses that were written off and due to be PTS because the owner and any caregivers were completely unaware about beans and we managed to help in the 11th hour - saving said horse’s life.

Make no mistake this doesn’t bother us in the slightest, but I would like to highlight the abuse we often receive, not only online but also sometimes, in person.

We don’t just have clients that are ‘squeamish’, we also have clients that are disabled, have difficult horses or simply want to make sure the job is being done correctly and as quickly as possible, because taking too long can make it an uncomfortable process for your horse and cause long lasting damage.

I can clip a horse, but I pay someone else to because i would rather pay someone who can do a much better job than I can.

So in the words of our troll I will leave you with this, ‘love yourself enough to make up for those who don’t’.
Oh the irony.

07/09/2025

🚩🚩 Sheath cleaning red flags 🚩🚩

As you can imagine, we get sent a lot of pictures of horse p***ses - god forbid our phones ever get stolen, because our camera roll would be horrifying if you didn’t know what we did for a living 😂 - the reason we get sent these images is due to concern over whether something is just dirty, if its a bean, or if the horse has a growth etc

Now we are more than happy to help navigate you in the right direction and we can give our opinion on if the horse just looks dirty or if you need a vet, but please note, no equine hygienist should be diagnosing any ailments.

This is a stance that we feel very strongly on (mainly because it’s law) but it does seem that there is a very thick line in the sand and yet it is still crossed.

We have gone to a number of clients whose horses were fine and yet were diagnosed to have something by a non veterinarian - and whilst sheath cleaning doubles as a health check (to an extent), that simply is unacceptable.

We have absolutely disagreed with a vet’s verdict from time to time, when they have written something off without the necessary exploration, but all we can do in that situation is recommend the client gets a second opinion, because we are not vets.

We have clients contact us because they were worried there was blood in the sheath - and 99% of the time it’s just the waxy residue that is a pink or a deep red colour, that is normal on pink skinned horses. This is one we get a lot, so never feel silly for asking these questions.

We have absolutely been part of success stories, finding abnormalities that would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for the horses having a sheath clean - but all we will do is refer to the vet for further investigation. We can do and should do, no more than that.

And on that note I need to go and check if my whippet needs to go to the vet after ‘enjoying himself’ a little too ferociously, and now he can’t put it away. Our business may revolve around horses p***ses but I draw a big fat line at inspecting dog p***ses 😂

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06/09/2025

Keeping your horse happy - in vlog form that I know a few of you prefer 🫶🏻

06/09/2025

Can you see the bean? (Check the comments)

This is the head of the horses p***s and there is a bean there - it’s just you can’t see it.

You can’t see it because the bean is hidden in a pocket called the urethral fossa - and it is not, I repeat NOT in the urethra.

The urethra is the pink part in the centre. Do not go poking around in there, I have seen a lot of comments (that we have deleted) recommending you poke around in the urethra, please do not do this, you will only hurt your horse. Get a reputable equine hygienist, that can remove it in full and quickly.

This is why we always say that just because your horse ‘looks fine’ does not mean they don’t have a bean hidden away in there.

And often the p***s that looks the cleanest, harbours the biggest bean!

06/09/2025

🚩🚩sheath cleaning red flag…
…using dawn dish soap in your horses sheath. 🚩🚩

It seems a lot of people are being recommend the use of dawn dish soap for INDSIDE the horses sheath. It only takes a quick google to see what it says about the use of dish soap on human skin, to realise that this is not a healthy option for your horses sheath.

A quick google tells you -

Designed to be harsh:
Dish soap is made to be extremely effective at removing grease from dishes, not to be gentle on skin.

Removes natural oils:
It strips away the natural oils from your skin, which can lead to dryness, tightness, and a compromised skin barrier.

Can cause irritation:
The harshness can disrupt the skin's natural pH balance and make it more sensitive and susceptible to irritation.

Study findings:
Research has shown that regular exposure to dishwashing detergents can cause skin lesions, increase trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL), and lead to objective signs of damage like redness and scaling.

Sadly you google if you can use it in a horses sheath and it says ‘yes it’s fine’. - It is not fine.

Read though again what studies have found it does to human skin, would you still consider this a suitable product to clean your horses sheath?

05/09/2025

Can youngsters get beans? 🫘

Absolutely they can - and they can cause really bad behavioural issues that often get put down to ‘immature’ or ‘bad’ behaviour because of their age - and as so many of you know ‘bad behaviour’ is more often than not, pain related.

This sweet boy (who wasn’t displaying any bad behaviour but clearly needed a clean) is from one of our regular equine colleges and look at the bean he had hidden away 👀 he’s only a young boy and he is a new addition to the yard so had likely never been done before.

British Equine Sheath Cleaning

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