Swollen Sheath? Overweight mini

[Dee214]

I brought this little guy home from an auction last night. It was a pretty rough auction and only 2 meat buyers bid on him.
I couldn’t let him go for meat.
He is “somewhat” halter broke as I was able to get him off the trailer and into pen, but terrified of human touch, poor guy.
I’m letting him settle right now, but I’m guessing he will be hard to catch.
With some work,TLC and a dirt pen he will be a great addition to our farm.
Do you think he has a swollen sheath? This is the closest I could get to him. I feel silly asking this as I have all mares and only one gelding, but he doesn’t have…that much stuff there
As you can see he is horrifically overweight. Super crusty neck and he’s actually like hard if you poke him!
Sorry, this was the best photo I could get of his sheath.

 

[Dragon Hill]

Boy, he's a little tank, isn't he?! It's not really possible to tell from a picture. Some geldings just naturally have large sheaths. Since you can't feel for heat, there only two things I can think of to go by: Is he displaying any discomfort in the way he moves or while urinating? Does the skin seem stretched tight (around the opening it might look smoother and shinier)?

 

[HersheyMint]

He is very pretty. The 2nd pic shows his size. Good advice from Dragon Hill. Good Luck with him and keep us updated

 

[chandab]

I know, not what you asked, but be sure to keep him separate and quarantined from your resident minis for 3-4 weeks; auction horses are more likely to bring home something you don't want. [Feed him last, work with him last, and wash up between working with him and your others.]
It's quite possible that his larger sheath is purely due to his being overweight. A dirty sheath can cause some swelling, as can some metabolic issues. Being he's an auction purchase, a vet visit is probably a good idea to check his current state of health to find anything beyond his current weight that might be an issue. Be careful with dieting to not go too fast, and cause more problems; safe dieting is to feed 1.5% of current weight or 2% of ideal weight, whichever is greater, then make adjustments as weight is lost (we can help with likely "ideal" weight based on his height). I realize it'll be a bit before you might get hands on to get an accurate height and weight estimate (unless you have a scale weight from the auction, I don't know if scales are turned on during horse sales, it's been awhile since I've been to a horse auction).

 

[LostandFound]

I don't see anything abnormal for his weight from the picture. They gain weight in and around that area. And he has quite a bit of extra weight. I would try to keep an eye and make sure he is peeing ok.

 

[Kelly]

My old man had a swollen sheath one time, his was a reaction from the soap the vet used for cleaning his sheath. I can’t tell if his is swollen or not from the pics but at least you are looking and getting familiar with what it does look like to give you a baseline in case there are any changes.

He looks like he will be a great addition to your farm! Just keep up the good work and in no time you will be able to embarrass him by posting REAL up close pics of his sheath

 

[Dee214]

Boy, he's a little tank, isn't he?! It's not really possible to tell from a picture. Some geldings just naturally have large sheaths. Since you can't feel for heat, there only two things I can think of to go by: Is he displaying any discomfort in the way he moves or while urinating? Does the skin seem stretched tight (around the opening it might look smoother and shinier)?

funny you said he’s is a tank because that’s what we said, and how we named him, Hank aka “Hank the tank”

 

[Dee214]

I know, not what you asked, but be sure to keep him separate and quarantined from your resident minis for 3-4 weeks; auction horses are more likely to bring home something you don't want. [Feed him last, work with him last, and wash up between working with him and your others.]
It's quite possible that his larger sheath is purely due to his being overweight. A dirty sheath can cause some swelling, as can some metabolic issues. Being he's an auction purchase, a vet visit is probably a good idea to check his current state of health to find anything beyond his current weight that might be an issue. Be careful with dieting to not go too fast, and cause more problems; safe dieting is to feed 1.5% of current weight or 2% of ideal weight, whichever is greater, then make adjustments as weight is lost (we can help with likely "ideal" weight based on his height). I realize it'll be a bit before you might get hands on to get an accurate height and weight estimate (unless you have a scale weight from the auction, I don't know if scales are turned on during horse sales, it's been awhile since I've been to a horse auction).

Thank you,
Vet is coming out Thursday
He is separate and I treated him with lice medication on the trailer and will again in 4 weeks.
His auction papers say he’s 425 pounds. Unfortunately where I live we are a massive exporter of horse meat (alive and already processed) so they all get weighed when being processed at auction. On the auction paper work here the seller can even check off a box that they are “meat”

 

[Abby P]

Wow, 425 by scale? Definitely Hank the Tank, unless he's taller than he looks! I bet the sheath will come right down when he loses weight. He's going to be really nice looking when he slims down, and he has a cute face when he's not making stank-face. Thanks for saving him! He's really well put together and I have always had a soft spot for solid red horses. Keep us posted?

 

[chandab]

Thank you,
Vet is coming out Thursday
He is separate and I treated him with lice medication on the trailer and will again in 4 weeks.
His auction papers say he’s 425 pounds. Unfortunately where I live we are a massive exporter of horse meat (alive and already processed) so they all get weighed when being processed at auction. On the auction paper work here the seller can even check off a box that they are “meat”

Treat for lice again in 10 days, they have about a 10 day cycle, then after that if you notice stragglers, treat again.
Can you get a height on him? How overweight 425# is will depend on how tall he is. But, I would guess that 1.5% of 425# for starting a diet will be a good place to start; so 6.375# of forage daily. If he's a taller mini, that won't be horribly overweight, but if he's a shorty, it's quite obese.

 

[Cayuse]

Gosh, he's cute. LOT'S to love, there! His sheath from what I can see doesn't look swollen but Cushing's disease is one thing that can cause a swollen sheath, I've seen it happen to one of mine. Once treatment started with Prascend/pergolide it resolved.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

He is handsome! Hope you are good at dieting them; I'm terrible at it.

I'm sure some miniature horses/ponies get picked up by slaughterhouses at our auctions, but generally they are too light weight to bother with. We feel such a connection with our horses, it is hard to think of them as food. Would I starve before eating a horse? Hope I never have to consider that!