Posted by Patty Stiller on October 27, 2003 at 17:47:21:
In Reply to: What is a Corn? posted by Deb on October 27, 2003 at 12:05:36:
: Hi,
: I have just found this site. Hopefully you can educate me on my newfound problem. I have a large warmblood that has just been diagnosed by my Vet as having a pretty bad Corn. Though I see the area they are speaking about I'm still not sure what it is and why it hurts the horse. She just had an abscess in the area. And about a year ago had a bad abscess in the area where a Vet pared out a large area. She has underslung heels that the current Vet with a farrier are trying to correct utilizing X-rays. They did not protect the Corn with a Pad. What are your thoughts?
A corn is a bruise in the "V" shaped sole area between the heel and the rear of the bar. (see the anatomy section of this site if you are not sure where the bar is).
Underrun heels cause corns because the heel is crushing the internal tissues underneath the wall there.
eventually the pooled blood (the bruise) can abscess as the dead tissue has to get out somewhere.
The remedy to correct underrun heels and corns is usually simple.... remove hoofwall at the heels back to the level of the sole, so there is no underun horn, and shoe with proper frog support and a correct breakover point relative to the coffin bone tip. (as measured from the Xrays).
The reason I mention breakover,(which is the place where where the foot rolls over the toe) is because a long toe pulls the heels inward and encourages heel contraction and eventually heel pain. Long toes prevent heels from spreading and getting healthy for a number of reasons.
Patty