Nicole Jory - Hoof Care Practitioner

24/07/2025

19/07/2025

It's pretty rare that I have to do this much knife work on a foot and I absolutely do not carve concavity into a foot. BUT this little hoof is a perfect example of something I often see in miniature horses and ponies.

In most barefoot horses, when the hoof grows, the wall will grow long above the sole and frog, and as long as the horse is moving around on a variety of surfaces, when it gets too long it will chip and break off, to self trim. The sole and frog may retain some material, but it's fairly obvious where the live tissue is and where the overgrown wall can be trimmed back to.

In some cases, mostly minis and ponies, although I have witnessed it in some bigger horses for a variety of reasons, the sole and frog grows long with the hoof wall. It stays dense and callused and can give whoever is trimming the hoof the impression that they are trimming the hoof as far as they can. This is often because they were taught not to trim sole, and not to trim wall past the sole/frog level. But this is retained tissue, not healthy, living tissue.

If you look at the overall length of the hoof in relation to where the internal strutures would be, it's clear there is way too much hoof. Sometimes even the collateral groove depth, which is a common reference point used by hoof care providers to determine the position of the coffin bone inside the hoof, can look like there isnt enough depth because all of the retained sole and frog have migrated forward and distorts the landmarks.

Radiographs are helpful in these cases if people are really struggling to find how much material can safely be removed when you aren't confident in reading distorted external landmarks.

In this case, once I started to get past the outer "crust" of dead, callused material, the layers underneith shed easily and exposed the true depth of the internal structures and how much hoof could be trimmed to re-establish healthier hoof form and function.

17/07/2025

There are things to like and not like about each of these hooves, but this post is about what it looks like when certain things are going on in the back of the hoof, and how that may affect their comfort.

1- super robust internal structure development. Even with a bit of hoof capsule distortion, this horse lands confidentially heel first on all surfaces and has a thick, dense digital cushion with huge, well developed collateral cartilages. You can see how plump and full the back half of the foot is above the hairline.

2. This hoof might be deceptive, but he actually had quite a weak digital cushion even though he has ok frog and heel strength. He is not confident to land heel first in all situations. His collateral cartilages are big and flexible, but the digital cushion feels quite small and deflated.

3. This horse had much weaker heels and a toe first landing, but recently has developed a stronger hoof and internal structures and he is now landing heel first. Its never too late!

4. This contracted heel doesn't have enough space to really allow for proper function. The pinched heel bulbs, narrow frog, and V shaped hairline all indicate internal structures that have not been expanding and contracting with movement. The discomfort and unhealthy biomechanics cause the horse to avoid weighting the heel which overloads the toe.

5. Collapsed internal structures due to too much pressure on the frog. This horse has high/low syndrome, and this is the low foot. Unfortunately, the frog was receiving way too much pressure, which was reducing blood flow and causing discomfort. The internal structures are not weak, but the blood flow restriction caused atrophy of the frog, toe first landings, and complete distortion of the back of the foot.

6. Central sulcus thrush, hoof contraction, chronic inflammation, and toe loading created a completely failed hoof in every way. This horse really doesn't have a foot to stand on. What really demonstates how unsupportive and painful the back of her foot is , is that she would rather load the toe to the point of a remodeled coffin bone than land on that heel.

Can you spot those differences?

16/07/2025

Progress....

I have been waiting for the thrush to clear up in this mare before showing before and afters, but we aren't there just yet. However, I did want to show what progress can look like even when things aren't great yet. Even with this deep central sulcus infection, those heels are decontracting and soft tissue is developing. Looking forward to updating you all again when the thrush is gone!

14/07/2025

06/07/2025

This week while I was nerding out about radiographs and hoof dissections on laminitic feet to a client, I said " its super cool and interesting".

Judging by the look on his face, he probably didn't think it was nearly as cool or interesting as I did, so I said, " it's super cool and and interesting to me, I mean" , with a light chuckle, realizing I was info dumping on an innocent bystander.

His response was, "And that's what make you good at what you do."

Later on, I was telling my SO about the lovely compliment and he remarked, "There would be so many things we didnt know if there weren't people thinking things were cool."

How true is that?!

So keep on nerding out my friends! And share what you find cool and interesting! The rest of us depend on it!

05/07/2025

So thankful for clients who get radiographs.

This donkey has had chronic severe reoccurant laminitic epidode for years. I knew there probably wasn't much of a coffin bone left, so it was trickier to read land marks in the hoof to determine bone position and how to best trim for better alignment and comfort.

There were a couple of trims between the top photo and radiograph when I was flying blind and we were already making some progress in healthier growth after idendifying and removing the trigger, and she was no longer walking on the back of her heels, but I really needed to see where things were to make more confident bigger changes.

She was standing more comfortably after todays trim, and I'm hoping we can continue to improve her quality of life, but with this much damage, it's never a guarantee.


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04/07/2025

I have seen this so many times. It needs to considered whenever buying a horse.

Sometimes the crash comes AFTER the stress

You bought a horse that seemed sound, well adjusted and well trained. You get it home and the poor thing is lame and crawling out of its skin.

Were you conned ?

Maybe

But there are two other possibilities

1- the horse was adjusted to a certain routine, manner and frequency of riding, diet, etc and is now struggling outside of that routine that has helped to keep going - now the horse might feel like a border collie in an apartment without enough opportunity for movement.
(lots of articles have been written about this and it’s well worth looking into)

2- the horse was under some form of stress that has now ended and turned into another -
The stress of decompressing.

Brains are wired to keep us alive. Bodies are made to keep going.
Horses are incredible survivors - they can keep going and being pretty athletic under incredible duress. They are wired to not stop and say ouch at every pain and tweak, even with lameness and developing dysfunctions - because they NEED to. They can look sound when they are under stress. All you need to do to understand this is imagine a lion chasing a horse and know they will run until they are caught or free - and if the lion is the training, the lifestyle, the expectation, they will hold together until they can’t anymore .

So then they are purchased and pulled from this intensive lifestyle and now living in the lap of luxury - they have no reason to be stressed, so we think -

Now they face the lengthy decompression period. Compensation mechanisms are falling away and the horse is left naked here. They don’t know what to do. What to expect. Everything is upside down. The compensations that have kept them tight kept them safe too, and now they are wobbly, insecure and naked.

This is where they need HELP, not just supplements and bodywork and kindness. They need time, sure, but they need guidance. Not knowing what to expect can drive a horse half crazy.

They need some form of structure. A stable herd. A stable guiding hand that can clearly show them the new ropes. Not too fast in expectations but don’t wait too long to show them the new ropes either.

Your language is likely very different. Maybe your goals totally upside down from the training they’ve had. You might be changing everything from head to toe, thinking you’re offering a soft landing, which you likely are - but think of the confusion in their upside down experience - help clarify, guide, explain, show, and support.

And of course, continue giving them supports- maybe the gut needs help right away, or some dietary changes. And of course it can take time, but there are some things that can be helped and should be helped right away.

03/07/2025

Skirnir and I are ready to tackle the summer trails!

03/07/2025

Where do you think P3(coffin bone) is positioned in this hoof? That question is extremely important when making trimming decisions!

It is a donkey hoof so the anatomy is slightly different than a horse. However... curious to see who has good x ray vision! Feel free to screen shot or save this photo and draw on it wherever you believe it may be.

A hint - a lot of it is missing. Don't worry about being wrong, i wasn't 100% sure which is why i asked for radiographs! I Will post radiograph in an updated post.