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[RC] Nick Warhol- AERC Chmpnshp 50 ride story 3 of 5 - Nick Warhol

We left nice and refreshed and trotted away, across the paved road, and
up another pretty valley.   A couple of miles of good roads, with mega
cows, and then its walk up another short, but very steep sand canyon.
Walk down the other side, then it was time for the highlight of the
ride.   It's about a four mile section of single track that winds along
a creek, all the way down a long canyon.  85 percent of it is trottable
with perfect sandy footing, you have to stop and pick your way through
big rocks and over the creek every once in a while.  But oh boy, that
trail is fun, especially on a horse that steers as well as Warpaint.
You have to pay attention, since there are so many bushes that hide the
trail in spots, but that trail section ended way too soon for me.   We
hung out at a water stop at the end of the trail while the horses ate
hay; a few riders were all bubbling about how wonderful that section
was.  Back on the trail, and up a short climb into the moon rocks,
otherwise known as the Pinnacles.   One of two things caused these
incredible formations- either it was the wonder of geology and the ever
changing of the earth, or some really big rock artist has a twisted
sense of humor.  We mostly walked and jogged among the crazy formations
on sandy trails, way above the valley and the camp below us.  A long
soft downhill brought us to the new road crossing, and then right back
into camp.  Thank you, ride management!  Way better than the last time,
where we had to trudge back up that climb and pass camp again before
going down.  We hit the camp at about 11:50, our out time would be
12:50. 

Zay recovers quickly, with the spotted beast following along in his
normal few minutes.  I learned one really interesting thing from Head
Vet extraordinaire Melissa Ribley while she was vetting the App.   His
scores were all very good, CRI 48/52 (superb for him) but his skin
tenting wasn't very impressive.   I asked her about that, and she told
me she doesn't pay much attention to skin tenting on horses this old,
since they don't have much collagen fibers left in their skin.  You
know, like how old people get wrinkles in their skin?  I never even
thought about that before.  Melissa said "I bet he's a B or so with skin
tent even when he's home and totally hydrated."  Yes, he is.  The
wonders of the animal body, and vets smart enough to understand this
stuff.   I still learn something at every ride!

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