Saturday, June 2, 2012

Almaden Quicksilver: no mojo

I do not know what the deal is. I am still so uninspired to blog, or to comment on my friends' blogs, or much of anything really. Apparently I'm still decompressing or something.

Anyway, on Thursday I went down to San Jose to Almaden Quicksilver park. Very cool info in that link. It was a mercury mine for over a century. There's an endurance ride held there, which is why I went - there had to be enough trail to make it worth the trip.

Untitled

tl;dr: It was ungodly hot and Dixie got footy.

It was a pretty hilly ride, with a good steep climb immediately. This is about 5 minutes in, looking down at my rig.
Untitled

SJ is disgusting and smoggy and you can't even SEE the bay. I decided it's spooky and unnatural to see the curve of the earth for the horizon. It is right and proper to see mountains at the horizon. It is acceptable to see ocean. Smoggy land horizon? Wrong.
Untitled

There was a lot of boring mining road, with really pleasant little singletrack side trails through the woods.
Untitled

And a lot of very cool mining ruins.
Untitled

Really pretty place.
Untitled

So we made it 5 miles out and Dixie said she was through trotting on the rocks. I turned her around and we went back to the trailer at a nice swingy walk. She was sound, no harm done, but she was clearly not comfortable trotting on rocks any more that day.

When we got back to about a mile from the trailer, I hopped off and walked her in. It was hot. It was SO GODDAMN HOT. I haven't been that hot since I 'bout got heatstroke doing nothing at all at Tevis '10. So gross. Humidity is so disgusting. Also it was a 35 degree F swing from our maritime-climate house (59 when I left/got home) to stupid hot smoggy SJ (94 disgusting degrees). This was what I thought of it:

Untitled

Dixie sweated a lot, but she was aiight, really. She'd have done better with sponging, but I didn't know if there was water out there (there are troughs at a couple of spots that I found).
Untitled

So after we got back to the trailer and I drank all the rest of the water and had a snack, I trimmed her hooves.

Hoof nerd digression

We headed out barefoot because I couldn't decide what to do about her feet. There's obviously a ton of false sole that's trying to come out, but I couldn't chip it out and I couldn't tell how thick it was and I just couldn't decide how to trim.

Hoof recap (all front right)
Here's immediately upon arrival in CA:
Front right before

After Tuesday's ride (don't mind the rock, I did get it out)
Untitled

And that's where I was on Thursday. Obviously that's false sole and it's getting ready to come out, but it was not budging. The best thing I could think to do was ride on hard ground, so that's what I did.

Here's post-ride (and post-prying and trimming)
Untitled

In person, you could really see the huge chunks of sole that came out - they were at least 1/4" thick. Hard to get pictures that showed it though.
Untitled

Anyway, now that I finally feel like I know where live sole is, I trimmed her walls down to that level. I pried out what sole I could with my nippers. I'm still wildly unsure about what's going on, but I think her feet are doing ok?
Untitled

BEFORE side view:
Front right before

They're definitely shorter!
Untitled

I know there's tons of white line separation from the sole view, but I think that's normal considering all that sole is trying to exfoliate. She sure doesn't have flaring. Her walls are still like half an inch thick. I think I'd be happy if her heels came down a bit more, and I think they might if that sole finally comes out. I don't see any metabolic problems / event lines. The little hump at the coronet band should smooth out when the sole cracks out and I can actually trim the bars.


Oh! And I encountered a local endurance rider and was rather underwhelmed. She was leading her spotted horse down the mountain as I was riding up. All matching biothane tack, carrying her helmet, leading her horse down a big hill - I asked if she was an endurance rider, and said I was also an endurance rider who'd just moved to the area. And she said there were lots of e-riders out here, and had I signed up with the AERC website? I was like "I'm from Reno, I just haven't done any Bay Area rides" and she was like "oh ok."

Yall.

I was wearing NEON SMILEY TIGHTS, a neon blue long sleeve running shirt, and a helmet. I was riding a horse geared out entirely in biothane, with enormous matching pommel bags. And she asked if I'd joined AERC? Would anyone really dress this idiotically if she hadn't already committed to the sport? REALLY?

18 comments:

  1. "I was wearing NEON SMILEY TIGHTS"

    Really Funder. You are in California now. Biothane and neon blue are casual wear for anybody.

    Bill

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And even acceptable business wear in some companies...

      Delete
    2. Obviously I've been under a rock for awhile.
      Welcome to California! If I'd met you on the trail I would have felt completely at home.

      Of course, I'd think be in my pink plaid dressage tights and Dr. Suess T-shirt.

      *happy dance* Funder is now in CA!

      Delete
  2. OMG there's another endurance rider in your area with a spotted horse?! *gasp* Was it a half Arab? lol

    So, overall was the ride worth it?

    Oh and this, I loved this:
    "I was wearing NEON SMILEY TIGHTS, a neon blue long sleeve running shirt, and a helmet. I was riding a horse geared out entirely in biothane, with enormous matching pommel bags. And she asked if I'd joined AERC? Would anyone really dress this idiotically if she hadn't already committed to the sport? REALLY?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it was. Dixie did well, mentally and metabolically. I think the miles on the rough road did help her feet start to shed that sole. I confirmed that keeping me cool down here in the disgusting humidity is one of my biggest challenges. And it was a very pretty adventure!

      Probably a half-Arab, yeah.

      Delete
  3. Funder, you have only entered the edge of the Truly Fashioned Impaired Zone. She probably figured you were visiting from the interior of the TFIZ...the heart of which is located, coincidentally, about a mile from my house.

    Just so ya know: the smiley tights wouldn't raise an eyebrow here, even if you wore them downtown. You've seen my ride photos, you know I'm not exaggerating. True thing: GQ tried to do a photo shoot in Seattle a few years back, sort of a "best-dressed guys thing" but they gave up and went home empty handed. Apparently "well-dressed" here looks like "homeless" to photographers from New York.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The WL separation doesn't look bad Funder. I would say she wasn't happy on the rocks because of the giant bars hiding in there? Gah I'm not sure. Just keep doing what you're doing. Looks like it just needs some extra coaxing to let go of it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Urgh... humidity. We get it bad here... just sucks the life out of you.

    You are probably just in a funk from all the change. Takes a bit to get your groove back. Looking forward to hearing more.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You crack me up. Believe me, if I met anyone wearing neon smiley pants on the trail, I would know they were an endurance rider. And I'm from California and I don't do endurance. I would have cautioned you about San Jose and the whole Santa Clara Valley--always hot and smoggy in the summer (and not too lovely in the winter either), but I figured you would need to see for yourself. If you ride on the coastal side of "the hill", it will be much cooler. But I bet you've already figured that out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I deliberately wanted to get out of the cool zone of the Bay and over in the hellish heat. The thing is, endurance rides are often held in hot humid areas. I've got to be able to survive in the heat if I want to continue wearing neon smiley face tights without being a poser... ;)

      Delete
  7. Hoof nerd photos= awesome! So interesting to see the changes. The trails are so rock hard right now, it's like traveling on concrete. This time of year I need to boot for everything but short jaunts or Major gets footy too.

    Neon smiley tights also = awesome. Maybe you can meet some like minded e riders! And adjust to the weather! Just like Dixie, it's transition time. Even when you live in Nor Cal, when it starts getting hot it is nasty for awhile. I'm heading out into the canyon this morning, only 87 today, woohoo!

    ReplyDelete
  8. BAHAHAHA. Oh dear. You sounded completely unimpressed by the situation, and I know that feeling like an old friend. LOL. People, people.

    Best rush on over and join AERC now..

    ReplyDelete
  9. Humidity sucks that's for sure. If I met a smiley faced breech wearer I'd want to ride with them because they HAVE to be fun!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Try not to be to hard on yourself, or Dixie's self either. You've made a major move. Different air, water, terrain, humidity (join the club on that one)... it takes a while to acclimatize - for regular activities too, not just activities which require neon smiley faced tights.

    You two will get in the groove swiftly - I have no doubt!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That heat and humidity would do me in! Ugh.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a change from the breezy cleaned- air of your last home. I'm with ya, , smog horizon is depressing.
    Did love that green though!

    Blog break -just to write and reply -is what I've done all winter. Nothing wrong with that, I say, we know where to catch up wit yas!

    Keep on trekkin'/riding with those smiling tights!! You'll start a trend, since they've not been introduced to comfort with humor!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Neat hoof update..."its Quarters for me" blog has a video about the bars I really enjoyed too. I'm investing in a Dicks knife...truly Sharp...though I may have to soak her hooves first, hard as stone!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I grew up in south Texas, heat and humidity like 155% all the time. can't STAND that stuff anymore. and smog is disgusting. it was so bad once I was hiking in the hollywood hills my eyes burned. sooooo glad I don't live in that stuff!
    - The Equestrian Vagabond

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to comment!