Friday was my birthday and we headed up to the showground at lunchtime. Anita had really kindly bought me two bottles of champagne and Charlie the caterpillar. So we sat in the sun and had a lovely bbq, followed by cake. Yum yum. Thanks Anita!! A lovely surprise!
On Saturday Smudge had three runs. In the G1-3 jumping he ran really wide around the cloth tunnel so picked up a refusal. In his pairs Bertie went first and missed a weave entry (very strange for him!) but it meant that I could use my run as a training round. I decided to push the distance I could get from him and try to handle the whole thing from behind. It worked really well, so I was pleased that I had been brave enough to push it. If Anita had been clear I would have played it safer!! His last run was agility, and I was really pleased with his contacts. We had already won out of Grade 2 at Thames, so had decided that as I was still in Grade 2 at this show I would train all his contacts and hold them in the ring! And he got every one perfectly as he does in training ! Woo hoo! The only downside was that he was starting to creep down them - and this got worse as the weekend went on. Hmmmmmm............. Still, even with creeping and holding them he ended up in 2nd - good boy!
Maisie had a clear in the G1-3 jumping, and a 4th in the Agility. In the pairs she was withTyke (who she hates!). Anita and I had worked out our change over very carefully and it went really smoothly. Maisie went second, and was so riled up by having watch Tyke run that she was like a rocket!! She set off so fast I couldn't believe it was Maisie! Unfortunately her sheer speed in the weaves meant she headbutted the last pole!! So 5F, but never mind - I was just pleased she had enjoyed herself so much!
Scooby had the worst 'nearly' run ever! In his 1-2 agility he was flying. His contacts were spot on, all the poles stayed up. It was fantastic.....until the last pole. Paul visibly relaxed (obviously thinking 'finally!') and Scoobs took the last pole. Still, the difference in him recently is amazing. In his jumping he was a very naughty boy - he decided it was take your own line! So Paul did exactly the right thing and pulled him out of the ring.
On to Sunday and again Smudge had a problem going in the cloth in the jumping. He seems to be sweeping right around it every time, but I have a theory which I will cover in my next post!) His agility was again good, but with creepy contacts - he ended up 3rd. Finally his Olympia run - in this I decided not to say anything to him on the contacts and just see what he did. Well they were much faster! And he flew across them! In fact he was going really well and then just missed his weave entry - what a shame as it felt really good up to that point.
Scooby (or should I say Paul) finally pulled himself together and got a 5th in the G1-3 jumping. The winner of this class was an amazing little collie who completed the course in 18 secs!! Can you believe it!?!
And little Maisie - she got 4th again in the agility and 14th in the jumping. For some reason in the Olympia run she bailed off the see saw. I think her angle onto it just wasn't quite right and she made a jump for it!!
I am really pleased that we did this show as it gave me a really good idea of how Smudge is running in the ring now. So I know what to work on over the next week!!
For some reason I am having problems uploading video to blogger at the moment. Something to do with the file type. Grrrr. When I have time I will sit down and try to figure it out, but for now - no video I am afraid!!
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