Friday 20th
We started the day with Exc FAST, there was a contact in the send so I didn't
bother to attempt it. Sky ran the rest of the course very well, we scored
48 points in 25 seconds. The send was worth 32 points so we scored the
maximum possible, we still had 7 seconds left to do the send so we could
have made it if there weren't any contacts. No bars down and minimal
barking.
Next was Open STD. This wasn't too bad either, he was a naughty boy and
ran around the A-Frame I brought him back and he did it correctly but was very
hesitant about the contacts. We were still on track for a Q right up the
very last jump. The final jump was placed very close to the ring fencing,
I rear crossed Sky into the penultimate obstacle (a cloth chute) - this was a
mistake, Sky out of the chute didn't really know where I was, I called him and
I think this was reason why he knocked the bar of the last jump (another
triple). To make matters worse I crashed into the ring fencing and got
tangled up in it - one of the Robin's had to release me.
The last run of the day was Open JWW. This was a very easy course, but I
messed Sky up big time - he repaid me by knocking the triple again. I did
the "backy-uppy" thing which we had been working in class, but of
course I clipped the base of the jump with my foot and knocked the bar
off. The rest of the run was OK. I was really cross with myself for
this mistake as this would have been an easy Q for Sky.
Saturday 21st
We started the day with Exc Fast again, there was another contact in the send
but I thought I would give it a try. Sky didn't complete the send
correctly so no Q, he did score 47 points so he would have Q'ed easily if he
had completed the Send correctly. It was raining when we ran and the
course was pretty wet. Sky slipped on landing after the first jump but he
seemed to be OK so I continued with the rest of the course. The course
was very odd - there was a chute worth 10 points right in the far corner of the
ring but there was no obvious route to it. Anyway, with the exception of
the Send he ran the course I had planned and made time so was I moderately
pleased with his performance.
Next was Open STD, Sky didn't make his contact on the dog walk (3rd obsticle)
so I pulled him from the course.
Finally we ran Open JWW. This was an incredibly fast course and I admit I
got a little carried away. Everything was going fine until the turn
just before the weaves, I didn't turn soon enough and Sky had no chance
entering the weaves on the correct pole, I re-did the weaves and
everything was fine. After the weaves we were supposed to double back,
take one more jump and finish on the chute. Somehow I managed to get him
to back jump the last jump and we blew the Q - this was a real shame we had a
lot of fun running the course. Ironically Pat (one of Stephen's training
partners) made exactly the same back jumping mistake that I made.
Sunday 22nd
No FAST today so we started with Open JWW. This was a nice course
but I wasn't confident Sky would get the weave entrance first time. When
he did it I called out YES! and of course this caused him to pop out of the
weaves! I put him back in and he completed the course clean. At
last we have a Q - his second in Open JWW and second place on this run.
My weaves mistake cost Sky 5 seconds, without that he would have easily got first
place.
Open STD was not so good. Things were going fine until the A-Frame where
Sky decided not to bother with the contact. I pulled him from the course
immediately afterwards.
