I was late on Saturday due to having some work done on my car so I missed Molly's Standard entry, and we were not entered in Snooker. That left ending the day with Wildcard, Colors and Jumpers. Wildcard was okay but the approach to the Aframe was rather unsafe in my opinion, so I held Molly back and managed her on the flat for a straighter approach and that put me behind for Molly's exit from the A-frame - so she took a wrong course jump after thundering down the Frame. Oh well! Colors and Jumpers went much better. A missed weave entry in Colors but nice and fast when I asked her to repeat them. We are doing really good with keeping the stress out of restarting the weaves, and that is a skill I have worked hard on and am proud of. Jumpers was an odd course with a back to back serpentine but Molly handled really nicely through it all.
Ein played Wildcard and Jumpers on Saturday. In Wildcard our run was going really well, but the A-frame was a required part of the course. Ein did perform the A-frame in the June trial, but he pulled off of it during his run on Saturday. I asked him to re-do it and backed way up so he could get a running start onto it but he again ran around it. That's fine, he is allowed to say No whenever he wants to! Old Dog Rules! I felt a little bit like if he wasn't showing much enthusiasm in Jumpers I would scratch him from Sunday's entries and not do anymore agility with him. But Ein ran with speed and joy for a Q in Jumpers, no doubt he was enjoying his time in the ring!
We returned on Sunday and I arrived while Snooker45C was running, I missed my walk through! Those extra 15 minutes of sleep were too tempting. I feel that I may be a true Snooker master because I made a plan on the fly and Q'd Molly with 46 points. Yeah!
Molly had three more runs: Standard, Wildcard and Colors. In Standard there was a four jump extension line straight to the back with a wrong course tunnel tempting her to the right, or the correct path...a jump to the left turning back onto the Aframe. To the tunnel!! She re-emerged with her teeth and lips bared and butt tucked, and took some bonus jumps before reconnecting with me to finish our run. Even did some nice weaves! The photographer captured this beast mode team shot of me calling Molly over a 180 - I look mad! I wasn't, that's just my face! Ha! I love the comet trail of dirt coming off of Molly's feet here, love it.
Colors and Wildcard were not too memorable, we got em done! Molly is really so very consistent at this trial site and I do enjoy that level of cooperation from her.
Ein also got to play Snooker with me, but this time I had the benefit of walking my course! I wanted to pick a flowy opening and leave after obstacle 5 in the closing (we would have plenty of points.) However, a flowy opening in the beginning left us a bit short on points, and finishing 6-7 was not too much of an effort. I don't usually do Snooker with Ein because sometimes you just end up doing a goofy course no matter how good your plans are. As it was, we definitely ended up doing more side changes and handling than Ein is used to but he did really well with everything. He did run around a jump that I kept a distance away from and expected him to commit to but we recovered well and finished the whole closing, a Q and 45 points.
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| Start Line Lovin' |
While Perri did not do any agility runs this weekend, she joined us both days! We did partial crating indoors and her normal switching to car crating. We worked on relaxing ringside. I noticed twice taking Perri out of her crate that she would stress yawn and be reluctant to walk to the front of the building with me. This makes me feel so resolute in my decision to take a break from trials, but even more so at this particular trial site. Although this is one of my favorite places to run, I believe I will need to be firm that Perri does not run here anymore. Or on dirt footing anywhere. I really believe that the dirt gets her so excited and overaroused that she has a hard time focusing, and the stress and conflict of this cause her to zoom and then to ultimately stress down. Whether this is the case or not, I don't know, but I'm trying my best and I need to eliminate stress wherever I can. The footing is an extra factor and we have enough to deal with. All of the photos in this post are by the talented Rich Knecht Photography, and I am forever grateful for him for snapping this candid of me cuddling ringside with Perri.
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