Hare'n'Hounds Easter 2011

Theme for the weekend? 12 weaves, in every single class. The judges obviously got way too excited about being able to fit 12 weaves in a course again and used them all the time. I love me some weaves but sometimes it’s nice to do a class that doesn’t involved 12 of them. There are other numbers!

SATURDAY
Dyl was apparently quite pleased to be back outside and took advantage of the space to go very wide at all opportunities, but also had to be cautious with the equipment as who knows what’s lurking in the grass? It left us a bit out of sync but we pulled it together as we went along.

Very first run was Kim’s C1-7 Jp, straightforward course but I was sliding in the wet grass and daren’t run properly, but she finished 6th despite me.

Dylan’s C4-7 Ag was another good course, but the difficult start did not go to plan! Kim had the same course for her C4-7 and just rocked it, she powered up the hill away from me like I’ve not seen her do for a long time. Unfortunately she got too far in front, came off the second to last jump (which was offset), saw the timer cables and targeted for her lead. Elimination, poor baby, she was embarrassed about her old-lady mistake.

Nicely pitched G5-7 Jp, Dyl had 5R and then popped his weaves, and then Kim had exactly the same course for hers and went clear, but out of the placings.

Dylan’s G4-7 Jp was another fast course, we had a decent run but had a dither on a push-out and then a spin at the end which I thought would have put us out of contention, but we finished a pleasing 6th.

Kim’s G1-7 Agility was a fast course, just the kind of thing Kim likes and she had a blast around. She stalked the Aframe to the line which made me laugh, and she had a cracking run to come 1st in the G6. That’s our third win towards G7 (and they’ve all been agility wins so far).

Challenging but fab course in the G5-7 Agility, really enjoyed running it. Dyl had a good run and we made up a lot of time with 2 very tight turns but then lost a bit more with a slow seesaw and a wide turn off a tunnel trap. It was a really good run. I then nearly had a heart attack when I went in to check the results as Dylan was down as winning the class! Thankfully (I’ve never been so relieved) it was crossed out and rewritten as some tickets hadn’t been counted, and he finished 2nd. Much better! Unfortunately I don’t have a trophy/rosette for this class, I didn’t stay for the late presentations as we were camping off site and we needed to book in on the campsite before 7pm. When I went back the next day I was told it had been taken, but I never found out by who. If anyone out there has the Large Grade 5 Agility trophy/rosette from April 23rd and can’t remember why, can I have it please?!

SUNDAY
Same G5-7 Agility course for both dogs, Dyl blew his Aframe contact and Kim skipped out on her weave entry (my fault). Ahh!

Dyl’s C4-5 Jumping had an awkwardly angled 12 weave; Dylan rocked the weaves and the first half of the course, and then for some reason he came to a dead stop off 11 and then stuttered very badly into the next two jumps and didn’t regain his confidence even after that. I have absolutely no idea what happened, and he was fine for the rest of the weekend. As it happened, he finished 3rd, which was a surprisingly good result!

Kim had a lovely agility course where we got E’d, Kim plodded around the first 7 obstacles, ducked behind me to take the tunnel again (seriously?!) and then had a short glaring match with me before deciding that yes, she does still like agility, at which point she shot off like a rocket. We finished up by doing her amazing flying aframe and hitting super speed gears I don’t think she’s used for years, and then got Ed a couple more times for luck.

Really thought the G4-5 Jumping was going to be too fast a course for Dylan, we had a lovely run with some nice wide turns but he really enjoyed it, and finished 3rd again. We were on a roll with the 3rds on Sunday.

Kim’s G4-7 Jumping was a very similar course which she equally enjoyed, she came out absolutely ragging on her tug which she doesn’t do much these days (too interested in sausages). We finished 4th, which makes me smile. My little 10yr old girl with her slow weaves, and she’s still walking away with rosettes on pure speed courses.

MONDAY
Monday was the Day of Eliminations.

Kim’s C1-7 Jp at the start of the day was a standard kind of course, jump-weave start which wouldn’t be all too inspiring for Kim, so we just gave it our best short. Cued the wrap at the end way too early for her (are we seeing a weekend theme here?) and picked up 5R but she only had a minor argument with me and then finished up well anyway.

Kim’s G1-7 Ag course was a disappointment to be honest, very nagging with very tight spacings and awkward pull thrus. It also had a jump-aframe-turn to tunnel under aframe start, on the downhill, which is one of those rare situations where a running start and a running contact put us at a real disadvantage. Kim really tried her hardest on this course but it wasn’t to be, I ended up pulling her off a jump and getting 5R and then we were E’d at the end as I’d lost ground. There were only 15 clears overall, and a couple of grades weren’t awarded or were given on faults. If there are only 1-7 classes scheduled then it’s reasonable to assume some will be harder than others, but this was the most difficult course I ran all weekend which just doesn’t seem to balance when Kim was in plenty of 4/5-7s as well. (Rant over).

Dyl’s G4-7 Jp was not my cup of tea, 4 pull-thrus in a row down a line of flickflack jumps, what?! Dylan was raring to go, the most relaxed and focussed he was all weekend, which may be why he forgot to weave. It was a soft entry and they’re not our strong point, but he missed the entry on three attempts and then popped the weaves when he did get it. I should have just walked after the second miss but I wasn’t sure what he was doing, and he skipped out on an easy entry in the next class as well which I think was due to my repeating the mistake in this jumping. Speaking off, the next class was the C4-7 Ag, which he ran well but because of the 5f weave I held all his contacts and he still finished 7th (unplaced). Which was weird, it was a nice course and I thought there would be plenty of clears but apparently not!

Kim had the same course as Dylan for her C4-7 Ag, and it was the only run all weekend where she really seemed a bit ploddy, so I let her blow the dogwalk contact which cheered her up.

Whipped through Dylan’s G5-7 Agility, which was a brilliant course, I can’t remember who the judge was but big thumbs up. Dylan was on super form, lovely lovely Aframe where he jumped the apex for the first time all weekend, and then we had a major miscommunication where I flicked him the wrong way off a jump (bless, he was doing exactly what I cued!) and then I steadied him too much for the tight turn. He finished up beautifully, I’m an idiot! Only 6 weaves of the weekend which was great as Dylan picked up his entry without a problem, case (apparently) cracked.

Doc’s course for C5-7 Jp was fab, challenging with speed stretches and then tighter working sections that still flowed well. I really wanted to get this run before Kim’s C1-7 Ag, so I got Dylan out early and actually ended up running first. I hate running first … we did well though, Dylan worked it and nailed the (12) weave entry with no problems. We had a couple of dithers where I cued the tight turns too early (… again), and then towards the end I didn’t cue one of the wraps at all so he went very wide. But we were both relaxed and happy; a good clear even if it was well off the placings (but the fastest G5 by over 2s so that was encouraging).

Kim’s C1-7 Ag was another good course, and we went clear but Kim was flagging a little. She’s not done a two day competition for a long time (Scunthorpe Aug ’10!) and three days was a bit too much for her. Having said that, even on this last run she came out of the ring happy and targeting her lead for tugs, which makes me equally happy. We actually finished 5th, the second G6, so a good result anyway!

I really have to start doing short write ups, I know nobody reads all that! But I do go back and read old blog entries to find out what are cropping up as consistent errors, so it’s useful for me. Sorry!