Waldridge Fell (Indoor)

Such an early start! This is probably the furthest show I’m prepared to travel to for a day trip, and I wouldn’t want to do it very often. Kim did not want to get up.

Met up with Emma for our epic road trip at 6am. We set off in the ice and snow but the weather got better as we went further North (weirdly!). The venue was lovely, loads of room and very warm, which was especially useful when it started snowing! We met up with Cat and her gorgeous pair; I hope she won’t mind me saying how super-slim and sleek Gypsy was looking, she does not look 9 years old!

Kim’s first run was Combined 1-7 Jumping. All Kim’s runs were combined 1-7 (or Open) which was the only negative to the show really, but I’d decided to just go and see how she could do, and give Dylan the chance to have some nice classes for once. Kim’s course was not ideal for my leggy Medium, it was a nice straightforward kind of course but very tightly spaced, minimum distances all the way around. Big poleknocker course! Anyway, Kim had a lovely run, she hit her strides perfectly and did some tight turns around the corners, nice fast weaves (well, fast weaves for Kim!) and a clear in 22.223s which eventually put her 4th. I nearly died of shock! She was beaten by three Grade 7’s including the current Olympia Champion, so very, very, pleased.

The agility was a course I knew Kim was going to like. I’ve actually never run a bad course under that particular judge and he gives lots of room for the Mediums/Smalls to stretch their legs like the Large dogs. Shame it included our old nemesis, the dogwalk-jump end sequence. She blew the contact (oops) but we had a nice run and I think she was the fastest 5f so can’t complain too much!

Final run was jumping again and a better course, although it started with a pinwheel which I know isn’t Kim’s favourite sequence. She likes me to be running with her, and it’s hard to run with your dog on a pinwheel! So a pretty slow start but she picked up until we hit the weaves again, when she popped the last 2 and carried on to the next obstacle. It’s not like Kim to pop her weaves but it could have been my fault, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and took her back. Same result, popped the last 2, so brought her back again and this time had a look at the weaves themselves. The crossbar was totally exposed and sticking up out of the dirt on the stride for the second to last pole, and she’d obviously spotted it and balked. Carried on and Kim finished happy, and the ring crew covered it up for the next dog.

Dylan’s Graded 3-4 Agility was the same course as Kim’s Open Agility, very suited to Dylan, if only he had a good handler! It had a jump-Aframe-weaves opening sequence, and Dylan flew down into his FP on the Aframe. I moved off slightly and stuck my hand out to make sure he didn’t fly past the weave entry, and for whatever reason Dylan thought I was indicating something on the floor, which he duly went to look at. Brought him back and he nailed the weaves, flew around and didn’t freak out at the seesaw and then, even better, didn’t freak out at the dogwalk! Just a small checked stride rather than full extension but much better than he’s done for months, it totally made my day. He got loads of cuddles afterwards from Emma, Cat and I, which totally made his day too.

Graded 1-3 Jumping was on the same spacing as Kim’s first jumping class, which if it was unsuited to Kim was never going to be good for Dylan! He tried his hardest for me but couldn’t make the first turn in time and got a refusal, but we stayed cheerful and he finished in a very respectable time considering he was checking his stride the whole way around the course. (Without the refusal, he would have been comfortably in the placings).

Graded 3-4 Jumping was more Dylan’s thing, but he had to run cold as they announced the class was closing as Kim was running her second jumping class, and so after running up to the car and swapping dogs, Dylan had no time for a warm up as he was straight on the line. Again, he tried very hard for me and actually had a good first half, but I made a daft mistake and he got another refusal, and we lost it a bit after that.

One of those “personal victories” days rather than a major rosette haul, but we had a fab time and were home for 7pm despite the 2h 30m drive.