A little late and on the heels of another trial, but here's our Labor Day Monday and day 3 of the awesome RCA trial update. I have to express how much I loved this trial venue, though. Some of the things that are most difficult with trialing are the pressure to work and run your dog well without neglecting him or her, their warm-up, their reward, and crunching time so you feel more pressured when it's time to run. This venue had it all. The weather was in the upper 90s and while the entry was relatively small, the club ran things very well. They ran excellent classes followed by open then novice. That meant that the majority of competitors at any given time was the ones running in their own class. There's some crossover, of course, but no matter what, even when multiple jobs needed to be filled, the RCA peeps were totally cool. Which meant the positions did get filled and people did so with a smile. The relaxed - yet extremely efficient - atmosphere helped to solidify my decision to come back at the end of October. Our entry went in the mail Tuesday.
Okay, so the day promised to be hot again but fortunately we weren't running Fast, excellent classes were first, and we ran Tall to Small. Standard was first followed by JWW.
So in reviewing the map on this one I had planned on working from the right of the first jump initially and trying to get a cross in for the 180 to #3. Not sure where my brain was in making that choice but fortunately that's why we have walk-throughs. Instead, I planned to set Vegas up at a severe angle to #1 so #2 would be in her sights. That way I would start on the left, too. Then I'd be in the position to just pivot for the 180 and send her into the tunnel. I had some thoughts toward whether I had to worry about the off course tunnel but it wasn't as close as it looks on the map and really was a non-issue. From there I planned to be next to the #5 jump and rear cross the #6 into the pinwheel. I was going to rear cross at the a-frame, meet her at the end, then send to the table. Because being on Vegas' left going into the tunnel made me worry about stalling her out, I had hoped to get a rear cross in on the teeter, too. The weave entrance looked nice and from there we could be home free. Sadly I have minimal body awareness and screwed up our entire course by dropping a shoulder (not something I knew until someone else told me later) and pulled her off the #7 in the pinwheel. I was anticipating the next jump and fortunately Vegas reads me so well, she just did what my body said. Dangit! There went our third chance for a Standard leg last weekend. It was a major bummer cause that's where we have an opportunity to get more points. My fault though; Vegas came through like a champ.
Jumpers. Two big circles. No tunnels. Lots of room to get out and move. Looked like a fun course! I set Vegas up facing jump 2 which meant she was way off toward the wall of the arena and at a hard angle to the first jump. I figured it gave us the most direct route and I trust her to adjust her body not to hit the standard or knock a bar. The turns in the large circles required a bit more shoulder dropping and finesse than I would have thought but that was because there was so much room it gave more time to consider taking something else since jumpers were, well, everywhere. She ran it smoothly and well though without a hitch. She earned another MXJ3 leg and 3 more MACH points. I was very proud of my girl. Three JWW legs for the weekend and a lot of fun.
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