Well hullo Masters Jumpers...

Nice fun trial Friday. As a special treat as it was an  all advanced afternoon so it was just Sally and I. Home dogs spent about 4 hours alone which I have to admit I felt badly about until I realized 9 and even 10 hour days weren't unheard of just 4 months ago.

The venue was lovely - it was a dome arena on a nice hard packed dirt surface! I had a very strong feeling of deja vu when there and could picture cross country jumps on the property so asked around - seems quite possible I rode there with a Young Riders program a million years ago.

Our first class was Advanced Gambles. We had a sweet opening - up a line of two jumps (including the 4 point) to the mini - teeter to tunnel,  nailed it,   took a minute to get organized to repeat the mini but nailed it again ... across the dogwalk down the weaves, over the jump, over the jump, up the weaves, onto the dogwalk (whistle) Sally added the spread backwards and a chute on her way to set up for gamble but she wasted no time. I love running her in gambles as a warm up - can test her weaves and contacts and she so enjoys the free running.  She missed the contact on the aframe   then turned into the tunnel and nailed the jumps. Good girl Sally. My old mantra is back.  "I must train more aframes".

Then Advanced Standard classes were next. We ended up with a pause box rather than a table which was fine by me. People truly FREAKED about the change though. Including people not running in the class which I thought was RIDICULOUS! The club was great - offered a refund on the spot to anybody who didn't want to run. Smart!
Sally's first run was lovely, except my lousy steering had her jumping the back side of one jump- DOH. Just the tiniest bit of steering would have solved the problem as she she was listening really well.  Got her contacts  with confidence. Good job!
Second standard course, Oh Sally's Been Barking was right there. High as a KITE (which lasted the whole trial) she slid off the dog walk contact (after she got it) and wasted time at the pause box but smoked the course. Second effort at Advanced Standard resulted in a Q. Good girl!
Then two jumpers. First course was fun - some tricky lines that required concentration from me - and commitment. We clicked all the way around the course. Good Girl. Last Advanced Jumpers Q.
Second jumpers I challenged myself and Sally as we didn't "need' the Q. I had one DOH moment and Sally, being Sally not Brody, backjumped to see what the heck I was doing standing staring at her! Otherwise oot perfect.
Last class snookers. Nice opening then my steering went wonky again and Sally found the wrong end of a tunnel. Our first try at Advanced Snookers so I am well pleased with the 25 or so points I think we got. As usual I didn't check the score sheets very closely at all. Fun venue and always great to catch up with friends and see favourite dogs!

Some highlights - how absolutely happy Sally was to be playing her favourite game. Not one rail for any reason. Perfect weaves. Only one missed contact.
Stuff to work on - start line may be eroding, or was I just chicken? not sure - better figure it out! Aframes! More Aframes!