Well I managed to fulfill two of the aims I set myself from last weekends experience at UKA Phoenix - I duly put a curfew on the husband and managed an early night, and made myself have Weetabix for breakfast both Saturday and Sunday morning. Need to work on the third goal of being focused on the show - admittedly house sale and then need for house hunting are pretty good reasons for being distracted!
The weather on Saturday was a bit miserable and I couldn't really get going on the surface as it was a bit hard from all the lovely sunshine we've been having. It demonstrated that I need to get a whole lot fitter to keep up with my extremely fit agility partner, who was running beautifully. As usual she provided the highs of the weekend - best bit of the whole weekend for me was only one mistake in a set of weaving poles, over 7 classes, and even then it was at the end of a set of 9 so my responsibility to be practicing these things. The lows surrounded my handling which never much got out of 1st gear, which is tricky when you're running around with the equivalent of a top spec Ferrari :-)
Sunday provided us with our first clear round, and the sunshine came out to celebrate it with us which was good. A 13th place in G1-7 Combined Jumping, with plenty of room for improvement - on my part that is, Ella was pretty good :-) What I did find encouraging though, was the mistakes we made are easily rectified (if you call me getting fit easily rectified!), and didn't surround problems with Ella completing the equipment correctly. I've done that part of the job pretty well, she understands her criteria on contacts and is getting there with the weaves. I watched a lot of dogs this weekend who don't, and it's understandably a source of frustration for their handlers.
So this coming weekend is Wye Valley and I'm really looking forward to it as it's such a lovely venue, with the pretty village of Monmouth just walking distance away. Plus the Pizza Express is great for dinner on Saturday night, which has become something of a tradition :-)
Today I am grateful for the Smart Clinic, without which I wouldn't have such a fit and healthy dog to compete with.
http://www.smartvetwales.co.uk/
The weather on Saturday was a bit miserable and I couldn't really get going on the surface as it was a bit hard from all the lovely sunshine we've been having. It demonstrated that I need to get a whole lot fitter to keep up with my extremely fit agility partner, who was running beautifully. As usual she provided the highs of the weekend - best bit of the whole weekend for me was only one mistake in a set of weaving poles, over 7 classes, and even then it was at the end of a set of 9 so my responsibility to be practicing these things. The lows surrounded my handling which never much got out of 1st gear, which is tricky when you're running around with the equivalent of a top spec Ferrari :-)
Sunday provided us with our first clear round, and the sunshine came out to celebrate it with us which was good. A 13th place in G1-7 Combined Jumping, with plenty of room for improvement - on my part that is, Ella was pretty good :-) What I did find encouraging though, was the mistakes we made are easily rectified (if you call me getting fit easily rectified!), and didn't surround problems with Ella completing the equipment correctly. I've done that part of the job pretty well, she understands her criteria on contacts and is getting there with the weaves. I watched a lot of dogs this weekend who don't, and it's understandably a source of frustration for their handlers.
So this coming weekend is Wye Valley and I'm really looking forward to it as it's such a lovely venue, with the pretty village of Monmouth just walking distance away. Plus the Pizza Express is great for dinner on Saturday night, which has become something of a tradition :-)
Today I am grateful for the Smart Clinic, without which I wouldn't have such a fit and healthy dog to compete with.
http://www.smartvetwales.co.uk/
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