Every Trial's Progress with LaMesa--Greater Louisville Training Club

There are times that I don't think I see much progress with LaMesa and agility trials, but then there are times that I see a lot. We're coming so close to being a solid team.

At the Greater Louisville Training Club's Kentuckiana Cluster, I felt like we were finally gelling, which is surprising since we hadn't trialed since November and not trained very consistently over the winter.

Our first run was Masters Jumpers 8" Regular, and I was so happy when she nailed the weaves perfectly the first time. Then a mistimed blind cross might have cost her her rhythm to knock a bar, but she handled the push so well when I realized my mistake. But everything felt solid.



Then Standard came and she kept the bars up, but she misread my moves for the wrap and she pulled off the jump. Oh well...she was again solid on her weave poles!!



Sunday's runs I was just wanting some clean runs--no dropped bars, no miscues. Well, we got the "no dropped bars" part down! And again another day of solid weave poles! The Jumpers run had one oddly-placed jump that seemed like it was a good idea to either blind or front cross. I performed a front cross with Gus (that post to come if you're asking "Who's Gus?"), but I had enough time to do a blind with LaMesa. Poor decision. I didn't get deep enough in the jump to cue her on the blind. That was my fault. But the second pull off was her fault...I believe (if I'm wrong, please correct me). But, again, clean weave poles!



And, finally...we finally got a Q in Masters Standard!! That makes for our 3rd Masters leg! We ended up in third place in a class of like 35, with some stiff competition. Her run earned her 28 MACH points, and we probably could have been faster. I tend to be more conservative in Standard with LaMesa because I need her to stay focused on the task at hand. At the table I wait until the judge says "Go" before I take a deep breath and the cue her for the next obstacle. When the second the last jump was a panel jump and I saw it move when she jumped, I almost had my heart in my throat. But, she was clean! (I don't have the video, unfortunately.)

So we're getting there...slowly but surely, we're getting there (which is the only thing she's slow about, haha). We're becoming a team!

Here's the wrap-up from Dally's weekend.