Nationals Wrap Up

Whew, my first USDAA nationals (or of any sort really!) since 1999 is done. It was long, but I had a *great* time. This is the post that will detail my runs, my thoughts on the whole thing to follow in another post!

It's only about a 3.5 hr drive for us, which was of course fantastic. We arrived on Monday evening bc we made our hotel reservations eons ago and didn't know they'd be starting so late in the day on Tuesday, or else we probably would have just driven down Tues morning. But it ended up being very nice, we slept in some on Tuesday and then went to Bob Evans before heading to the site. Our crating space was perfect, it was close to the big garage door entrance on the wall - so our dogs had a wall behind them, and in the afternoon when it was sunny the light streaming in the windows did not hit them.

We got checked in, and ready to walk at 3pm. Or.... not :) For whatever reasons that was delayed quite a bit. But, we ran European Standard, and E'd. Panic ran off the DW into the tunnel, which was not correct. Oh well, she was moving quite fast and had some killer poles. Also, I was a nervous WRECK. I really didn't expect to be nervous, but when I went to the start line, I was shaking all over. Could barely get Panic's leash off! I felt like I was in the obedience ring with Dexter again (an experience I really never wanted to repeat!). So I was handling kind of goofy (Andy told me I looked pretty ridiculous).

Ok so *that's* over with. Now move on and forget about the nerves!

Wednesday was Team Gamblers. Our section ran first, and Panic was 15th in. We did OK - I wasn't very nervous and practiced my deep breathing before I ran which really helped! She did get called on one AF contact, but got her 2nd one. I wasn't exactly where I had planned to be for the close, so I didn't execute my original closing plan. I wish I had, I'm sure I still would have had enough time, but since we were so early in the day I hadn't gotten to watch enough dogs to get a feel for it yet. So we ended up with only 35 points, which was not great but at least we got points. And most importantly I conquered my nerves.

Thursday was Team Standard & Steeple Quarters. I ran standard first. I thought it would be a great course for Panic. UNfortunately, she went off course after jump #3! I am really not sure why - I guess from the vid my shoulders were SLIGHTLY open as she went over jump #3 and she assumed she was supposed to take the backside of this other jump. Weird since we don't often practice that skill! BUT I will say, the rest of her run was quite lovely, so I certainly didn't want the E for my team, but I was happy the rest went well. Steeplechase - she skipped jump #4 and then went off course. I have NO CLUE why this happened, still can't figure it out from watching the tape. I was moving laterally away from the jump but cued it, maybe I didn't give a verbal, not sure.

Friday was Team Snooker. I planned to do 5-4-7-7 in the opening. She did this BEAUTIFULLY. I was really happy with the opening. In the close we took #2 going the "hard" way, which meant I had to wrap her between the tunnel/AF to get to #3. I was 95% sure she could do this. Well, the 5% prevailed! So we only got through #2 in the close :(

Saturday was Team Jumpers. I did something goofy at the beginning and almost got a refusal, but saved it and she was clean. Not super fast, but clean. I was pretty happy with this.

Sunday was Rekoons. It took me several times in the walkthrough realizing I was not following the rules before I finally "got it". She held her stay at the start, and ran beautifully. I was THRILLED with this run, nice to end the weekend on a good note :) She placed 8th, and got a ribbon!!!