Well, I'm still not ready to go through our videos from Regionals last weekend. I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready! And I doubt I'll ever share them, either!
I already posted on Facebook, but for those who didn't see, we had the worst weekend we've ever had. I was so disappointed. I would be lying if I said there weren't tears involved as the weekend unfolded. It wasn't that we didn't win, or place, or qualify. It was that we are WAY better than what we showed. We just chose the worst weekend to have the worst weekend.
My frustration and disappointment was compounded because the trial was poorly run, and some of our runs were eliminated due to time (because our team was out of the running for placement). And also because of time, as soon as you took an off course, you had to leave the ring. Multiple times over the course of the weekend we were eliminated in the first few obstacles. So I couldn't even focus on the positive. Usually after an off course you have the opportunity to run the rest of the course--and sometimes those are even the best runs because you aren't worried anymore, you're just running and trying new things. But, we were whistled and had to leave. So the only thing on my mind were mistakes.
On the positive side, my girl is healthy and happy. I always go back to this, but after we found out about her patellas I didn't know if we would get to play together again. And I didn't know if she'd be able to trial, or hold up during a long weekend. But she did--like a champ. She was raring to go on every run, and had a blast doing it (even when I didn't!)
The positives from the weekend were few and far between, but on the first day we did really well.
Masters Gamblers:
The atmosphere was busy, loud, and crowded. But my crazy baby girl held every single one of her contacts until I released her.
Masters Jumpers:
So proud of this run. Lexi won the class across all 16" dogs--and many, many dogs were eliminated. Check her awesome back side of the jump before the tunnel. Good girlie!
Im so sorry it was like that. Man, I hope they dont whistle us off the course at our regionals in June. uhg. Its ok to feel bad. It doesnt mean your dog isnt great or you are a bad handler. You probably didnt get to see the WAO stuff but there were great teams, that Ive seen run a lot and things just went poorly.
ReplyDeleteOMG, she was moving in that Jumpers! Too bad they whistle you off for an off-course.
ReplyDeleteOur AAC Regionals judge differently than a regular trial and an off-course isn't an elimination but 20 faults. Faults are deducted from a possible 100 points for the Std and 75 points for the Jumpers; in the Gamble you get your opening points plus 35 if you get the main gamble. You need 350 points to qualify over the 6 events (two of each) So we get to do our whole run even if you have an off-course, so much more satisfying.
Maybe with time, the positives will outweigh the negative in your mind :-)
The runs you shared looked pretty good! Sorry you had such a tough weekend, we too had a frustrating weekend at the LCDA night time show. Rusty wasn't his normal happy self and we really didn't run as a team. Just try to forget about this set back and move on, you guys are an awesome team!
ReplyDeleteLooked Like a terrific run to me :)
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