Just a quick recap this time...work has kept Kristen and I very busy!
Leaving for Blue Ridge Agility Club's AKC trial in Fletcher, we had one main goal: Get 2 Q's in Standard for our Novice title. We really wanted Harley to be in all Open classes at our hometown trial in Charlotte on July 4th weekend, and this was our last chance.
Saturday
Novice Standard - James ran this one with Harley and had some scary close jumps. Harley nearly nicked the bar on the double and final jump. In typical Harley-jumping form, she tucks her back feet in and clears the bars when she jumps too early. Some of the jumps on this run were just a little too close for comfort. Nonetheless, she was clean, and we ended up placing first & Q! (youtube)
Open JWW - Kristen had some bad luck....Harley dropped the 2nd bar in the course. Apart from that, the run was beautiful and clean.
Novice FAST - James ran for an impressive 74 points with 7 seconds to spare. We came up 1 point short of first place, but walked away with a Q and our NF title! James was kicking himself since he had plenty of time to go pick up a couple more points for first, but it's the Q that counts. (youtube)
Sunday
Novice Standard - Kristen had a flawless run, earning a 1st & Q and Harley's final Novice title, NA! (youtube)
Open JWW - This run almost started with disaster. After a 2 jump lead out, James looked back and Harley was sniffing the ground and wouldn't respond to her release command! I walked back trying to get her attention, and suddenly as I neared the first jump, she started to go! Although it wasn't as smooth as planned, the run was clean, and Harley earned another 1st & Q.
Open FAST - Kristen showed superior planning, racking up 78 points for a 1st & Q in our first Open FAST run! This beat her previous personal best of 77 points, and continues our 100% Q-Rate in FAST. (youtube)
For convenience, I created a youtube playlist with our runs from the weekend. The lighting in the outdoor ring was too much for the camcorder to handle, so I only posted video from our indoor runs.
Titling Progress:
Novice Standard (NA) - 3/3 legs ** New Title!
Novice FAST (NF) - 3/3 legs ** New Title!
Open JWW (OAJ) - 1/3 legs
Open FAST (OF) - 1/3 legs
Showing posts with label fletcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fletcher. Show all posts
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Fletcher USDAA, Dock Diving, and a new family member
April/May is rapidly becoming a very busy time! The last two weekends we have been out at trials, and have 2 more this month.
April 24-25 was the USDAA trial in Fletcher, NC hosted by the Blue Ridge Agility Club (BRAC). They have now moved the USDAA trial to the indoor arena at the Western NC Agricultural Center, which we could not be happier about. The covered arena was better than no arena, but I really disliked the footing in that arena. It was hard, and had too many rocks. The indoor arena has a little softer footing, but not like running in sand, and rocks aren't as much of a problem.
Harley's performance was...well...a little subpar for us. We got blanked for Q's on Saturday, mostly due to contact issues. For some reason, Harley decided that the dog walk and a-frame down contacts weren't required! Still, we had fun, and placed 3rd in two of the classes. We nearly had a Q in Pairs, but our partner eliminated on a wrong course. We don't hold anything against them for it, as that is the inherent challenge of being paired with a stranger. I really like pairs, as you get to meet a fellow competitor that you might not have gotten to know otherwise. The point of pairs is to have fun with your partner, and Q's are a nice topping. Harley did an accommodating run with another dog and Q'd with them (An accommodating run is where a dog does not have a partner, so a dog from another pair will run with them. The accommodating dog does not get credit for the Q, and cannot run the same half of the course they already ran). So technically we did Q on Saturday, but don't get the credit for it :-) Our Snooker run was looking dead on....until Harley knocked the #2 jump in the closing sequence. We needed to get through #4 to Q.
Sunday started out as a continuation of Saturday. More contact issues in Standard. Finally we got some Q's at the end of the day. Harley had a decent Snooker run with some fast thinking for James since Harley took an incorrect obstacle. Also, during the weaves, Air Force 1 took off from the adjacent airport, which made Harley pop out of her weaves due to the noise! We adjusted, however, and ended up with 40 points (need 37 to Q). Last of the day was Jumpers, which is always Harley's best event. She was visibly slower (last run of a two day trial), but still managed an easy Q.
Fast forward to this past weekend, and we attended our first Dock Dogs trial! Hosted by Carolina Dock Dogs in Sanford, NC, this trial was close and convenient. Unfortunately, Harley broke one of her nails off the day before! We bandaged it up, put some silver nitrate on it to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, it didn't seem to bother her at all, and we decided to see how it went. If it had been an agility trial, we probably would've scratched, but dock diving is must less strenuous on the feet.
Also, we decided to enter Mo in the event, just to see how it went....We only entered him in wave 1. For each wave, you get 2 jumps, and the longest jump is your score. We haven't had a lot of time to work with Mo at the lake like we did with Harley, so he wasn't exactly excited about jumping. We got him to jump in the practice round, but he decided that he just wasn't going to jump when judged. Oh well. Despite his efforts, Mo managed to get his picture in Sunday's Sanford Herald!
Harley had 3 waves on Saturday. Harley jumped a personal best of 21'9" with Kristen in Wave 2! We decided to scratch on Wave 3, since we were worried about her foot.
Sunday was the last 2 waves, and then the finals afterwards. Harley jumped very well, and we ended up in the "Masters" division. Your longest jump places you in a division, and the top 6 dogs in each division compete in the finals. The Masters division is for a longest jump of 20' to 22'11". Harley did pretty well, and ended up placing 4th in the finals.
Coming up this weekend is our 2nd AKC trial in Pendleton, SC!
We would also like to welcome the latest addition to the Davis family - James' sister, Anne, delivered her first child, Quinn Carolina Francis, on May 4th at 11:09 AM. Congratulations! We'll be driving down there soon to see our new niece :-)
April 24-25 was the USDAA trial in Fletcher, NC hosted by the Blue Ridge Agility Club (BRAC). They have now moved the USDAA trial to the indoor arena at the Western NC Agricultural Center, which we could not be happier about. The covered arena was better than no arena, but I really disliked the footing in that arena. It was hard, and had too many rocks. The indoor arena has a little softer footing, but not like running in sand, and rocks aren't as much of a problem.
Harley's performance was...well...a little subpar for us. We got blanked for Q's on Saturday, mostly due to contact issues. For some reason, Harley decided that the dog walk and a-frame down contacts weren't required! Still, we had fun, and placed 3rd in two of the classes. We nearly had a Q in Pairs, but our partner eliminated on a wrong course. We don't hold anything against them for it, as that is the inherent challenge of being paired with a stranger. I really like pairs, as you get to meet a fellow competitor that you might not have gotten to know otherwise. The point of pairs is to have fun with your partner, and Q's are a nice topping. Harley did an accommodating run with another dog and Q'd with them (An accommodating run is where a dog does not have a partner, so a dog from another pair will run with them. The accommodating dog does not get credit for the Q, and cannot run the same half of the course they already ran). So technically we did Q on Saturday, but don't get the credit for it :-) Our Snooker run was looking dead on....until Harley knocked the #2 jump in the closing sequence. We needed to get through #4 to Q.
Sunday started out as a continuation of Saturday. More contact issues in Standard. Finally we got some Q's at the end of the day. Harley had a decent Snooker run with some fast thinking for James since Harley took an incorrect obstacle. Also, during the weaves, Air Force 1 took off from the adjacent airport, which made Harley pop out of her weaves due to the noise! We adjusted, however, and ended up with 40 points (need 37 to Q). Last of the day was Jumpers, which is always Harley's best event. She was visibly slower (last run of a two day trial), but still managed an easy Q.
Fast forward to this past weekend, and we attended our first Dock Dogs trial! Hosted by Carolina Dock Dogs in Sanford, NC, this trial was close and convenient. Unfortunately, Harley broke one of her nails off the day before! We bandaged it up, put some silver nitrate on it to stop the bleeding. Fortunately, it didn't seem to bother her at all, and we decided to see how it went. If it had been an agility trial, we probably would've scratched, but dock diving is must less strenuous on the feet.
Also, we decided to enter Mo in the event, just to see how it went....We only entered him in wave 1. For each wave, you get 2 jumps, and the longest jump is your score. We haven't had a lot of time to work with Mo at the lake like we did with Harley, so he wasn't exactly excited about jumping. We got him to jump in the practice round, but he decided that he just wasn't going to jump when judged. Oh well. Despite his efforts, Mo managed to get his picture in Sunday's Sanford Herald!
Harley had 3 waves on Saturday. Harley jumped a personal best of 21'9" with Kristen in Wave 2! We decided to scratch on Wave 3, since we were worried about her foot.
Sunday was the last 2 waves, and then the finals afterwards. Harley jumped very well, and we ended up in the "Masters" division. Your longest jump places you in a division, and the top 6 dogs in each division compete in the finals. The Masters division is for a longest jump of 20' to 22'11". Harley did pretty well, and ended up placing 4th in the finals.
Coming up this weekend is our 2nd AKC trial in Pendleton, SC!
We would also like to welcome the latest addition to the Davis family - James' sister, Anne, delivered her first child, Quinn Carolina Francis, on May 4th at 11:09 AM. Congratulations! We'll be driving down there soon to see our new niece :-)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Fletcher: Trialing in the Mountain Snow
This weekend's trial in Fletcher started out with frustration. A snow storm descended upon western NC on Friday night as we were traveling. What would normally be a 2 1/2 hour drive turned out to be much, much longer.
The roads were bad, but passable within a safe speed. We were doing well until 3 miles from I-26 we were stopped due to a tractor-trailer accident. After an hour and a half wait, we got going slowly and decided to re-route off the highway to get to I-26 where I was convinced that since it was an interstate, the roads would've been pre-salted and possibly plowed once or twice.
I was wrong. Not long after getting on I-26, we got behind another accident approaching the gorge near Saluda. This time we had 2 hours to entertain ourselves. We found out that another tractor trailer had jack-knifed across the interstate.
After getting going again, things were looking good. People were starting to realize how to drive in the snow, and as a result, traffic was relatively smooth considering the conditions. Then came the THIRD stoppage. This time we were TWO MILES from our exit, and it was 1:45 AM. After about 2 hours, I got out and started talking with other people. Turns out that there was another tractor-trailer jack-knife, and that the police had now closed the interstate until it was all cleared, and they could plow everything. Hour after hour passed. Finally at 5:30AM we started moving. 10 minutes later we were at the exit.
We pulled off, and much to our displeasure, the exit was blocked. Two tractor-trailers had attempted to go up the exit ramp, and subsequently got stuck. (Are you noticing a theme here?) After waiting about 20 minutes to see if anything was going to happen, we turned around on the ramp and got back on the interstate hoping that the next exit was free. As we went through the underpass, we noticed the exit ramp was free. Having been driving for just under 11 hours, laws be damned, we went up the exit ramp backwards.
When we finally checked in to the hotel, it was 6:20AM. The trial check-in starts at 7. So we slept for 40 minutes and headed over to the site. Upon arriving we found out that the trial start had been delayed for 2 hours due to weather. So we had to sit around for another 2 hours.
Once things finally got started, we started having fun. Saturday we were entered in PII Standard, PIII Snooker, Performance Speed Jumping, PIII Pairs and PIII Gamblers. Snooker was short and not-so-sweet. We got eliminated on our first set of obstacles. Our pairs run was clean, earning a 2nd Place & Qualifying. Unfortunately, we already have a Q in PIII with the pair we ran with, so it won't count towards our PIII title (it can apply to other titles down the road). Harley did well in Gamblers, but came up short on the closing gamble. Our Standard run was excellent, earning a 2nd & Qualifying, which means we only have 1 Q left before getting our standard title! A fault on her Speed Jumping run left us out of the running for round 2.
Sunday started earlier than Saturday despite being slightly delayed due to the icy road conditions. We had 3 runs, none for Q's. Another good Gamblers run, but still came up short on the gamble (need to do more distance practice!). Harley faulted her weave entrance in her Standard run, and proceeded to do the same in Performance Grand Prix (in addition to an off course that was totally my fault). Having only 3 runs, we left for home early. Thankfully the trip home took the usual 2 1/2 hours.
Reflecting, we learned a few lessons and what to work on. While we didn't perform as well as we hoped, it was the best we could do considering the lack of sleep and conditions. We're planning on attending CPA's trial this January in Raleigh, so we'll see if we can get our weave poll issues and distance work improved by then!
Lastly, Harley, Slo-Mo, Jazzmine, India, Shai, Bruno, Pepe and their 2 two-legged friends would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!
Summarized Results:
Saturday
- PII Standard - 2nd and Q
- PIII Pairs - 2nd and Q
- PIII Gamblers - Did not place
- Perfomance Speed Jumping - Did not place
- PIII Snooker - Eliminated
Sunday
- PII Standard - Did not place
- PIII Gamblers - Did not place
- Performance Grand Prix - Eliminated
The roads were bad, but passable within a safe speed. We were doing well until 3 miles from I-26 we were stopped due to a tractor-trailer accident. After an hour and a half wait, we got going slowly and decided to re-route off the highway to get to I-26 where I was convinced that since it was an interstate, the roads would've been pre-salted and possibly plowed once or twice.
I was wrong. Not long after getting on I-26, we got behind another accident approaching the gorge near Saluda. This time we had 2 hours to entertain ourselves. We found out that another tractor trailer had jack-knifed across the interstate.
After getting going again, things were looking good. People were starting to realize how to drive in the snow, and as a result, traffic was relatively smooth considering the conditions. Then came the THIRD stoppage. This time we were TWO MILES from our exit, and it was 1:45 AM. After about 2 hours, I got out and started talking with other people. Turns out that there was another tractor-trailer jack-knife, and that the police had now closed the interstate until it was all cleared, and they could plow everything. Hour after hour passed. Finally at 5:30AM we started moving. 10 minutes later we were at the exit.
We pulled off, and much to our displeasure, the exit was blocked. Two tractor-trailers had attempted to go up the exit ramp, and subsequently got stuck. (Are you noticing a theme here?) After waiting about 20 minutes to see if anything was going to happen, we turned around on the ramp and got back on the interstate hoping that the next exit was free. As we went through the underpass, we noticed the exit ramp was free. Having been driving for just under 11 hours, laws be damned, we went up the exit ramp backwards.
When we finally checked in to the hotel, it was 6:20AM. The trial check-in starts at 7. So we slept for 40 minutes and headed over to the site. Upon arriving we found out that the trial start had been delayed for 2 hours due to weather. So we had to sit around for another 2 hours.
Once things finally got started, we started having fun. Saturday we were entered in PII Standard, PIII Snooker, Performance Speed Jumping, PIII Pairs and PIII Gamblers. Snooker was short and not-so-sweet. We got eliminated on our first set of obstacles. Our pairs run was clean, earning a 2nd Place & Qualifying. Unfortunately, we already have a Q in PIII with the pair we ran with, so it won't count towards our PIII title (it can apply to other titles down the road). Harley did well in Gamblers, but came up short on the closing gamble. Our Standard run was excellent, earning a 2nd & Qualifying, which means we only have 1 Q left before getting our standard title! A fault on her Speed Jumping run left us out of the running for round 2.
Sunday started earlier than Saturday despite being slightly delayed due to the icy road conditions. We had 3 runs, none for Q's. Another good Gamblers run, but still came up short on the gamble (need to do more distance practice!). Harley faulted her weave entrance in her Standard run, and proceeded to do the same in Performance Grand Prix (in addition to an off course that was totally my fault). Having only 3 runs, we left for home early. Thankfully the trip home took the usual 2 1/2 hours.
Reflecting, we learned a few lessons and what to work on. While we didn't perform as well as we hoped, it was the best we could do considering the lack of sleep and conditions. We're planning on attending CPA's trial this January in Raleigh, so we'll see if we can get our weave poll issues and distance work improved by then!
Lastly, Harley, Slo-Mo, Jazzmine, India, Shai, Bruno, Pepe and their 2 two-legged friends would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!
Summarized Results:
Saturday
- PII Standard - 2nd and Q
- PIII Pairs - 2nd and Q
- PIII Gamblers - Did not place
- Perfomance Speed Jumping - Did not place
- PIII Snooker - Eliminated
Sunday
- PII Standard - Did not place
- PIII Gamblers - Did not place
- Performance Grand Prix - Eliminated
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
This Weekend: Fletcher
This weekend, we are headed off to one of our favorite places to trial: Fletcher, NC! The Blue Ridge Agility Club always knows how to put on a good trial, and we're hoping to continue the success we had at their trial last May (1st place in Performance Grand Prix that gave us our first round bye at SE Regionals, which lead to our qualifying for Nationals).
This will be the first time we've competed at the indoor arena at the Western NC Ag Center. Given the cold temperatures expected this weekend, it will certainly be nice to be indoors. Our trainer, Deb, will also be making the trip with her dog Ike, so we can bug her with our obsessive handling analyses instead of always bothering Susette. :-)
In other news: Carolina Piedmont Agility just announced some of their future trial dates for USDAA and AKC. In addition to the January USDAA trial in Raleigh, they will be hosting TWO AKC trials in Charlotte at the Charlotte Sports Center. Both trials are after April, when the new Mixed Breed classes can be offered, and it's been confirmed that they will be holding Mixed Breed classes. The Charlotte Sports Center is a great venue, and has a great indoor playing surface. I should know - I played indoor soccer there for many years in high school & college. It's great to see more trials in the popping up in the Charlotte area!
Wish us luck this weekend!
This will be the first time we've competed at the indoor arena at the Western NC Ag Center. Given the cold temperatures expected this weekend, it will certainly be nice to be indoors. Our trainer, Deb, will also be making the trip with her dog Ike, so we can bug her with our obsessive handling analyses instead of always bothering Susette. :-)
In other news: Carolina Piedmont Agility just announced some of their future trial dates for USDAA and AKC. In addition to the January USDAA trial in Raleigh, they will be hosting TWO AKC trials in Charlotte at the Charlotte Sports Center. Both trials are after April, when the new Mixed Breed classes can be offered, and it's been confirmed that they will be holding Mixed Breed classes. The Charlotte Sports Center is a great venue, and has a great indoor playing surface. I should know - I played indoor soccer there for many years in high school & college. It's great to see more trials in the popping up in the Charlotte area!
Wish us luck this weekend!
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