Yeah, I'm still amazed. But then again, steeplechase is kind of becoming his specialty. The second place dog, Aidan with my friend Lori, was one of Kraft's team mates for the event. In the semi-final round, Aidan knocked a bar and Kraft had so many snafus that we wasted at least 6 seconds. We both eked into finals by the skin of our teeth. We joked that we were planning to come from behind. And we did! Well, the BC that came in third is ridiculously fast. I saw her run and saw she was three seconds ahead of me. I was all ready to take my second place, until someone congratulated me and told me that Rivet had knocked a bar I didn't see. Which hey, that's how it goes sometimes right? She'll beat us 9 out of 10 times, but this one time was Kraft's turn at the top.
I couldn't have planned the whole weekend any better. This trial is what my confidence needed. We made mistakes, I let them go. One of my favorite runs was MC standard. We had run jumpers without E'ing but with 10 faults. With the group rotations, I knew we basically only needed to not E to get a podium spot and standard was a much easier course to get through than jumpers. It did have a tough line off of the dog walk and I knew he might miss the contact (which he did, but the judge didn't actually call it) and lots of dogs were going off course two jumps after the dog walk. Unfortunately with a poorly timed rear cross, he also became one of those dogs. I had a split second where I thought, "oh crap" and then managed to brush it off, not get mad and finished the run in the same headspace that I started the run in. I love that the video shows my smile at the end. I was pleased with the run despite my disappointment. This weekend I think I grasped the notion that those things do not have to be mutually exclusive: thoroughly enjoying the run and being disappointed with the outcome. It happened several times actually and was what I really needed.
And here's the highlights video.
End tally: we Q'd in team thanks to some really steady team mates and had a killer relay run placing 8th out of 38 teams in the relay portion, 11th out of 40+ teams overall (many did not stay for relay because it ran so late). Didn't need a team Q, but it was fun and we actually decided to keep the same team for Cynosports (I decided to go for sure after how well we did the first day of regionals). No biathlon Q, but since we didn't have any Q's towards nationals and no plans to do USDAA again before the season is over, that one didn't matter much. Got another GP Q in round 1 with second place on that one, which he needed for nationals. Did E in finals on another tough line off the dog walk. And of course the culmination with his steeplechase win. The girls ran too. Spy got the team Q she needed to run at nationals in that. Also placed 11th overall. And she and a BC who ran in our group kept having a little love affair before all their runs, so we decided to pair them up for nationals. She got the last MC jumpers leg she needed, wound up missing out on her podium shot because I didn't realize if you E'd in one round you could still place. Got it confused with UKI rules. E'd in GP finals by going under the tire which messed up my line after I put her back through. That was the second tire she went under over the weekend, the first was her E in MC standard, which, because it was the last obstacle, is an automatic E. I was a little bitter about that rule, which is why I didn't stay for the awards since it meant she didn't get one (or so I thought). Didn't run her in steeplechase since she didn't have a Q going in and I didn't want to do another run Friday to try to qualify her. So no steeplechase for her at nationals, but three events is plenty. Marron was in GP and steeplechase, needed Q's in both for nationals. So she ran GP round 1 even though she had a bye for round 2, I don't remember what she did but she didn't Q, so no Cynosports for her, unless I decide to do veterans with her, which I might.
So now there's Tennessee to look forward to. It will be nice since I think lots of my old agility friends from when I was in vet school will be going since it's so close to them.
Nice job!!! Congrats on your weekend!
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