More new titles for Summit and a few videos

It was a fun-filled exhausting three days in Fountain, Colorado for USDAA. I drove up Thursday night after work and spent the night at a friend's house in Colorado Springs (Fountain is 15 min. South of the Springs). Friday was DAM team only. Summit had nice runs but dropped a bar in the first three classes (Team Snooker, Standard, and Jumpers). I was a little concerned and planned to take him to his chiropractor to get adjusted before Nationals. The last two classes (Team Gamblers and Relay), he did not drop any bars. Our team won the relay and we ended up 4th place overall (cutoff line for qualifying was at 13 teams).

Saturday was titling classes and GP and Steeplechase. Summit had a nice Standard run and placed 2nd which was the last leg he needed for his championship (SACH). He also took a tumble off the teeter which I never saw as I was already moving away towards the next obstacle. In Gamblers we had a nice opening and I got to proof several a-frames but the Gamble was not something we would be able to do so we left after the buzzer went off. Next was Steeplechase and I pulled him off of the tunnel at the beginning and he went up the aframe (elimination) but the rest of his run was nice. Grand Prix we placed 4th (holding dogwalk contact), Jumpers... again I pulled him off an obstacle at the beginning by not supporting the second jump long enough but the rest of the run was nice. Then we had Snooker at the end of the day. Now that there is no pressure for those Super Q's, I've decided I quite like playing Snooker. So I planned a nice flowing course that would give us a Q (remember, I don't care about SQ's anymore). We did a 5combo, 7combo, 6combo, 5combo and then finished the closing. I liked this plan also because I got to practice threadles. Well wouldn't you know, that was 4th place and a SQ!!! ... go figure. It was also the last Snooker Q for his Snooker Championship title (SCH).
Anyway, not a single bar dropped on Saturday.

Sunday Summit Q'd in Standard (4th place), Jumpers (6th place), and Gamblers (1st place) and earned his GCH, and in Snooker, we never made it to the first red (I recalled through the other end of the course and he took a jump on the way to me. Again, no bars on Sunday.

I can't believe we are leaving for Nationals on Monday. We have a three day AKC trial Friday-Sunday and I almost cancelled our entry but then decided it would be good to get some practice on dirt before Nationals. So this week will be very busy getting things organized and packed up for Nationals. Sage will not be going since I did not even try and qualify her this year. Soleil will be accompanying us to Kentucky. This will be her first BIG event. I will try and get pictures taken of her this week to post before we leave. She has grown so much and her coat is changing. She also lost a couple of teeth. She looks like a lean leggy racehorse and she runs like one too. She is one fast girlie!

Saturday's standard run. 2nd place and championship title. Yikes! I didn't get to watch this until Monday. I can't believe he was able to recover enough to clear the jump bar. He saw the Chiropractor on Monday and got adjusted. His right hip and neck were out of alignment. But he's good to go now.




Steeplechase. Bummer about the tunnel. I just did not go in far enough and moved laterally way too soon.



Grand Prix. 4th place. Wide turn at the end of the chute. All of the fast dogs had a wide turn here. It was difficult to get up there to cue the FC. The offset angle of the jump made a RC not ideal.



Sunday Standard - 4th place. We lost time going from the chute to the tunnel. I got behind him and panicked and called his name (too strongly) while he was in the chute to avoid the wrong end of the tunnel which he really wasn't headed for anyway and he came into me too closely and I had to push him back out again. Can't see it as the a-frame is in the way.



Sunday Gamblers - 1st place and championship title