We had a great time in Westbrook for the SCAT trial yesterday. The drive was longer than I prefer (it took about 2 hours 15 minutes on the way there, and then over 3 on the way back thanks to traffic), but the facility was very nice. It was a large indoor horse arena with a few entrances for the dogs and a fair amount of space around the two agility rings. The dirt footing was nice although a little hard, and I slipped at one point. The best thing, though, was that there was a nice sort of alley between two wings of the barn where they set up the practice jump. It felt enclosed and private yet spacious. It's the best warm up area I've seen at any trial.
I had signed up to volunteer, and when I arrived I gulped when I saw that I was signed up for Assistant Scribe and Course Builder. I've never assistant scribed before, so I was a little wary. It turned out not to be bad--I just put the scribe sheets in order and handed the appropriate one to the scribe. I guess it just felt a little demoralizing. I thought the scribe could have done my job too. She made me feel like I was just getting in the way. Oh well. As for course building, I'm happy moving things around, but I needed help knowing what to do! First off, Jonah was the third to last dog in the class before my course building assignment, so by the time I got him back to the car and settled I was already late for my job. Oops. Then when I got there, the chief course builder looked so frazzled that he didn't know what to have me to. I found a few jobs here and there (I helped move the teeter, got bags for the tunnels, removed a jump), but generally I just felt in the way. I should have brought my course map to at least know generally what was going where, but I'd been in such a rush to get there that I hadn't thought of it. Oh well. The perk of working, though, was that I got a really delicious bacon cheeseburger with my worker money :).
Round 1: Jackpot Level 3
We finally did it! It was an interesting Jackpot. All levels did the same course. There was no 'line' to handle behind, but it was scored as a traditional jackpot: 2-4-6-8. The 2 was a curved tunnel, 4 was a combination of two jumps in a row, then 6 was a 180 degree turn to a straight tunnel, and 8 was the table which required another 180 degree turn back the other direction. It wasn't too difficult, but some dogs dropped bars and some took an off-course jump between the jump and tunnel or tunnel and table. Anyway, we had a really nice opening with good A-frame contacts. The one messy spot was that, after the A-frame, Jonah was driving towards a tunnel and I wanted him to turn to a jump. I called him out but I called a little too hard and he lost momentum. My bad--I should have just let him do the tunnel. When the whistle blew we headed to the closing and it flowed very well. I didn't pull the turn from the jump to the tunnel too tight because I wanted to do everything I could to make the bar to stay up, and I knew we'd be fine for time. We were, and we got our first Level 3 jackpot Q and a pretty blue ribbon, too.
Round 2: Snooker Level 4
This was a bit of a mess because the briefing and walk-thru had been while I was working in the other ring. They said they would do a second, but if it ever happened I didn't notice (and I was never out of the ring for more than 5 minutes). Anyway, it's always a little disconcerting to run a course you haven't walked. Luckily I did get to watch a bunch of dogs go, and what I saw changed my plan. We went for 51 points. The 7 obstacle was the weaves. Some of the entries were tricky, but I thought Jonah would get them fine. He actually missed 2 out of the 4 attempts at the weaves, which is rather unlike him. The missed entries made me worried we'd run out of time, so my handling got a little frantic, but we got through the weaves in the closing and to the table before the whistle ever blew, so we were fine. Woo! Our second 51 point snooker! Crazily enough, though, that was only good enough for 3rd place! We were only 1.5 seconds out of first place, and I know if he'd gotten his entries he would have been fast enough for first. Kudos to the other two people who went for it!
Round 3: Fullhouse Level 4
I actually got to walk this course, which was very good, because I had a plan from looking at the map and once I got out there I realized one of the lines was nearly impossible and not worth the risk. I was able to create a new plan that had a few more wraps and back-and-forths than I would have preferred, but it worked well. Jonah was a very good boy and cruised around happily. He had another very pretty A-frame contact, too. We had 39 points (I think?), which was good for a Q and 1st.
It was a very nice day. I'd definitely go back if they had more full Friday trials there. They have one in December, but they're only running one class on Friday and it's not worth the drive for me. Maybe next year.
I had signed up to volunteer, and when I arrived I gulped when I saw that I was signed up for Assistant Scribe and Course Builder. I've never assistant scribed before, so I was a little wary. It turned out not to be bad--I just put the scribe sheets in order and handed the appropriate one to the scribe. I guess it just felt a little demoralizing. I thought the scribe could have done my job too. She made me feel like I was just getting in the way. Oh well. As for course building, I'm happy moving things around, but I needed help knowing what to do! First off, Jonah was the third to last dog in the class before my course building assignment, so by the time I got him back to the car and settled I was already late for my job. Oops. Then when I got there, the chief course builder looked so frazzled that he didn't know what to have me to. I found a few jobs here and there (I helped move the teeter, got bags for the tunnels, removed a jump), but generally I just felt in the way. I should have brought my course map to at least know generally what was going where, but I'd been in such a rush to get there that I hadn't thought of it. Oh well. The perk of working, though, was that I got a really delicious bacon cheeseburger with my worker money :).
Round 1: Jackpot Level 3
We finally did it! It was an interesting Jackpot. All levels did the same course. There was no 'line' to handle behind, but it was scored as a traditional jackpot: 2-4-6-8. The 2 was a curved tunnel, 4 was a combination of two jumps in a row, then 6 was a 180 degree turn to a straight tunnel, and 8 was the table which required another 180 degree turn back the other direction. It wasn't too difficult, but some dogs dropped bars and some took an off-course jump between the jump and tunnel or tunnel and table. Anyway, we had a really nice opening with good A-frame contacts. The one messy spot was that, after the A-frame, Jonah was driving towards a tunnel and I wanted him to turn to a jump. I called him out but I called a little too hard and he lost momentum. My bad--I should have just let him do the tunnel. When the whistle blew we headed to the closing and it flowed very well. I didn't pull the turn from the jump to the tunnel too tight because I wanted to do everything I could to make the bar to stay up, and I knew we'd be fine for time. We were, and we got our first Level 3 jackpot Q and a pretty blue ribbon, too.
Round 2: Snooker Level 4
This was a bit of a mess because the briefing and walk-thru had been while I was working in the other ring. They said they would do a second, but if it ever happened I didn't notice (and I was never out of the ring for more than 5 minutes). Anyway, it's always a little disconcerting to run a course you haven't walked. Luckily I did get to watch a bunch of dogs go, and what I saw changed my plan. We went for 51 points. The 7 obstacle was the weaves. Some of the entries were tricky, but I thought Jonah would get them fine. He actually missed 2 out of the 4 attempts at the weaves, which is rather unlike him. The missed entries made me worried we'd run out of time, so my handling got a little frantic, but we got through the weaves in the closing and to the table before the whistle ever blew, so we were fine. Woo! Our second 51 point snooker! Crazily enough, though, that was only good enough for 3rd place! We were only 1.5 seconds out of first place, and I know if he'd gotten his entries he would have been fast enough for first. Kudos to the other two people who went for it!
Round 3: Fullhouse Level 4
I actually got to walk this course, which was very good, because I had a plan from looking at the map and once I got out there I realized one of the lines was nearly impossible and not worth the risk. I was able to create a new plan that had a few more wraps and back-and-forths than I would have preferred, but it worked well. Jonah was a very good boy and cruised around happily. He had another very pretty A-frame contact, too. We had 39 points (I think?), which was good for a Q and 1st.
It was a very nice day. I'd definitely go back if they had more full Friday trials there. They have one in December, but they're only running one class on Friday and it's not worth the drive for me. Maybe next year.
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