Miami Trial Videos - Part 2

Even though we didn't have any Q's, I actually liked our runs on the last two days much better than the first two. I think I let myself get frustrated with the courses and with our standard runs in particular and by the third day, I had talked myself into just running and having a good time.

Saturday JWW - I'm actually pretty impressed with how we managed this course. The opening was decent and we were doing pretty good up until I stopped moving and called him off a jump - then I was behind and almost stepped on him. Then he took the (off-course) weaves twice. Didn't see that coming, especially the second time! This was probably the happiest he ran all four days though.

Saturday Standard - Without a startline stay, this opening wasn't very friendly. We had an early refusal, some knocked bars, and then Peyton decided to duck into an off-course tunnel at the very end. He seemed to be running a little (extra) high as he usually doesn't take out bars like that unless I'm in his way.

Sunday Standard - I think this was the only course all weekend that I actually liked on paper. Peyton decided to take a few extra obstacles on the opening, he had his only hop off the table all weekend, and a dropped bar on a turn I didn't cue very well. But other than that it was a fun run and he did handle some tricky parts quite well.

Sunday Open JWW - Our last run of the weekend and I think it showed! This was another tough course and Peyton seemed to have a little case of tunnel vision...he really wasn't paying much attention to me so I just ended up going along with his interpretation of the course. :)

Lessons learned from our Miaimi experience:

1. Stop worrying about where I don't want Peyton to go and instead focus on where I want to go.

2. Call-offs are no fun - Peyton doesn't like them and they make me look ridiculous.

3. There is a "happy" distance where I can effectively handle Peyton in a trial - this is much closer than where I can handle him in practice. He isn't reading my lateral motion from far away - I'm pretty sure this is due to the added stress and distractions in a trial environment. Unless I make my cues more obvious to him, he's going to take whatever is in front of him. Hopefully with more experience, he'll be more comfortable and will be able to focus on me more.

4. Figure out my verbals - In practice, I rarely use a lot of "come here" or "Peyton-Peyton-Peyton" so why do I turn into a screaming maniac at trials? If I'm not screaming, I seem to have the opposite problem - I don't say anything. Need to find a happy medium, I think.

That's our Miami trial recap! We're trialing two days this weekend so look for more videos soon. Hopefully some pictures too!