Second good news...Peyton was awesome! We started with Excellent Standard and probably had the nicest run we've ever had in a trial to date. No, we didn't Q - but we did have a really great run on a challenging course. Peyton was super focused, his contacts were perfect, his table was lovely and had I been just a tad bit more timely with my cues, he wouldn't have taken the tunnel on the a-frame/tunnel discrimination mid-course. It was a lot of fun and so smooth...everything I could want from a trial run at this point. Unfortunately, no video - darn!
Next was Open JWW and seriously, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF OPEN. As much as I enjoy the short day that comes when Excellent Standard and Open Jumpers run at the same time, my brain can't handle having to walk two different courses and then go from one ring to the other with maybe 5-10 minutes in between. Because Standard ran first, I didn't spend much time walking the JWW course and I ended up changing my handling plan at the last minute. Not a good move...for some reason I thought I might be able to pull off a rear cross on the flat following the jump after the tunnel, but I caused a bar instead. Then I pulled him off a jump - which at least I can say was a sign that he was paying attention. Otherwise, it was a decent run.
At the end of the day we had Open FAST. Unfortunately right before our run something freaked Peyton out and he had a little panic attack. If it wasn't FAST and if we had a numbered course that we had to (attempt) to stick to, I probably would have pulled him, but decided to give it a try. You can tell that he was still agitated (lots of barking) and not a lot of focus at the start, but he still did a nice job (considering) and finished with a Q and 1st place.
I'm super proud of my spotty boy! I'll take focus and fun over a "clean" run any day...although both *would* be nice!
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