Trials & Ice Cream

Indy says thanks for all of the birthday wishes! She had a very nice celebration at...Dairy Queen! She thought that was pretty awesome and now thinks that she should have ice cream every day. I don't think she was too happy when I told her that it wouldn't bode well for her girly figure. :)

Peyton and I had a three day local trial this weekend. Poor guy had a rough week dealing with his emotional mom, so I think it was good for him (and me) to spend the weekend with friends.

Our runs on Friday weren't too bad, but my head just wasn't in the game and my sense of direction was worse than usual. Saturday was much better though, and I think we had two of our nicest runs to date. Our standard run was lovely up until the very end when I got caught admiring my spotty dog and failed to cue a turn. What can I say...he's cute!

The jumpers course was interesting. I decided to handle with all rear crosses - not my first choice, but I thought it was the best option for us. My plan worked nicely although it did require a lot of patience on my part. Unfortunately I had a very blonde moment near the end and sent him into the wrong end of the tunnel. Gah!

On Sunday we had an early start (which is always a little dangerous for this non-morning person), and I think I must have been half asleep. Despite my bad handling, Peyton was a good boy and pretty much went where I sent him. I did manage to get in his way on two front crosses which caused knocked bars...I must be either very spatially challenged or temporarily confuse Peyton for a Sheltie.

For some unknown reason Peyton was extra stressy before our jumper's run, which in turn made me really stressy. I'm surprised that this run wasn't a complete disaster and actually, he saved me in a couple spots. Good boy...

Overall, Peyton was super responsive this weekend. He really was paying attention to me, even when I was giving bad directions. He also seems to be handling the stress/anxiety much better, although I'm still trying to figure out how to keep him happy in the gate area. That's still very much a work in progress.

It was a (much needed) good weekend.